Personal Chair: Michael Cousin

Professor Michael Cousin has been appointed Personal Chair in Neuronal Cell Biology.

Professor Cousin was awarded a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh.

He then obtained a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee.

After postdoctoral study at the Neurosciences Institute in Dundee, he won fellowship awards from the Royal Society and the Human Frontiers of Science Program to undertake research at the Children’s Medical Research Institute, Sydney, Australia.

He returned to Edinburgh to take up a lectureship within Biomedical Sciences and now performs his research within the Centre for Integrative Physiology.

Professor Cousin’s major research focus is to determine how brain cells communicate at specific regions called synapses.

His work has shown that the mechanism of communication dramatically alters during intense brain activity, and his group has identified a series of key molecules that control this process.

These discoveries pave the way for a novel research avenue in designing drugs to provide therapies for patients suffering from neuronal disorders such as epilepsy, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Professor Cousin’s work is primarily supported by the Wellcome Trust, but also by the BBSRC and Epilepsy Research UK.