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Phil HeywardDr Phil Heyward is interested in the sense of smell and neurological disorders. Our ability to sense airborne chemicals is based on patterns of neuronal activity in the brain. His lab uses electrophysiological recording from brain slices maintained in vitro to study how these patterns of activity are processed by individual neurons and circuits in the brain. Bipolar disorder, depression and epilepsy seem like very different problems, but they each result from abnormal levels of brain neuron activity. To understand these diseases better and improve treatments, we need to know more about how the current treatments actually work. We therefore focus our studies on how current treatments act on neurons to control their activity as individual cells, and as members of brain circuits.


Find out more about Dr Heyward's research

Publications

Crellin, S., Sheard, P., Heyward, P. M., De Ridder, D., & Glue, P. (2023). Modulation of axonal action potential conduction with bipolar disorder therapeutics. In K.-L. Horne (Ed.), Proceedings of the 39th International Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research (AWCBR). (pp. 48). Retrieved from https://www.awcbr.org

Pretz, D., Heyward, P. M., Krebs, J., Gruchot, J., Barter, C., Silcock, P., Downes, N., Rizwan, M. Z., Boucsein, A., Bender, J., Burgess, E. J., Boer, G. A., Keerthisinghe, P., Perry, N. B., & Tups, A. (2023). A dahlia flower extract has anti-diabetic properties by improving insulin function in the brain. Life Metabolism, 2(4), load026. doi: 10.1093/lifemeta/load026

Williams, M. R., Hall, M. J., & Heyward, P. M. (2019). Levels of activity-dependent effects on Li+ on mitral cell activity. In K. Hillman (Ed.), Proceedings of the 37th International Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research (AWCBR). (pp. 57). Retrieved from http://www.otago.ac.nz/awcbr

Benzler, M., Benzler, J., Stoehr, S., Hempp, C., Rizwan, M. Z., Heyward, P., & Tups, A. (2019). "Insulin-like" effects of palmitate compromise insulin signalling in hypothalamic neurons. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 189(3-4), 413-424. doi: 10.1007/s00360-019-01220-0

Heyward, P. M., Williams, M. R., & Hall, M. J. (2018). Activity-dependent actions of Li+ in brain network connectivity. In K. Hillman (Ed.), Proceedings of the 36th International Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research. (pp. 69). AWCBR. Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/awcbr

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