Dr. David Dexter

David Dexter, BSc, PhD is Senior lecturer in Neuropharmacology at Imperial College London and Scientific Director of the UK Parkinson’s Disease Society Tissue Bank. He is the Principal Investigator for Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, Movement and Balance Disorders, and Parkinson’s disease and novel neuroprotective strategies. He is a Collaborator with the Glutamate receptors, neurodegenerative disorders and therapy group.
 
David is on the Editorial Board of Synapse. He is participating in the GSK aADI link project and is a member of the British Pharmacological Society and the British Neuroscience Association. He is the UK representative on the Cooperation in the field Of Science and Technical research (COST) D34 Management Committee, EU.
 
David’s group conducts research into Parkinson’s disease using a variety of avenues. They have utilized human tissue from the Tissue Bank to investigate why the neuronal populations in the Parkinsonian brain are dying. From this work they have identified a number of mechanisms e.g. oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation etc that may contribute to nerve cell death. They are now working with various models of Parkinson’s to develop new drugs that target such mechanisms to see whether they are neuroprotectory. Some of these studies have been successful and they have identified some key compounds they hope to initiate clinical trials with.
 
David coauthored Selective activation of Group III metabotropic glutamate receptors by L-(+)-2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid protects the nigrostriatal system against 6-hydroxydopamine toxicity in vivo, Parkinson’s disease: an update, Sex dimorphisms in the neuroprotective effects of estrogen in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease, Transcriptome analysis reveals link between proteasomal and mitochondrial pathways in Parkinson’s disease, Comparative study of commercially available anti-alpha-synuclein antibodies, and Evaluation of the effects of swainsonine, captopril, tangeretin and nobiletin on the biological behaviour of brain tumor cells in vitro. Read the full list of his publications!
 
Read A 20 Minute Interview With Dr David Dexter.