Post:	Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience
Location:	JMS Building 5D15
Email:	S.L.King@sussex.ac.uk
Telephone numbers
Internal:	3190
UK:	(01273) 873190
International:	+44 1273 873190

Biography

Sussex University: Psychology Home Page

2004- Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience (University of Sussex)

1997-2004 Postdoctoral Fellow (Yale University, CT, USA)

1993-1997 DPhil Neuroscience (Sussex)

1992-1993 MSc Gene Manipulation and Molecular Biology (Sussex)

1987-1990 BSc Biology (University of Bristol)

Role

Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience

 

Research

A higher proportion of people with mental health problems or psychiatric disorders smoke than the general population. Nicotine, the component of tobacco smoke that causes addiction, acts at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain. My research interests are to study the role of these nicotinic receptors in normal and abnormal brain function and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms mediating nicotine's effects on behaviour.

Teaching

Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Role - Discipline Leader for Neuroscience

Teaching -

Module 202 Neuroscience and Behaviour

Module 302 Scientific Basis of Medicine

Module 307 SSC - Methods in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Module 404 Individual Research Project Supervision

University of Sussex

Role - Programme Convenor, BSc Experimental Psychology (intercalated degree)

Teaching -

DPhil Project Supervision

C8824 Empirical Project Supervision

 

Publications

Caldarone BJ., King SL. & Picciotto MR. (2008) Sex differences in anxiety-like behaviour and locomotor activity following chronic nicotine exposure in mice. Neuroscience Letters 439, 187-191

Miwa JM., Stevens TR., King, SL., Caldarone, BJ., Ibanez-Tallon, I., Xiao, C., Fitzsimonds, RM., Pavlides, C., Lester, HA. Picciotto, MR. and Heintz N. (2006) The Prototoxin lynx1 Acts on Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors to Balance Neuronal Activity and Survival In Vivo Neuron 51, 587-600.

King, SL., Caldarone, BJ. and Picciotto, MR. (2004) Beta2-subunit-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are critical for dopamine-dependent locomotor activation following repeated nicotine administration. Neuropharmacology 47,S1: 132-139.

Caldarone, BJ., Harrist, A., Cleary, MA., Beech, RD., King, SL. and Picciotto, MR. (2004) High affinity nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are required for antidepressant effects of amitriptyline on behavior and hippocampal cell proliferation. Biological Psychiatry 56: 657-664.

Harrist, A., Beech, RD., King, SL., Zanardi, A., Cleary, M.A., Caldarone, BJ., Eisch, A., Zoli, M. and Picciotto, MR. (2004) Alteration of hippocampal cell proliferation in mice lacking the b2 subunit of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Synapse 54: 200-206.

King, SL., Marks, MJ., Grady, SR., Caldarone, BJ., Koren, AO., Mukhin, AG., Collins, AC., and Picciotto, M.R. (2003) Conditional expression in corticothalamic efferents reveals a developmental role for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in modulation of passive avoidance behavior. The Journal of Neuroscience 23: 3837-3843.

Caldarone, BJ., Karthigeyan, K., Harrist, A., Hunsberger, JG., Wittmack, E., King. SL., Jatlow, P., and Picciotto, MR. (2003) Sex differences in response to oral amitriptyline in three animal models of depression in mice. Psychopharmacology 170: 94-101.

Picciotto, MR., Caldarone, BJ., Brunzell, DH., Zachariou, V., Stevens, T., and King, SL. (2002). Neuronal nicotinic receptor subunit knockout mice: Physiological and behavioral phenotypes and possible clinical implications. Pharmacology & Therapeutics 92: 89-108.

Mukhin, AG., Gundisch, D., Horti, AG., Koren, AO., Tamagnan, G., Kimes, AS., Chambers, J., Vaupel, DB., King, SL., Picciotto, MR., Innis, R. and London, ED. (2000) 5-iodo-A-85380, an beta4alpha2 subtype-selective ligand for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Molecular Pharmacology 57: 642-649.

Picciotto, MR., Caldarone, BJ., King, SL., and Zachariou, V. (2000) Nicotinic receptors in the brain: links between molecular biology and behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology 22: 451-465.