Newcastle University

Qualifications

MA Physiological Sciences, University of Oxford

PhD Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University

Introduction to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Memberships

The Physiological Society (full member)

Renal Association (full member)

Associate practitioner of the Higher Education Academy

Epithelial Research Group, Newcastle University

Honours and Awards

Walls Award 2007 (Renal Association) -awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to Academic Nephrology to allow them to present work at the American Society of Nephrology and undertake a collaborative lab visit

Pfizer prize for oral communication at Leeds Physiological Society Meeting (Journal of Physiology, 544P, S080)

Current Work

The focus of my research is the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of renal stones.

Dent’s disease, a paradigm for renal stone formation, is characterised by low molecular weight proteinuria, hypercalciuria, nephrocalcinosis and nephrolithiasis. Dent’s disease results from mutations in CLCN5 which encodes for CLC-5, a chloride/proton exchanger. I aim to bridge the gap between the defective CLC-5 genotype and the resulting Dent’s disease phenotype. Using mouse models of the distal tubule, I examine the cellular effect of CLC-5 ablation on endocytosis and subsequent changes in surface protein expression, particularly crystal binding molecules and calcium channels. Dent’s disease is a useful example where a single gene disruption leads to multiple changes in renal transport function and regulation, thus providing general insight into renal stone disease.

My studies also examine a novel mechanism of stone formation / prevention involving a protein called ANK. ANK transports pyrophosphate, a potent inhibitor of stone formation. The purpose of the project is to define the function and location of ANK in relation to pyrophosphate transport in the kidney using mouse cell models. By defining an intrinsic pathway to prevent abnormal crystal deposition, new ways of augmenting such inhibition may prove to be an effective therapy for treating renal calcification and renal stone disease.

Esteem Indicators

Career Development Fellowship (Kidney Research UK)

Undergraduate Teaching

Teaching Fellow in Physiology

Module leader:    Molecular Medicine (CMB2003)

Cell Biology (CMB1004)

The Science of Medicine – International Summer School

Teach on the following modules:

PSC1001              Physiology

CMB1001              Cell Biology

CMB2003              Molecular Medicine

CMB2002              Cell and Molecular Biosciences

BMS2011              The Nervous System and Respiratory Diseases

BMS2013              Practical and Presentational Skills in Biomedical Sciences

PSC2017              Advanced Systems – Heart, Lung and Kidneys

BGM1003              Genetics

PSC3010              Research in Physiological Sciences

CMB3001              Experimental Design and the Process of Research- Supervision and assessment of final year project students.

Other roles:

Pastoral: Phase 1 advisor, personal tutor

Sixth form summer school: The Immune System in Health and Disease

Bite size workshop

Curriculum Committee (Phase 1)

Board of Examiners (Phase 1 and 2)

Staff Student Committee (Phase 1)

Board of Studies

Recruitment committee

Student opinion steering group

Physoc coordinator

• Carr G, Wright JA, Simmons NL. Epithelial Barrier Resistance is Increased by the Divalent Cation Zinc in Cultured MDCKII Epithelial Monolayers. Journal of Membrane Biology 2010, 237(2-3), 115-123.
• Carr G, Moochhala SH, Eley L, Vandewalle A, Simmons NL, Sayer JA. The Pyrophosphate Transporter ANKH is Expressed in Kidney and Bone Cells and Colocalises to the Primary Cilium/Basal Body Complex. Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry 2009, 24(5-6), 595-604.
• Carr G, Sayer JA, Simmons NL. Expression and localisation of the pyrophosphate transporter, ANK, in murine kidney cells. Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry 2007, 20(5), 507-516.
• Carr G, Simmons NL, Sayer JA. Disruption of clc-5 leads to a redistribution of annexin A2 and promotes calcium crystal agglomeration in collecting duct epithelial cells. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 2006, 63(3), 367-377.
• Carr G, Haslam IS, Simmons NL. Voltage dependence of transepithelial guanidine permeation across Caco-2 epithelia allows determination of the paracellular flux component. Pharmaceutical Research 2006, 23(3), 540-548.
• Carr G, Simmons N, Sayer J. A role for CBS domain 2 in trafficking of chloride channel CLC-5. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2003, 310(2), 600-605.
• Ignath I, Hegyi P, Venglovecz V, Szekely CA, Carr G, Hasegawa M, Inoue M, Takacs T, Argent BE, Gray MA, Rakonczay Z. CFTR Expression But Not Cl- Transport Is Involved in the Stimulatory Effect of Bile Acids on Apical Cl-/HCO3- Exchange Activity in Human Pancreatic Duct Cells. Pancreas 2009, 38(8), 921-929.
• Sayer JA, Carr G, Moochhala SH, Simmons NL. Pyrophosphate transport and stones. In: AIP Conference Proceedings. Renal Stone Disease 2: 2nd International Urolithiasis Research Symposium. 2008, Indianapolis, USA: AIP.
• Moochhala SH, Sayer JA, Carr G, Simmons NL. Renal calcium stones: Insights from the control of bone mineralization. Experimental Physiology 2008, 93(1), 43-49.
• Sayer JA, Carr G, Simmons NL. Nephrocalcinosis: Molecular insights into calcium precipitation within the kidney. Clinical Science 2004, 106(6), 549-561.
• Sayer JA, Carr G, Simmons NL. Calcium phosphate and calcium oxalate crystal handling is dependent upon CLC-5 expression in mouse collecting duct cells. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease 2004, 1689(1), 83-90.
• Sayer JA, Carr G, Pearce SHS, Goodship THJ, Simmons NL. Disordered calcium crystal handling in antisense CLC-5-treated collecting duct cells. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2003, 300(2), 305-310.
• Carr G, Sayer JA, Simmons NL. Altered CLC-5 expression in mouse inner medullary collecting duct cells disrupts endocytosis and promotes calcium oxalate crystal adhesion. In: Journal of Physiology: Meeting of the Physiological Society. 2002, Leeds, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Sayer JA, Carr G, Simmons NL, Goodship THJ. Antisense CLC-5 disrupts acidic endosomes and endocytosis in murine collecting duct cells. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 2002, 13(supplement), 306A.