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Dr Kerry Peter Sean James Murphy
Professional biography
Kerry Murphy is an I.B. Diplomat holder (UWCA), has an honours degree in Physiology from Dundee University and a PhD in Neurophysiology from University College, London. He started his post-doctoral life as a Departmental Demonstrator in CNS Pharmacology at the University of Oxford before joining Prof Tim Bliss FRS as a MRC Research Fellow at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. From London he later moved to East Anglia as a Cambridge University Pharmacology Fellow before taking up his current post at the Open University.
Keywords: Huntington's disease, CAG triplet repeat disorders, synaptic plasticity, dopamine, cognition, learning and memory, long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), electrophysiology
Research interests
Kerry was recently asked to comment on the key issues that drive his research:
'One of the greatest challenges facing society today is the defeat of neurodegenerative brain disease. As our population ages, more of us will be afflicted by devastating brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and senile dementia - neurodegenerative conditions that rob us of the ability to think, to learn and to remember. Until very recently, these diseases remained intractable to modern science. However, rapid advances in molecular genetics and the advent of transgenic models for some of these diseases, has now made it possible, for the first time, to study the pathogenic process and examine how it affects the physiology of the brain, especially those mechanisms involved in learning and memory. It is hoped that studies of this type will aid the development of new and effective treatments in the fight against brain disease. To this end, my laboratory, as part of the Huntington's Disease Research Forum based at the OU, is using the latest transgenic advances to study early pathogenesis in Huntington's disease with the aim of identifying new targets for therapeutic intervention.'
Kerry is a founding member of the Huntington's Disease Research Forum based at the Open University. This group of dedicated scientists and PhD students is currently using electrophysiogical, cell culture, histological and genetic techniques to study the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease.
Recent papers published by the Huntington's Disease Research Forum:
Dallerac, Cummings, Hirst, Milnerwood and Murphy (2016) Changes in dopamine signalling do not underlie aberrant hippocampal plasticity in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. NeuroMolecular Medicine, 18, 146-153.
Dallerac, Levasseur, Vatsavayai, Milnerwood, Cummings, Kraev, Huetz, Evans, Walters, Rezaie, Cho, Hirst and Murphy (2015) Dysfunctional dopaminergic neurones in mouse models of Huntington's disease: a role for SK3 channels. Neurodegenerative diseases, 15, 93-108.
Cepda, Murphy, Parent and Levine (2014) The role of dopamine in Huntington's disease. Progress in Brain Research, 211, 235-254.
Dallerac, Vatsavayai, Cummings, Milnerwood, Peddie, Evans, Walters, Rezaie, Hirst and Murphy (2011) Impaired long-term potentiation in the prefrontal cortex of Huntington's disease mouse models: rescue by D1 dopamine receptor activation. Neurodegenerative diseases, 8 230-239.
Cummings, Milnerwood, Dallerac, Waights, Brown, Vatsavayai, Hirst and Murphy (2006) Aberrant cortical synaptic plasticity and dopaminergic dysfunction in a mouse model of huntington's disease. Human Molecular Genetics, 15 (19). pp. 2856-2868
Milnerwood, Cummings, Dallerac, Brown, Vatsavayai, Hirst, Rezaie and Murphy (2006) Early development of aberrant synaptic plasticity in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. Human Molecular Genetics, 15 (10). pp. 1690-1703
Cummings, Milnerwood, Dallerac, Vatsavayai, Hirst and Murphy (2007) Abnormal cortical synaptic plasticity in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. Brain Res Bull, 72, 103-107.
Vatsavayai, Dallerac, Milnerwood, Cummings, Rezaie, Murphy and Hirst (2007) Progressive CAG expansion in the brain of a novel R6/1-89Q mouse model of Huntington's disease with delayed phenotypic onset. Brain Res Bull. 72, 98-102.
Teaching interests
Undergraduate teaching:
SK299 Human biology
SK123 Understanding cancers
S294 Cell biology
SDK100 Science and health
SK277: Human biology (replaced by SK299)
SD226: Biological psychology - Exploring the brain
SK121: Understanding cardiovascular disease
SK220: Human biology & health (replaced by SK277)
Postgraduate teaching:
PhD supervision (full-time and part-time)
M.Phil supervision
Research Activity
Research groups
| Name | Type | Parent Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Biomedical Research Network (BRN) | Network | Faculty of Science |
| Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research (CEPSAR) | Centre | Faculty of Science |
Externally funded projects
Postgraduate Research and Professional Development - Morgane Colom
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-investigator | 01/Oct/2018 | 30/Sep/2021 | King's College London (KCLU) |
£10k for consumables from King's College London, collaboration with Dr Ellie Dommett. For Morgane Colom's studentship. | |||
Publications
Journal articles
Dallerac, Glenn M.; Cummings, Damian M.; Hirst, Mark C.; Milnerwood, Austen J. and Murphy, Kerry P. S. J.
NeuroMolecular Medicine, 18(1) (pp. 146-153)
Dysfunctional Dopaminergic Neurones in Mouse Models of Huntington's Disease: A Role for SK3 Channels (2015-04-09)
Dallerac, G.M.; Levasseur, G.; Vatsavayai, S.C.; Milnerwood, A.J.; Cummings, D.M.; Kraev, I.; Huetz, C.; Evans, K.A.; Walters, S.W.; Rezaie, P.; Cho, Y.; Hirst, M.C. and Murphy, K.P.S.J.
