Autonomic Neuroscience, Pain & Sensory Mechanisms Laboratories
Co-directors: Assoc Professor James Brock and Professor John Furness
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Members of the lab: (L to R): R1. Leni Rivera, Dorota Ferens, Katsuyo Doi; R2. Hima Abeysinghe, John Furness, Lei Yin, Michelle Thacker, Tina Cardamone; R3. James Johnston, Patricia Castelucci, Kim Steegh, Emma James, Kirsty Turner; R4. Billie Hunne, Louise Pontell, Romke Bron, Christopher Loo; Absent: Trung Nguyen, Kulmira Nurgali |
| Principal investigators: | Major Collaborators: |
Welcome to the Autonomic Neuroscience, Pain and Sensory Mechanisms Laboratories.
We are a research group in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
The lab has three main areas of focus:
- The enteric nervous system and the control of digestive function
- Pain and sensory mechanisms
- Autonomic disorders in Spinal Cord Injury
Our major research areas include:
- Long-term excitability changes: Neuronal memory, its cellular basis and involvement in Visceral Pain and digestive disease
- Neuropathies of the Enteric Nervous System
- Integration of activity by intrinsic primary afferent neurons of the intestine
- Visceral sensory mechanisms
- Ghrelin and its receptors
- Investigation of motility reflexes in vivo
- Treatment of cardiovascular and other consequences of spinal cord injury
- Chemical coding in the Autonomic nervous System
Our methods include:
- Intracellular and patch clamp electrophysiology
- Molecular biology of ion channels
- Quantitative confocal microscopy
- Cell culture of transfected cells
- Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation
- Experimental surgery
- Organ bath pharmacology
- Calcium imaging
- Animal physiology
- Analysis of histopathology in animal models
Australian Phenomics Network (APN)
We operate the University of Melbourne node of the APN. For more information and access click here.
Cell Physiology, Histology and Imaging (Neurosciences Victoria Platform):
We operate this platform. For more information and access click here.