Dr Keith Brain

PhD (Physiology); MB/BS (Hons; Sydney); FBPhS

Dr Brain graduated with a PhD in Physiology in 1998 and in Medicine in 1999 from the University of Sydney, Australia. After working as a medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney he joined the Department of Pharmacology, Oxford, in 2001.

While in Oxford, Dr Brain held a series of research fellowships, including a Nuffield Medical Fellowship, Wellcome Trust Career Development Research Fellowship (both based in the Department of Pharmacology), Staines Medical Research Fellowship (Exeter College) and the post of Research Fellow and Tutor (Keble College). In 2009 he moved to the post of Senior Lecturer (Neuropharmacology) at the University of Birmingham, but remains an associate member of the Oxford Department of Pharmacology.

Within the college, my role focuses on the teaching of Pharmacology within the undergraduate medicine programme (first BM), and specialty teaching in autonomic neuroscience, calcium signalling and smooth muscle physiology for FHS. In Birmingham I am the deputy lead for Year 1 and 2 of the MB ChB programme.

My research focuses on the physiology and pharmacology of the Autonomic Nervous System and smooth muscle. Key research achievements have included the development of new optical techniques to monitor Ca2+ within living autonomic nerve terminals (Brain and Bennett, 1995, 1997), to monitor the exocytosis of single neurotransmitter packets (Brain et al., 2002; Brain, 2008) and to monitor the rate of neurotransmitter recycling and packaging (Parker et al. 2010). My current research includes the study of autonomic co-transmission, the prejunctional regulation of sympathetic transmission by nicotinic receptors, and the role of autonomic dysregulation in the overactive detrusor (bladder). 

Cao, L.L., Marshall, J.M., Fabritz, L. and Brain, K.L. (2021). "Resting cardiac sympathetic firing frequencies suppress terminal norepinephrine transporter uptake". Autonomic Neuroscience, 232:102794.

Cao, L.; Holmes, A.; Marshall, J.; Fabritz, L.; Brain, Keith L. (2020). "Dynamic monitoring of single-terminal norepinephrine transporter rate in the rodent cardiovascular system: a novel fluorescence imaging method". Autonomic Neuroscience, 223:102611.

Hansen, Thomas; Tarasova, Olga S.; Khammy, Makhala M.; Ferreira, Avelino; Kennard, James A.; Andresen, Jørgen; Staehr, Christian; Brain, Keith L.; Nilsson, Holger; Aalkjær, Christian (2019). "[Ca2+] changes in sympathetic varicosities and Schwann cells in rat mesenteric arteries—Relation to noradrenaline release and contraction". Acta Physiologica. 226 (4).

Mahapatra, Chitaranjan; Brain, Keith L.; Manchanda, Rohit; Guerrero-Hernandez, Agustín (2018). "A biophysically constrained computational model of the action potential of mouse urinary bladder smooth muscle". PLOS ONE. 13 (7): e0200712.

Appukuttan, S., Brain, K. and Manchanda, R. (2017) "Modeling extracellular fields for a three-dimensional network of cells using NEURON," Journal of Neuroscience Methods 290:27-38

Appukuttan, S., Brain, K.L. and Manchanda, R. (2015) "A computational model of urinary bladder smooth muscle syncytium: validation and investigation of electrical properties," Journal of Computational Neuroscience 38: 167-187.

Boersma, A.J., Brain, K.L. and Bayley, H. (2012) "Real-time stochastic detection of multiple neurotransmitters with a protein nanopore," ACS Nano 6:5304-5308.

Kobayter, S. Young, J.S. and Brain, K.L. (2012) "Prostaglandin E2 induces spontaneous rhythmic activity in mouse urinary bladder independently of efferent nerves," British Journal of Pharmacology, 165:401-413.

Williams, D.J., Sidaway, P., Cunnane, T.C. and Brain, K.L. (2011) "Mechanisms involved in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-induced neurotransmitter release from sympathetic nerve terminals in the mouse vas deferens," PLoS One, 6:e29209.

Brading, A.F. and Brain, K.L. (2011). "Ion Channel Modulators". In Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology: Urinary Tract, ed. Andersson KE & Michel MC, pp. 375-393, Springer.

Parker, L.K., Shanks, J.A., Kennard, J.A.G. and Brain, K.L. (2010) "Dynamic monitoring of NET activity in mature murine sympathetic terminals using a fluorescent substrate," British Journal of Pharmacology, 159:797-807.

Rahman, F., Manchanda, R. and Brain, K.L. (2009) "Prejunctional and postjunctional actions of heptanol and 18β-glycyrretinic acid in the rodent vas deferens," Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical 148:69-75.

Brain, K.L. (2009) "Neuroeffector Ca2+ transients for the direct measurement of purine release and indirect measurement of co-transmitters," Experimental Physiology, 94:25-30.

Young, J.S., Meng, E., Cunnane, T.C. and Brain, K.L. (2008) "Spontaneous purinergic neurotransmission in the mouse urinary bladder," Journal of Physiology, 586:5743-5755.

Brain, K.L. and Cunnane, T.C. (2008) "Bretylium abolishes neurotransmitter release without necessarily abolishing the nerve terminal action potential in sympathetic terminals," British Journal of Pharmacology 153:831-839.

Young, J.S., Brain, K.L. and Cunnane, T.C. (2007) "Electrical and optical study of nerve impulse-evoked ATP-induced, P2X-receptor-mediated sympathetic neurotransmission at single smooth muscle cells in mouse isolated vas deferens," Neuroscience 148:82-91.

Williams, D.J., Brain, K.L. and Cunnane, T.C. (2007) "The effect of epibatidine on spontaneous and evoked neurotransmitter release in the mouse and guinea pig isolated vas deferens," British Journal of Pharmacology 150:906-912.

Brain, K.L., Kay, J. and Shine, B. (2006) "Measurement of urinary metanephrines to screen for pheochromocytoma in an unselected hospital referral population," Clinical Chemistry 52:2060-2064.

Webster, R.G., Brain, K.L., Wilson, R.H., Grem, J.L. and Vincent, A. (2005) "Oxaliplatin induces hyperexcitability at motor and autonomic neuromuscular junctions through effects on voltage-gated sodium channels," British Journal of Pharmacology 146:1027-1039.

Brain, K.L., Cuprian, A.M., Williams, D.J. and Cunnane, T.C. (2003) "The sources and sequestration of Ca2+ contributing to Neuroeffector Ca2+ transients in the mouse vas deferens," Journal of Physiology 553:627-635.

Brain, K.L., Jackson, V.M., Trout, S.J. and Cunnane, T.C. (2002) "Intermittent ATP release from nerve terminals elicits focal smooth muscle Ca2+ transients in mouse vas deferens," Journal of Physiology 541:849-862.

Brain, K.L., Trout, S.J., Jackson, V.M., Dass, N. and Cunnane, T.C. (2001) "Nicotine induces calcium spikes in single nerve terminal varicosities: a role for intracellular calcium stores," Neuroscience 106:395-403.

I enjoy Wikipedia editing and English choral music.