Dr Paul Dodson

Dr Dodson’s research focusses on investigating how different sub-populations of neurons in the basal ganglia encode behaviour and how this is perturbed in Parkinson’s disease. His group uses in vivo single-unit recording and labelling, optogenetic manipulation and behavioural analyses to link the molecular profile of different neurons with their role in behaviour.

Paul graduated in Physiology and received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Leicester. He completed his graduate studies in Professor Ian Forsythe's laboratory, examining the roles of presynaptic potassium channels at the calyx of Held in the auditory brainstem. In 2003, Paul moved to Los Angeles as an HFSP Long-Term Fellow to work with Professor Tom Otis, investigating how alcohol affects GABAA receptors in the cerebellum to cause motor impairment. Paul returned to the UK in 2006 to work with Professor Matt Nolan at the University of Edinburgh, studying how ion channel expression is tuned to control the function of grid cells. In 2011, Paul joined the groups of Professor Peter Magill and Professor Paul Bolam at the University of Oxford as a Career Development Fellow of the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre (OPDC). In 2015, Paul was appointed as an OPDC Senior Research Fellow and, in 2016, became a University Research Lecturer. In 2018, Paul was appointed Lecturer in Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, where he continues to work in close collaboration with the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit.