Professor David I Hughes
- Professor of Neuroanatomy (Centre for Neuroscience)
telephone:
01413304577
email:
David.I.Hughes@glasgow.ac.uk
Spinal Cord Group, Room 122, Sir James Black Building, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
Further details about the Hughes Group can be found at davehugheslab.org.
Research interests
My research aims to improve our understanding of the complex neurocircuitry in the spinal dorsal horn, an area of critical importance in our ability to perceive the sensations of touch, pain, and itch. In my group, we use a combination of anatomical and electrophysiological approaches in both human and rodent tissue to identify individual cell populations and determine how their activity influences our ability to perceive different sensations.
The main focus of my work has been in collaboration with Dr Brett Graham (University of Newcastle, Australia). We have identified populations of spinal neurons that influence how we perceive the sensations of touch and pain, and established that these cells also play key roles in the development of pathological pain states (tactile allodynia and mechanical hyperalgesia). These circuit mapping studies help us gain insights into how our nervous system processes sensory information and are aimed at identifying novel therapeutic targets for the development more effective treatments to manage chronic pain states.
Key words:
Spinal Cord; Circuit mapping; Anatomy; Electrophysiology; Transgenic mice; AAVs;
Chemogenetics; Optogenetics; Behaviour; Confocal microscopy; Electron microscopy; Chronic pain; Presynaptic inhibition; Postsynaptic inhibition
The Hughes Laboratory has been funded by:
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Wellcome Trust
National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and
Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs)
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; Australia).
Grants
Grants and Awards listed are those received whilst working with the University of Glasgow.
- Spinal modulation of non-peptidergic C-nociceptor input by inhibitory calretinin neurons
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2023 - 2025
- ENDOSCOP: Establishing Neuronal Drivers and the Spinal Circuitry of Osteoarthritis Pain
Wellcome Trust
2023 - 2031
- Projection neuron axon collaterals in the dorsal horn: the missing link in spinal pain processing?
National Health and Medical Research Council
2020 - 2023
- Excitatory interneurons: a sensory amplifier for pathological pain
National Health and Medical Research Council
2018 - 2020
- Determining the role of calretinin-RorB spinal interneurons in modulating mechanical pain
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2017 - 2020
- Spinal processing of sensory signals from the gut
National Health and Medical Research Council
2014 - 2016
- CRACK IT Challenge 9: DRGNET: Enabling access to primary human dorsal root ganglion neurones for drug target identification and pharmacological experimentation
National Centre for the Replacement of Animals Research
2013 - 2018
- The role of presynaptic inhibition in neuropathic pain
National Health and Medical Research Council
2013 - 2015
- Development of peripheral sensory pathways in humans
National Health and Medical Research Council
2012 - 2016
- Modulating cutaneous afferent input: Identifying a source of presynaptic (axo-axonic) inputs in the mouse spinal dorsal horn
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2012 - 2015
Supervision
Supervised Postgraduate Students
- Wafa Abdulsalam Alsulaiman (Postgraduate)
- Fares Aboushnaf (Postgraduate)
Teaching
Teaching Administration
Degree Programme Coordination
Anatomy BSc Honours (Final Year): Coordinator 2010-2016, Deputy Coordinator 2009-2010, 2016 - present
Anatomy Junior Honours (Year 3): Coordinator 2009-2012, Deputy Coordinator 2012-2016
Anatomy Examinations Officer 2011-2016
Degree Course Coordination
Course leader: “Advanced Neuroanatomy” for BSc honours students; 2011 - present
Course leader: “Anatomy Advanced Studies” for BSc honours students in Anatomy; 2011 - 2016
Course leader: “Skills for the Modern Professional” for intercalating medical students; 2011 – 2016
Teaching: Delivery and Assessment
Undergraduate teaching
Year 3: Life Science courses in Anatomy, Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology.
Years 4 and 5: Human Biology courses in “Autonomic Nervous System”, “Developmental Neuroscience”, “Advanced Neuroanatomy”, and “Bio-imaging in Life Science”.
Professional courses
Year 1: Medical students (MBChB1): Limbs and Back course
Year 1: Dental students (BDS1): Biological and Medical Sciences
Year 2: Medical students (MBChB2): Head, Neck and Neurological Systems
Postgraduate teaching
MSc Brain Sciences
MSc Biomedical Sciences
MSc BioImaging
MSc in vitro and Analytical Approaches in Neuroscience
Summer School: in vivo skills in Neuroscience
Student Mentoring and Supervision
Advisor of Studies, School of Life Sciences: 2012 – present
Research mentor to postdoctoral researchers: 2012 - present
I supervise at least four undergraduate (BSc honours) project students each academic year, and up to three postgraduate (Masters) students from the Brain Sciences or Biomedical Sciences courses. I also supervise summer projects.
PhD Students
Marami Binti Mustapa
Andrew Bell
Additional information
Invited International Presentations
- 2016: Yokohama, Japan - IASP Workshop Organiser: Inhibitory Interneurons in the Spinal Dorsal Horn: Recent Advances
- 2016: Yokohama, Japan - Invited Speaker; IASP’s 16th World Congress on Pain
- 2016: Taormina, Sicily, Italy - Invited Speaker; Pain Mechanisms and Therapeutics Conference
- 2015: Queen Mary University of London - Invited Speaker; Neurogastroenterology Group, Queen Mary University of London
- 2015: Janelia Research Campus, USA - Invited Speaker; 'Mammalian Circuits Underlying Somatosensation', Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus, USA.
- 2013: Galway, Ireland - Invited Speaker; Centre for Pain Research, School of Medicine, NUI Galway
- 2012: Milan, Italy - IASP Workshop Co-organiser: Dissecting interneuron diversity on the spinal dorsal horn using transgenic mice
- 2012: Melbourne, Australia - Invited Speaker; Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University of Melbourne
- 2012: Sydney, Australia - Invited Speaker; Sensory Neuroscience Symposium, University of Western Sydney
- 2012: Milan, Italy - Invited Speaker; IASP's 14th World Congress of Pain
- 2010: Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia - Invited Speaker; School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle
- 2010: Glasgow, Scotland - Invited Speaker; Scottish Neuroscience Meeting, University of Strathclyde
Professional Learned Society
- 2017 - present: Frontiers in Neural Circuits - Review Editor
- 2015 - present: Frontiers in Neuropharmacology - Review Editor
- 2015 - present: Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland - Fellow
- 2015 - present: Athena SWAN Institute SAT member
- 2015 - present: Neuropharmacology - Review Editor
- 2014 - present: STEMM Ambassador
- 2008 - present: Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland - Member
- 2008 - present: International Association for the Study of Pain - Member
- 1998 - present: Society for Neuroscience - Member