Hosted at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, I am a physiologist and clinical academic, specialising in veterinary neurology and neurosurgery. My research focuses on brain temperature and how this interacts with the molecular circadian clockwork in human brain cells. The human brain can no longer be viewed as an isothermal machine. This demands a reappraisal of how daily neuronal activity is regulated and raises questions about how brain-injured patients are managed. In particular, I want to understand how changes in brain temperature variability might predict and influence the manifestation of chronic brain disorders. Circadian and sleep disruption are increasingly associated with these disorders, but the impact of temperature variation on the neural clockwork and brain health is largely unexplored. My goal is to transform the therapeutic landscape for brain disease by understanding how brain clocks work, and how the brain works around the clock.
HEATWAVE
A 4D map of human brain temperature. Credit: N Rzechorzek/MRC LMB/Brain
