Newcastle University

I am active in both research and teaching; supervising and conducting research into the development, plasticity and repair of the nervous system, and teaching anatomy and neuroanatomy to both post-graduates and undergraduates. 

• 1983 MA University of Oxford
• 1987 DPhil University of Oxford
• 1987 Associate Research Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford
• 1989 Associate Research Fellow, Dept. of Anatomy and Dev. Biology, University College London
• 1994 Lecturer, Department of Child Health, Newcastle University
• 2007 Senior Lecturer, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University

Research Interests

Development, plasticity and repair of the nervous system, particularly the sensorimotor system. Molecular neuroanatomical approaches including neural tracing, immunocytochemistry and gene expression profiling.

Current Work

1)Characterisation of the development of the human corticospinal tract and development of the human cortex including the emergence of a functioning motor cortex; understanding what guides the differentation of progenitor cells into corticospinal neurons and interneurons in the human fetal brain. 

2) Studying expression of autism spectrum disorder susceptibility genes in the early fetal human brain. 

3) Testing reduction of stroke damage with stem cell transplants in animal models.

4) Understanding the plasticity of the corticospinal system in response to lesions in animal models.

Postgraduate Supervision

Currently supervising one PHD student, Nahidh Al-Jabieri, and 3 MRes students, Felix Chan, Shampa Das and John Colville. Four PhD students have recently successfully completed their studies; Bui Kar Ip in 2011, and Aiqing Chen, Sara Graziadio and Reem Al-Waibi in 2009.

Esteem Indicators

Chaired a symposium at the British Neuroscience Association meeting, April 21st 2009, "Activity dependent mechanisms in the development and plasticity of sensorimotor systems: towards understanding and treatment of cerebral palsy."

Invited speaker to an international meeting ‘Neurogenomics and Neuroimaging of Developmental Disorders’ in Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 2009.

Co-organiser (with Zoltan Molnar) of a symposium "Human Cortical Development", part of the Winter Meeting of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland in Oxford, 2010.

Invited keynote speaker "Young Physiologists' symposium: Heart and mind, what makes us tick", Bristol, June 2011.

Invited speaker to an international conference "The Past and Future of Universal Grammar", Durham, December 2011. 

Guest Editor of the Journal Of Anatomy symposium issue 2010: Development of the Human Neocortex. 

Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of "Translational Neuroscience".

Our publication 'Ip BK, Wappler I, Peters H, Lindsay S, Clowry GJ, Bayatti N (2010) Investigating gradients of gene expression involved in early human cortical development. Journal of Anatomy 217: 300-311' has been awarded a prize for best paper in the Journal of Anatomy 2010.

Funding

Bui Kar Ip was recently in receipt of a studentship from the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. A new studentship has been awarded to start October 2012. A stem cell and stroke study is being funded by Alkor Celltech Ltd.

Previously funding includes co-holding of programme grants from the Wellcome Trust, also awards from the Childrens Foundation, Newcasle University Hospitals Special Trustees and Motor Neuron Disease Association.

Undergraduate Teaching

• MBBS stage2 (normal and accelerated programmes) Functional anatomy of the upper limb; repair and regeneration in the nervous system
• Biomedical Sciences stage 3. Research project supervision. 
• Physiology stage 3. Neuroanatomy practical.
• Psychology stage 3. Neuroanatomy practical.

Postgraduate Teaching

• PhD/MPhil supervision
• MRes neuroanatomy practical
• MRes Anatomy (upper limb)
• MRes research project supervision
• Anatomy teaching in training courses for doctors and allied health professionals  

