Mick Craig, MSci

D.Phil Student (Wellcome Trust OXION)
2006 - present

Biography

My undergraduate degree was an MSci (Hons) Neuroscience, which I obtained in 2006 from the University of Glasgow. I spent a year doing an industrial placement working in the drug metabolism & pharmacokinetics department at Merck, Sharp & Dohme in Harlow, sunny Essex. After my degree, I began a 4-year Wellcome Trust PhD with the Oxford Ion Channels Initiative (OXION) where I embarked on two mini-projects with Prof David Sattelle and Dr Mathias Dreger, before beginning my DPhil project with Dr Louise Upton & Dr Ole Paulsen, in autumn 2007.

Research

The role of layer I interneurons in the barrel cortex during slow network oscillations.

My research is primarily concerned with the barrel cortex. The barrel cortex is part of the rodent somatosensory cortex and is responsible for processing sensory inputs from the contralateral whiskers.

The barrel cortex has a clear anatomical structure with a somatotopic representation on the cortex, with each principal whisker having a “barrel” structure, resembling the mystacial pad. Each barrel is separated by regions called septa. This organisation provides a convenient model to study thalamocortical organisation and sensory processing.

My DPhil project is the study of layer I interneurons in the barrel cortex and how they interact with other neurons during slow network oscillations (specifically, up and down states). My project combines immunohistochemistry approaches with in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological recordings.

Publications

Abstracts

Craig MT, Ho S, Upton AL, Paulsen O.
Real-time detection of persistent activity: A novel method of membrane noise analysis
Program No. 322.12. 2009 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Chicago, IL: Society for Neuroscience, 2009. Online.

Craig MT, Upton AL, Paulsen O.
Development of an in vitro model of UP and DOWN states in the mouse barrel cortex
British Neurosci. Assoc. Abstr., Vol 20, P13.01 2009.

Craig MT, Rashid-Doubell R, Paulsen O, Upton AL.
Diversity of GABAergic neurons in layer I of the rodent neocortex.
FENS Abstr. vol 4, A089.06, 2008.

Craig M, Pym L, Buckingham S, Sattelle D.
The effects of the amyloid peptide (AB1-42) and fragments on recombinant human neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.
British Neurosci. Assoc. Abstr., Vol 19, P57.12 2007.