Dr Matthew Livesey

PhD

Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Health

Research Fellow

M.R.Livesey@Sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2233
Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)

Full contact details

Dr Matthew Livesey
Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Health
Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)
385a Glossop Road
Sheffield
S10 2HQ
Profile

I studied Pharmacology (B.Sc. Hons) at the University of Edinburgh between 2001 – 2005. I undertook my undergraduate project at the, then, Centre for Integrative Physiology, under the supervision of Prof. David Wyllie, with whom I developed a strong interest in electrophysiology and the functional nature of ion channels.

In 2005, I joined the Department of Neuroscience, University of Dundee, to undertake a BBSRC-Case PhD studentship under the supervision of Professor’s John Peters and Jeremy Lambert. Here, using patch-clamp electrophysiology techniques, I examined the structure-function of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. My time in Dundee included a short post-doctoral position (JBC, 2008 and JBC, 2011).

I joined the University of Edinburgh at the start of 2011 and undertook a postdoctoral position in the laboratories of Professors David Wyllie, Giles Hardingham and Siddharthan Chandran to examine the functional capabilities and developmental properties of pluripotent stem cell-derived cortical neurons (J.Neurosci, 2014; J.Physiol, 2014 and PLoS One, 2014). In this time I became interested in using this technology in order to model disease, specifically amytrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, and was awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship (2015) in order to develop and continue this research line (Nature Neuroscience, 2016; Nature Communications, 2018 and J.Pathology, 2020). Furthermore, noting the increasing appreciation of the roles of non-neuronal cell types in healthy neuronal health and disease, I have also explored the functional properties of oligodendrocytes-derived from ALS patients (Stem Cells, 2016) and also began to examine the heavily underexplored area of oligodendrocyte physiology (Glia, 2019).  

In March 2020, I arrived at SITraN as a principal investigator to lead work on neurophysiological perturbations and their mechanistic bases in neurological disease.

Research interests

In neurodegenerative disease, neuronal dysfunction precedes neuronal death. My research interests centre around understanding these functional disturbances in neurons. Furthermore, it is increasingly regarded that such diseases are not ‘purely’ neuronal and often include a role for their supporting cells called glia. Our research also therefore investigates the properties of glia; both their functional properties and their role on neuronal function.

To do this we predominantly combine two research specialisations; electrophysiology and in vitro cell models, including human stem cell technology and primary cell culture.

Current Projects

  • Glutamatergic dysfunction in ALS patient-derived neurons and glia.
  •  Synaptic pathophysiology in cortical neurons derived from ALS patients.
  •  The physiological role of C9ORF72.
  •  The role of ion channels on oligodendrocyte-lineage cell function.
Publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Preprints

Research group
  • Ms Iris Pasniceanu (PhD student)
Professional activities and memberships

Internal:

  • School Research Meeting Working Group
  • Post-graduate research tutor

External:

  • Peer reviewer for journals including Nature Communications, Cell Reports, Journal of Neuroscience and Journal of Physiology.
  • Peer reviewer for grant funding bodies including MRC, BBSRC, NC3Rs, MNDA and ARUK.