Professor Miles Whittington
Professor of Neuroscience

  • Email: miles.whittington@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 5340
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 5227
  • Address: School of Neurology, Neurobiology & Psychiatry (Neurobiology)
    The Medical School
    Framlington Place
    University of Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE2 4HH

Introduction

My group has a major interest in mechanisms that generate oscillatory activity with neural networks, how this activity is sustained and how is modulated in various normal and pathological conditions.

Background

My background is in Pharmacology (BSc Hons. Bristol, 1987) and my postgraduate resarch was carried out on the role of dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium channels in neuronal hyperexcitability during ethanol withdrawal, under the supervision of Dr Hilary Little (PhD Bristol, 1990). Neuronal excitability states remained a theme for my post-doctoral work carried out with John Jefferys at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School and Imperial College London where I focused on the generation and propagation of epileptiform activity in brain slices in vitro. My more recent work at Imperial College London (1995-1999) and Leeds University (1999-2005) has focused on aspects of physiological network rhythms of cognitive relevance.

Research Interests

My primary research focus is on the mechanisms underlying neuronal network behaviour. My group has developed and characterized a number of in vitro models of EEG rhythms which allow greater understanding of network mechanisms underlying neuronal population behaviour associated with sensory processing.