Neurodegenerative Diseases, 15(2) (pp. 93-108)
The role of dopamine in Huntington's disease (2014-07)
Cepeda, Carlos; Murphy, Kerry P. S.; Parent, Martin and Levine, Michael
Progress In Brain Research, 211 (pp. 235-254)
Impaired long-term potentiation in the prefrontal cortex of Huntington’s disease mouse models: rescue by D1 dopamine receptor activation (2011-05)
Dallérac, G. M.; Vatsavayai, S. V.; Cummings, D. M.; Milnerwood, A. J.; Peddie, C. J.; Evans, K. A.; Walters, S. W.; Rezaie, P.; Hirst, M. C. and Murphy, K. P. S. J.
Neurodegenerative Diseases, 8(4) (pp. 230-239)
Abnormal cortical synaptic plasticity in mice transgenic for exon 1 of the human Huntington's protein (2007-04-30)
Cummings, Damian M.; Milnerwood, Austen J.; Dallerac, Glenn M.; Vatsavayai, Sarat C.; Hirst, Mark C. and Murphy, Kerry P. S. J.
Brain Research Bulletin, 72(2-3) (pp. 103-107)
Progressive CAG expansion in the brain of a novel R6/1-89Q mouse model of Huntington's disease with delayed phenotypic onset (2007-04-30)
Vatsavayai, Sarat C.; Dallerac, Glenn M.; Milnerwood, Austen J.; Cummings, Damian M.; Rezaie, Payam; Murphy, Kerry P.S.J. and Hirst, Mark C.
Brain Research Bulletin, 72(2-3) (pp. 98-102)
Aberrant cortical synaptic plasticity and dopaminergic dysfunction in a mouse model of huntington's disease (2006-10-01)
Cummings, Damian M.; Milnerwood, Austen J.; Dallerac, Glenn M.; Waights, Verina; Brown, Jacki Y.; Vatsavayai, Sarat C.; Hirst, Mark C. and Murphy, Kerry P. S. J.
Human Molecular Genetics, 15(19) (pp. 2856-2868)
Early development of aberrant synaptic plasticity in a mouse model of Huntington's disease (2006-05-15)
Milnerwood, Austen J.; Cummings, Damian M.; Dallerac, Glenn M.; Brown, Jacki Y.; Vatsavayai, Sarat C.; Hirst, Mark C.; Rezaie, Payam and Murphy, Kerry P.S.J.
Human Molecular Genetics, 15(10) (pp. 1690-1703)
Chemically induced long-term potentiation increases the number of peforated and complex postsynaptic densities but does not alter dendritic spine volume in CA1 of adult mouse hippocampal slices (2005-06)
Stewart, M. G.; Medvedev, N. I.; Popov, V. I.; Schoepfer, R.; Davies, H. A.; Murphy, K.; Dallerac, G. M.; Kraev, I. V. and Rodriguez, J. J.
European Journal of Neuroscience, 21(12) (pp. 3368-3378)
Autonomous activity of CaMKII is only transiently increased following the induction of long-term potentiation in the rat hippocampus (2004-12)
Lengyel, I.; Voss, K.; Cammaroto, M.; Bradshaw, K.; Brent, V.; Murphy, K. P. S. J.; Giese, K.P.; Rostas, J.A.P. and Bliss, T.V.P.
European Journal of Neuroscience, 20(11) (pp. 3063-3072)
Bi-directional plasticity and age-dependent long-term depression at mouse CA3-CA1 hippocampal synapses (2004-08-26)
Milner, Austen J.; Cummings, Damian M.; Spencer, Jonathan P. and Murphy, Kerry P.S.J.
Neuroscience Letters, 367(1) (pp. 1-5)
Activation of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase is required for long-term enhancement at corticostriatal synapses in rats (2002-08-30)
Spencer, Jonathan P. and Murphy, Kerry P.S.J.
Neuroscience Letters, 329(2) (pp. 217-221)
Book chapters
Bates, Gillian P. and Murphy, Kerry P.S.J.
In: Bates, Gillian; Harper, Peter and Jones, Lesley eds. Huntington's Disease. 3rd ed.. Oxford Monographs on Medical Genetics (45) (pp. 387-426)
ISBN : 198510608 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK
Conference items
Azeggagh, Sonia; Adan, Abdullahi; Needs, Sarah; Murphy, Kerry; Allman, Sarah and Berwick, Daniel
In : British Neuroscience Association - 2017 Festival of Neuroscience (10-13 Apr 2017, Birmingham, United Kingdom)
Dorsal root ganglion neurons maintained in a 3D culture model exhibit similar electrophysiological properties to fresh explants (2011-07)
East, E.; Murphy, K. and Phillips, J.
In : Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (19-21 Jul 2011, Leeds)
Feedback and compression computation in the basal ganglia (2009)
Burke, P. F. C. and Murphy, K.
In : British Neuroscience Association (19-22 Apr 2009)
Dopamine restores cortical plasticity in a mouse model of Huntington's disease (2005)
Cummings, Damian M.; Milner, Austen J.; Dallerac, Glenn M.; Vatsavayai, Sarat C.; Brown, Jackie Y.; Waights, Verina; Hirst, Mark C. and Murphy, Kerry P. S. J.
In : 18th National Meeting of British Neuroscience Association (3-6 Apr 2005, Brighton, UK)
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