Professor Ian Forsythe
Head of the Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour
Contact details:
Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour
University of Leicester
Maurice Shock Building (MSB)
University Road
Leicester, LE1 7RH
Tel: 0116 252 2922
E-mail: idf@le.ac.uk
Personal Statement:
I did a BSc (Hons) in Physiology & Biochemistry at Southampton University and a PhD on mechanisms of presynaptic inhibition under the supervision of Gerald Kerkut and Jeff Bagust. I spent five years doing postdoctoral research in Australia and USA, returning to the UK and to Leicester Department of Physiology in 1988 to work with Peter Stanfield. I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Sciences during which I developed the means to record from a ‘giant’ presynaptic terminal in the auditory pathway, called the ‘calyx of Held’. My current research focusses on the role of voltage-gated potassium channels in neuronal excitability and neurotransmission. Projects include mechanisms of brainstem auditory processing and hearing (where problems underlie hearing-loss and tinnitus, for example). This research gives broad insights into brain function and mechanisms of neurological disease (such as epilepsy, ataxia and neurodegeneration). Recent funding includes grants from BBSRC, MRC, Action on Hearing Loss (AoHL) and Autifony Therapeutics Ltd.
