Staff Profile
Dr Gavin Clowry
Senior Lecturer
- Email: gavin.clowry@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5981
- Address: Institute of Biosciences
Neuroscience, Neurodisability and Neurological Disorders
The Medical School
Framlington Place
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4HH
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, neuroanatomy and stem cell biology to both post-graduates and undergraduates.
- MA University of Oxford
- DPhil University of Oxford
- Associate Research Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford
- Associate Research Fellow, Dept. of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London
- Lecturer, Department of Child Health, Newcastle University
- Senior Lecturer, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University
- Senior Lecturer, Institute of Biosciences
Area of expertise: Neuroscience, Anatomy, Developmental Biology
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Orcid ID Click Here
Research Interests
Development, plasticity and repair of the nervous system, particularly the sensorimotor system. Molecular neuroanatomical approaches including neural tracing, immunohistochemistry and gene expression profiling.
Current Work
1) Development of the early fetal human forebrain including role of subplate, and interneuron specification.
2) Studying expression of neurodevelopmental disease susceptibility genes in the early fetal human thalamus and cerebral cortex.
3) Exploring cortical interneuron function and mitochondrial deficits in mouse transgenic models of dementia.
4) Understanding the plasticity of the sensorimotor system in response to lesions and ageing in animal models.
5) Effects of viruses on the brain (including vectors for optogenetic protein expression and coronaviruses)
Postgraduate Supervision
Currently co-supervising five PhD students; Abdullah Ben Awadh, Maznah Alhesain, Bethany Dennis, Matthew Drummond and Ibtisam Al-Musawi, and three MRes students; Isabella davies, Rowan Paxman, Zhanet Vlaeva. Four PhD students have recently successfully completed their studies: Reem Basuodan, Ayman Alzu'bi and Clare Tweedy in 2018 and Lauren Harkin in 2017 . In total I have supervised or co-supervised 16 PhD students to completion.
Recent Esteem Indicators
Elected Council Member (2015) Research Officer (2016) and Fellow (2019) of the Anatomical Society.
Member of the ERA-NET NEURON peer review panel for Transnational research projects on neurodevelopmental disorders 2021.
Invited keynote speaker, Sheffield Neurological Society meeting "Brain in Flux", March 2019.
Co-organiser and speaker, symposium on "Human Cerebral Cortex Development", part of the Summer Meeting of the Anatomical Society in Oxford, 2018.
Invited speaker at international symposium: "Understanding nerve-muscle interactions in health and disease", Warsaw, September 2015.
Invited speaker: European Academy of Childhood Disability annual meeting, Copenhagen, May 2015.
Invited participant: The Company of Biologists international workshop " Evolution of he human neocortex: how unique are we?" Worthing, September, 2013. http://thenode.biologists.com/neocortex-evolution-and-human-uniqueness/discussion/
Research Topic Editor, Frontiers in Neurology, "Improving outcomes in cerebral palsy with early interventions; new translational approaches" http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/1834 now published as an ebook.
Guest Editor of the Journal Of Anatomy symposium issues 2019 "Human Cerebral Cortex Development and 2010: "Development of the Human Neocortex".
Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Anatomy, Translational Neuroscience.
Associate Editor, BMC Neuroscience 2013-2021; Review Editor, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.
Ad hoc reviewer for many journals including Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Cerebral Cortex and Journal of Neuroscience, (see https://publons.com/author/195744/gavin-john-clowry)
and for grant giving bodies including the MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, Croatian Science Foundation, Action Medical Research, and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
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' was awarded a prize for best paper in the Journal of Anatomy 2010.
Funding
Co-holder of a £2 million grant from Wellcome Trust/MRC to fund the Human Developmental Biology Resource. Collaborative PI on the £7.5 million CANDO (Controlling abnormal network dynamics with optogenetics) project (Wellcome Trust funded). Collaboration with James Bourne (Monash) on thalamus development and schizophrenia funded by Newcastle/Monash.
Previously funding includes co-holding of programme grants from the Wellcome Trust, also Clare Tweedy was supported by an MRC/CASE studentship, and I have had awards from the Anatomical Society, Children's Foundation, Newcastle University Hospitals Special Trustees, Motor Neuron Disease Association, Kavli Foundation, and Alkor Biotech for an industrial/academic collaborative project.
Undergraduate Teaching
- MBBS Stage 2. Neurobiology, lecturer
- BDS Stage 1. Neurobiology, lecturer and practicals
- Biomedical Sciences stage 2. Neuroanatomy, lecturer
- Biomedical Sciences stage 3. Research project supervision.
- Pharmacology stage 3. Neuroanatomy lecture, practical and tutorial for neuropharmacology.
- Physiology stage 3. Neuroanatomy practical.
- Psychology stage 3. Neuroanatomy practical.
- Genetics stage 3. Developmental genetics, neurobiology, ethics, lecturer
Postgraduate Teaching
- PhD/MPhil supervision
- MRes deputy degree programme director (projects) and MRes Neuroscience theme lead
- MRes neuroanatomy (practical)
- MRes Anatomy (upper limb practical)
- MRes Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells (Lecturer)
- MRes Developmental Genetics (Lecturer)
- MRes research project supervision
- Anatomy teaching in training courses for doctors and allied health professionals
- External examiner for Sheffield University, MSc in Translational Neuroscience 2012-2015.