Our teams
A collaboration of experts from five universitiesPrincipal investigators (PIs)
Dr Mino Belle
Dr Mino Belle is a circadian neurophysiologist within the Centre for Biological Timing, Division of Neuroscience (DNS), Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester.
His research group focuses on circadian neurophysiology and investigates how circadian rhythms are generated and coordinated in neuronal and neuroglial brain circuits to organise physiology and behaviour across the day-night cycle. They study these in young and healthy animal models, and changes that occur during ageing and disease, both in nocturnal (night-active) and diurnal (day-active) rodents.
Expertise and methods
Dr Belle’s expertise ranges from single-cell to synaptic and brain circuit physiology and biophysics, and his lab uses a combination of transgenic animal models and state-of-the-art ex vivo methods to probe brain function, such as:
- Multi-electrode array
- Whole-cell patch-clamp and dynamic-clamp electrophysiology
- Patch-Seq
- Living brain slice imaging (intracellular calcium and genes)
- Optogenetic
- Behavioural assessments
- Computational/mathematical modelling
Email: mino.belle@manchester.ac.uk
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Dr Marco Brancaccio
Dr Marco Brancaccio is a Group leader of the UK Dementia Institute at the Dept of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London. Before joining Imperial in October 2018, he received his MSc in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Naples and PhD in Neuroscience from SISSA, Trieste (2010).
Marco then joined Michael Hastings group in the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, where he elucidated the role of neuronal-astrocytic interplay in the specification of circadian time (Brancaccio et al. Neuron 2013, 2017; Brancaccio et al. Science 2019).
Marco’s research focuses on glial/neuronal interplay in the specification of circadian function and its dysregulation during ageing and neurodegenerative diseases (Hoekstra et al. PNAS 2024; Ness et al., EMBO J 2025). Read profile at UK Dementia Research Institute.
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Prof James Hodge FRSB (PI), University of Bristol
Prof James Hodge is interested in how activity and plasticity in the nervous system generates behaviour, particularly the role of voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels, CamKII and CASK in these processes. His research group uses Drosophila to study these protein families as they display high functional conservation with mammals and flies are highly genetically and experimentally tractable.
James’s team uses electrophysiology or dynamic cell imaging to record neural activity from highly defined behavioural circuits that are complex enough to generate a repertoire of behaviours known to involve channels and interacting molecules in humans.
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Professor Hugh Piggins
Professor Hugh Piggins moved to the University of Bristol to take up the role of Head of School in 2019. His lab is focused on brain centres that control intrinsic 24h or circadian rhythms in physiology and behaviour. Much of their work has concerned the influence of circadian clock genes and neurochemicals on neuronal activity in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), site of the brain’s primary circadian clock.
Another facet of their work concerns the spatiotemporal organisation of circadian oscillators in brain structures outside of the SCN including the circumventricular organs and brainstem. A new strand of their research is assessing how rodents choose and partition their behavioural efforts over the 24-hour cycle.
Recently, Hugh’s team were funded along with researchers from all five CircadiAgeing partner universities, to investigate and mathematically model the effects of ageing and anti-ageing interventions on circadian rhythms in behaviour, neurons and astrocytes in flies and rodents.
Techniques
- Monitoring controlling wheel-running, feeding, and drinking rhythms in the home cage
- Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)
- Imaging bioluminescent rhythms in tissue explants
- Multi-electrode array recording of brain slice activity
- Patch clamp electrophysiology
- Fluorescent in situ hybridisation (RNAscope)
- Immunohistochemistry
- Wireless EEG monitoring
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Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova
Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova is interested in developing and analysing dynamic mathematical models to study important aspects of cellular signal-transduction pathways such as calcium dynamics and neuronal network excitability. The models are developed in collaboration with experimentalists and are used to interpret data and to design new experimental tests of hypotheses.
Krasimira has a long-standing interest in dynamical systems theory applications; numerical continuation of solutions and bifurcations in non-linear systems of differential equations; and data-driven modelling including learning in the model space. She is very excited about applications of dynamical systems theory and in particular bifurcation analysis to hybrid systems such as dynamic clamp for electrophysiology experiments.
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Dr Alessio Vagnoni (Co-PI), King’s College London
Dr Alessio Vagnoni leads a research group which focuses on the cell biology of the neuron during ageing and neurodegeneration, with particular emphasis on the intricate relationship between intracellular trafficking and neuronal function. The lab is particularly fascinated by the transport of organelles and vesicles in the axons of neurons and their aim is to understand how regulatory nodes of this process can affect neuronal homeostasis during ageing.
With time, they have also developed a strong interest in understanding how neuronal trafficking is spatially regulated within cells. Their belief is that a better understanding of the spatio-temporal regulation of neuronal trafficking is crucial to dissect the mechanisms leading to ageing and neurodegeneration.
The group are currently combining in vivo approaches in Drosophila melanogaster with studies in cultured mammalian neurons and Drosophila cells.
