Jim Hockley
PhD Student

Jim commenced a four-year BBSRC sponsored CASE Industrial PhD studentship in collaboration with Pfizer in November 2010. Prior to this, he had completed research projects at Duke University Medical School, North Carolina with Professor Carol Colton and at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Here he investigated the underlying neurobiology of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, respectively. Jim holds a Master of Biochemistry degree from the University of Bath and completed his project with Dr Sue Wonnacott studying the molecular integrators of dopamine signalling. Previously, Jim has worked as a life science’s conference producer for Hanson Wade, a best-in-industry commercially focused conference company; as well as a marketing assistant at the London Business School and is co-founder of Hockley Spargo Design LLP.

Project: Exploring the mechanisms involved in visceral pain by examining the activation of sensory nerves by inflammatory stimuli

The focus of the work is to explore the mechanisms involved in visceral pain by examining the activation of human sensory nerves by inflammatory stimuli. The Neurogastroenterology group has recently pioneered the use of electrophysiological recordings of sensory nerve activity from isolated human colon and appendix. This preparation provides a critical translational step, allowing data from comparable recordings in animal tissue to be directly compared with humans. The first goal of the studentship will be to compare and contrast the effect of inflammatory stimuli, that have been well characterised in animal tissue, on human sensory nerve activity. The second goal of the studentship will be to examine the effect of novel inflammatory mediators on rodent and human sensory nerve activity.