Dr Louise Upton

Qualifications

BA (Hons), PhD

Academic Background

Louise Upton studied Biochemistry at New College, Oxford (1986-90). She did her PhD in the Physiology Department of University College London. She spent three years at the Hopital Pitié-Salpétrière in Paris in an INSERM laboratory before returning to a post-doctoral position in the University Laboratory of Physiology back in Oxford. Dr Upton was then the Mouse Neuroscientist on a large Wellcome Trust-funded project in the newly-merged Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG) in Oxford for over a decade. She now runs the Neurophysiology core facility in DPAG.

Dr Upton has been a Lecturer in Neuroscience at Christ Church College since 2003.

Undergraduate Teaching

Neurophysiology (Experimental Psychology, first year)
The Nervous System (Medicine, second year - BM part 2)
Neuroscience (Medical and Physiological Sciences, third year - FHS)

Research Interests

Brain development, particularly of sensory systems (vision and touch); sensory-motor integration; autoimmune diseases in the brain.

Publications include:

S. Wright, K. Hashemi, L. Stasiak, J. Bartram, B. Lang, A. Vincent and A.L. Upton (2015) Epileptogenic effects of NMDAR-antibodies in a passive transfer mouse model. Brain 138,3159-67

A. Rodríguez-Moreno, A. González-Rueda, A. Banerjee, A.L. Upton, M.T. Craig, O. Paulsen (2013) Presynaptic self-depression at developing neocortical synapses. Neuron 77(1):35-42

J. Li, D.S. Bravo, A.L. Upton, G. Gilmour, M.D. Tricklebank, M. Fillenz, C. Martin, J.P. Lowry, D.M. Bannerman, S.B. McHugh (2011) Close temporal coupling of neuronal activity and tissue oxygen responses in rodent whisker barrel cortex. Eur. J. Neurosci. 34(12):1983-1996.

A.J. Trevelyan, A.L. Upton, P.M. Cordery and I.D. Thompson (2007) An experimentally induced duplication of retinotopic mapping within primary visual cortex. Eur. J. Neurosci. 26; 3277-90.

A.L. Upton, P.M. Cordery and I.D. Thompson (2007) Emergence of topography in the developing hamster retinocollicular projection: axial differences and the role of cell death. Eur. J. Neurosci. 25, 2319-2328.

T. Rashid, A.L. Upton, A. Blentic, T. Ciossek, B. Knöll, I.D. Thompson and U. Drescher (2005) Opposing gradients of ephrinAs and EphA7 in the superior colliculus are essential for topographic mapping in the mammalian visual system. Neuron 47, 1-13.

S.B. Mierau, R.M. Meredith, A.L. Upton and O. Paulsen (2004) Dissociation of experience-dependent and -independent changes in excitatory synaptic transmission during development of barrel cortex.
Proc Natl Acad Sci; 101(43):15518-23.

A.L. Upton, A. Ravary, N. Salichon, R. Moessner, K.-P. Lesch, R. Hen, I. Seif and P. Gaspar (2002) Lack of 5-HT1B receptor or serotonin transporter have different effects on the segregation of retinal axons in the lateral geniculate nucleus compared to the superior colliculus. Neurosci. 111 (3), 597-610.

A.L. Upton, N. Salichon, C. Lebrand, A. Ravary, R. Blakely , I. Seif and P. Gaspar (1999) Excess of 5-HT alters the segregation of ispi/contralateral retinal projections in MAOA knock-out mice: possible role of 5-HT uptake in retinal ganglion cells during development. J. Neurosci. 19 (16), 7007-7024.

A.L. Upton and S.E. Moss (1994) Molecular cloning of a novel N-terminal variant of rat annexin II. Biochem. J. 302, 425-428.

Book chapters:
A.L. Upton, H.C. Edwards and S.E. Moss. Calcium-independent functions for the annexins (1995) The Annexins Ed. B. Seaton.

Hobbies

I enjoy cycling, learning Italian, spending time on my allotment and being an Oxford City Councillor.

I studied Biochemistry at New College, Oxford (1986–90) and completed my PhD in the Physiology Department of University College London. I spent three years at the Hopital Pitié-Salpétrière in Paris in an INSERM laboratory before returning to a post-doctoral position in the University Laboratory of Physiology back in Oxford. I was then the Mouse Neuroscientist on a large Wellcome Trust-funded project in the newly merged Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG) in Oxford for over a decade. I now run the Neurophysiology core facility in DPAG.

I have been a Lecturer in Neuroscience at Christ Church since 2003.

I teach Neurophysiology (Experimental Psychology, first year); the Nervous System (Medicine, second year – BM part 2), and Neuroscience (Medical and Physiological Sciences, third year – FHS)

Research interests

My research focuses on brain development, particularly of sensory systems (vision and touch); sensory-motor integration; and autoimmune diseases in the brain.

Featured publications