• Molnar Z, Clowry G. Cerebral cortical development in rodents and primates. In: Hofman, M.A., Falk, D, ed. Progress in Brain Research: Evolution of the Primate Brain. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2012, pp.45-70.
• Ali H, Forraz N, McGuckin C, Jurga M, Lindsay S, Ip BK, Trevelyan A, Basford C, Habibollah S, Ahmad S, Clowry GJ, Bayatti N. In vitro modelling of cortical neurogenesis by sequential induction of human umbilical cord blood stem cells. Stem Cell Reviews and Reports 2012, 8(1), 210-223.
• Ip BK, Bayatti N, Howard NJ, Lindsay S, Clowry GJ. The Corticofugal Neuron-Associated Genes ROBO1, SRGAP1, and CTIP2 Exhibit an Anterior to Posterior Gradient of Expression in Early Fetal Human Neocortex Development. Cerebral Cortex 2011, 21(6), 1395-1407.
• Chen A, Clowry GJ. Could autologous cord blood stem cell transplantation treat cerebral palsy?. Translational Neuroscience 2011, 2(3), 207-218.
• Chen A, Siow B, Blamire AM, Lako M, Clowry GJ. Transplantation of magnetically labeled mesenchymal stem cells in a model of perinatal brain injury. Stem Cell Research 2010,5 3 255-266.
• Clowry G, Molnar Z, Rakic P. Renewed focus on the developing human neocortex. Journal of Anatomy 2010. :Wiley-Blackwell,217 4 276-288.
• Ip BK, Wappler I, Peters H, Lindsay S, Clowry GJ, Bayatti N. Investigating gradients of gene expression involved in early human cortical development. Journal of Anatomy 2010,217 4 300-311.
• Wang WZ, Hoerder-Suabedissen A, Oeschger FM, Bayatti N, Ip BK, Lindsay S, Supramaniam V, Srinivasan L, Rutherford M, Mollgard K, Clowry GJ, Molnar Z. Subplate in the developing cortex of mouse and human. Journal of Anatomy 2010, 217(4), 368-380.
• Basu A, Graziadio S, Smith M, Clowry GJ, Cioni G, Eyre JA. Developmental Plasticity Connects Visual Cortex to Motoneurons After Stroke. Annals of Neurology 2010, 67(1), 132-136.
• Galley S, Clowry GJ. Plasticity to neonatal sensorimotor cortex injury in the CST-YFP mouse. Translational Neuroscience 2010, 1(1), 16-23.
• Fisher T, Clowry GJ. Elimination of Muscle Afferent Boutons from the Cuneate Nucleus of the Rat Medulla During Development. Neuroscience 2009, 161(3), 787-793.
• Bayatti N, Moss JA, Sun L, Ambrose P, Ward JFH, Lindsay S, Clowry GJ. A molecular neuroanatomical study of the developing human neocortex from 8 to 17 postconceptional weeks revealing the early differentiation of the subplate and subventricular zone. Cerebral Cortex 2008, 18(7), 1536-1548.
• Bayatti N, Sarma S, Shaw C, Eyre JA, Vouyiouklis DA, Lindsay S, Clowry GJ. Progressive loss of PAX6, TBR2, NEUROD and TBR1 mRNA gradients correlates with translocation of EMX2 to the cortical plate during human cortical development. European Journal of Neuroscience 2008, 28(8), 1449-1456.
• Chen A, Dimambro N, Clowry GJ. A comparison of behavioural and histological outcomes of periventricular injection of ibotenic acid in neonatal rats at postnatal days 5 and 7. Brain Research 2008, 1201, 187-195.
• Eyre JA, Smith M, Dabydeen L, Clowry GJ, Petacchi E, Battini R, Guzzetta A, Cioni G. Is hemiplegic cerebral palsy equivalent to amblyopia of the corticospinal system?. Annals of Neurology 2007, 62(5), 493-503.
• Clowry GJ. The dependence of spinal cord development on corticospinal input and its significance in understanding and treating spastic cerebral palsy. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 2007. , 31(8), 1114-1124.
• Clowry G, Slawinska U. Recovery of function after spinal cord injury.. In:Nogradi, A., ed. Transplantation of Neural Tissue into the Spinal Cord.Georgetown, Texas:Landes Bioscience,2006, pp. 24-51.
• Clowry GJ, Walker L, Davies P. The effects of botulinum neurotoxin A induced muscle paresis during a critical period upon muscle and spinal cord development in the rat. Experimental Neurology 2006, 202(2), 456-469.
• Clowry GJ, Moss JA, Clough RL. An immunohistochemical study of the development of sensorimotor components of the early fetal human spinal cord. Journal of Anatomy 2005, 207(4), 313-324.
• Clowry GJ, McHanwell S. Brainstem motor nuclei respond differentially to degenerative disease in the mutant mouse wobbler. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 2004,30 2 148-160.
• Clowry GJ, Davies BM, Upile NS, Gibson CL, Bradley PM. Spinal cord plasticity in response to unilateral inhibition of the rat motor cortex during development: Changes to gene expression, muscle afferents and the ipsilateral corticospinal projection. European Journal of Neuroscience 2004,20 10 2555-2566.
• Gibson CL, Clowry GJ. The effect on motor cortical neuronal development of focal lesions to the sub-cortical white matter in the neonatal rat: A model for periventricular leukomalacia. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience 2003,21 4 171-182.
• Dobson CB, Villagra F, Clowry GJ, Smith M, Kenwrick S, Donnai D, Miller S, Eyre JA. Abnormal corticospinal function but normal axonal guidance in human L1CAM mutations. Brain 2001,124 12 2393-2406.
• McDonough SM, Clowry GJ, Miller S, Eyre JA. Reciprocal and Renshaw (recurrent) inhibition are functional in man at birth. Brain Research 2001,899 1-2 66-81.
• Clowry GJ, Arnott GA, Clement-Jones M, Fallah Z, Gould S, Wright C. Changing pattern of expression of parvalbumin immunoreactivity during human fetal spinal cord development. Journal of Comparative Neurology 2000,423 4 727-735.
• Eyre JA, Miller S, Clowry GJ, Conway EA, Watts C. Functional corticospinal projections are established prenatally in the human foetus permitting involvement in the development of spinal motor centres. Brain 2000,123 1 51-64.
• Gibson CL, Clowry GJ. N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor blockade during development induces short-term but not long-term changes in c-Jun and parvalbumin expression in the rat cervical spinal cord. Experimental Neurology 2000,170 2 380-384.
• Gibson CL, Arnott GA, Clowry GJ. Plasticity in the rat spinal cord seen in response to lesions to the motor cortex during development but not to lesions in maturity. Experimental Neurology 2000,166 2 422-434.