Newcastle University

Research Interests

Natural toxins and their actions on skeletal muscle and peripheral nerve; environmental toxicology; clinical aspects of envenomation.

International Activities:

Building collaborative research links with universities overseas; advising and placing potential scholars on facilities and research interests in the School and the Faculty.

• Prasarnpun S, Walsh J, Awad SS, Harris JB. Envenoming bites by kraits: The biological basis of treatment-resistant neuromuscular paralysis. Brain 2005, 128(12), 2987-2996.
• Logonder U, Križaj I, Rowan E, Harris J. Neurotoxicity of ammodytoxin A in the envenoming bites of vipera ammodytes ammodytes. Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology 2008, 67(10), 1011-1019.
• Prasarnpun S, Walsh J, Harris JB. β-bungarotoxin-induced depletion of synaptic vesicles at the mammalian neuromuscular junction. Neuropharmacology 2004, 47(2), 304-314.
• Court FA, Gillingwater TH, Melrose S, Sherman DL, Greenshields KN, Morton AJ, Harris JB, Willison HJ, Ribchester RR. Identity, developmental restriction and reactivity of extralaminar cells capping mammalian neuromuscular junctions. Journal of Cell Science 2008, 121(23), 3901-3911.
• Harris JB, Vater R, Wilson M, Cullen MJ. Muscle fibre breakdown in venom-induced muscle degeneration. Journal of Anatomy 2003, 202(4), 363-372.
• Harris JB. Neuron to nerve terminals:aspects of neuropathology and neurotoxicology. Brazilian Jounal of Morphological Sciences 2006, 23(2), 195-216.
• Harris JB, Goonetilleke A. Animal poisons and the nervous system: What the neurologist needs to know. Neurology in Practice 2004, 75(3), iii40-iii46.
• Goonetilleke A, Harris JB. Clostridial neurotoxins. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2004, 75(Suppl. 3), iii35-iii39.
• Harris JB, Blain PG. Neurotoxicology: What the neurologist needs to know. Neurology in Practice 2004, 75(suppl. 3), iii29-iii34.
• D. C. Kohrman, J. B. Harris and M. H. Meisler. Mutation detection in the med and med(J) alleles of the sodium channel Scn8a - Unusual splicing due to a minor class AT-AC intron. Journal of Biological Chemistry 1996, 271, 17576-17581.
• R.W. Dixon and J.B Harris. Myotoxic activity of the toxic phospholipase, notoxin, from the venom of the Australian tiger snake. J. Neuropath. Exp. Neurol 1996, 55, 1230-1237.
• Nalls MA, Duran R, Lopez G, Kurzawa-Akanbi M, McKeith IG, Chinnery PF, Morris CM, Theuns J, Crosiers D, Cras P, Engelborghs S, DeDeyn PP, Van Broeckhoven C, Mann DM, Snowden J, Pickering-Brown S, Halliwell N, Davidson Y, Gibbons L, Harris J, Sheerin UM, Bras J, Hardy J, Clark L, Marder K, Honig LS, Berg D, Maetzler W, Brockmann K, Gasser T, Novellino F, Quattrone A, Annesi G, De Marco EV, Rogaeva E, Masellis M, Black SE, Bilbao JM, Foroud T, Ghetti B, Nichols WC, Pankratz N, Halliday G, Lesage S, Klebe S, Durr A, Duyckaerts C, Brice A, Giasson BI, Trojanowski JQ, Hurtig HI, Tayebi N, Landazabal C, Knight MA, Keller M, Singleton AB, Wolfsberg TG, Sidransky E. A Multicenter Study of Glucocerebrosidase Mutations in Dementia With Lewy Bodies. JAMA Neurology 2013, (epub ahead of print).
• Harris J, Faiz M, Rahman M, Jalil M, Ahsan M, Theakston R, Warrell D, Kuch U. Snake bite in Chittagong Division, Bangladesh: A study of bitten patients who developed no signs of systemic envenoming. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2010, 104(5), 320-327.
• Eddleston M, Harris JB, Self I, Worek F, Thiermann H, Simpson AJ, Clutton RE. The Major Solvent in Agricultural Dimethoate Preparations is Essential for Toxicity in Minipigs [abstract]. Clinical Toxicology 2010, 48(3), 297 abstract no. 243.
• Harris JB, Blain PG. Neurotoxicology: What the neurologist needs to know. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2004, 75, iii29-iii34.
• Goonetilleke A, Harris JB. Envenomation and consumption of poisonous seafood. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2002, 73(2), 103-109.
• Harris JB, Cawston TE. Musculoskeletal pharmacology. Current Opinion in Pharmacology 2001, 1(3), 279-280.
• Harris JB, Grubb BD, Maltin CA, Dixon R. The neurotoxicity of the venom phospholipases A2, notexin and taipoxin. Experimental Neurology 2000, 161(2), 517-526.
• Dixon RW, Harris JB. Nerve terminal damage by beta-bungarotoxin - Its clinical significance. American Journal of Pathology 1999, 154(2), 447-455.