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Early career researchers (ECRs)
Dr Edgar Buhl (Researcher co-lead), University of Bristol
Dr Edgar Buhl is a neurobiologist exploring how the brain processes environmental cues to generate the complex and fascinating behaviours observed in animals. Using behavioural and electrophysiological techniques in insects, simple vertebrates and mice, he has uncovered how individual neurons and neural networks control behavioural responses to sensory stimuli. For example, he has studied how light and temperature entrain the circadian clock.
Edgar’s long-term goal is to trace and understand the full sequence of neural processes that occur when an animal reacts to its environment.
In the CircadiAgeing project, Edgar applies Drosophila electrophysiology, optogenetics and dynamic clamp approaches to identify the ion channels and transporters that drive the circadian membrane clock, and to examine how this electrical timekeeping mechanism changes with age.
Dr Pi-shan Chang, University of Bristol
Dr Pi-shan Chang‘s research interests lie at the intersection of circadian biology and ageing, with a particular focus on how sex and age influence rhythmic regulation of behaviour and physiology. She is especially interested in how daily (circadian) and multi-day (infradian) rhythms evolve across the lifespan and differ between males and females, and how these changes contribute to age-related vulnerability to disease.
Pi-shan’s recent work has demonstrated that ageing impacts both the strength and periodicity of behavioural rhythms, with clear sex-dependent patterns. To further understand the neural mechanisms driving these changes, she is committed to integrating in vivo and ex vivo electrophysiological techniques. These approaches will allow her to characterise age- and sex-specific alterations in neural rhythmicity and network dynamics, particularly in brain regions involved in circadian control and emotional regulation.
Ultimately, Pi-shan’s goal is to uncover mechanisms of rhythmic dysregulation that could inform sex- and age-specific interventions in translational models, where disrupted rhythms may affect disease vulnerability and treatment effectiveness.
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Scientific advisory board (SAB)
Dr Giulia Gaggioni, Maynooth University
Dr Giulia Gaggioni is an MSCA COFUND NeuroInsight Fellow at Maynooth University (Ireland) and an eLife Community Ambassador. As an early career researcher (ECR), she is currently investigating sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions in people with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Giulia’s research training has provided her with a background in circadian neuroscience and mental health, as well as in human cortical excitability and cognitive function across both younger and older adults.
Dr Alice Gregory, Royal Holloway University of London
Dr Alice Gregory is co-director of the Royal Holloway Sleep Lab. She has contributed to several diverse research areas, including having contributed well over 100 scientific articles focusing on topics including:
- The longitudinal associations between sleep and psychopathology
- Behavioural genetics
- Sleep paralysis
In addition to her scientific contributions Alice has also contributed to the public engagement of science.
Amongst other things, she has published two books:
- Nodding Off (Bloomsbury, 2018), a popular science book
- Sleepy Pebble (Flying Eye Books, 2019), a book designed to help children relax before bedtime
Alice has provided information about sleep/ contributed to research panels for both the Department for Education and Public Health England.
Related links
- Publications
- Google Scholar, Alice M. Gregory
- Baby Sleep Advice for Parents & Kids, Alice Gregory, PhD
- The Conversation, Alice M Gregory
- BBC Science Focus Magazine, Alice Gregory
- ACAMH, Dr. Alice M. Gregory
- ORCID, Alice Gregory (0000-0003-2222-7823)
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Dr Megan Jackson, University of Bristol
Dr Megan Jackson completed her undergraduate degree in Medical Sciences at the University of Exeter in 2017 and also spent a year at the University of Bath where she completed her professional training year. She then moved to the University of Bristol to complete her PhD in pharmacology and neuroscience in the labs of Professor Emma Robinson and Professor Stafford Lightman.
Megan completed her PhD in 2021 and now continues to work at the University of Bristol supporting undergraduate teaching and continues her research developing behavioural assays of motivation and testing novel therapeutics for motivational disorders supported by her own BBSRC and technology development grants.
In particular, Megan’s work focuses on developing more ethological, refined ways of measuring motivation to better improve translatability and rodent welfare. As part of this, Megan developed a novel rodent behavioural task which does not require food or water restriction or extended periods of training. She presented this work at the BAP summer meeting 2023 for the first time, and subsequently won the non-clinical poster prize.
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Professor Gurprit Lall, University of Kent
Professor Gurprit Lall’s research focused on how light influences the body’s internal clock. His work explores the entire pathway of light entrainment—from retinal detection to the molecular and cellular mechanisms that relay light signals to the circadian system.
Utilising diverse models, including ageing and neuropsychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder and dementia, Professor Lall investigates how circadian disruption contributes to disease and how targeted interventions might restore rhythmicity.
Beyond the lab, he has translated his research into clinical practice by establishing a dedicated sleep clinic to support individuals with neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and traumatic brain injury. Through personalized sleep management strategies, his work aims to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life for patients.
Gurprit’s team use a range of techniques from behavioural rhythms to electrophysiology and molecular biology. He is also using digital technologies and wearable devices to study sleep and rhythms in humans.
Related links
Dr Nina Rzechorzek, University of Cambridge
Previously hosted at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Dr Nina Rzechorzek is a physiologist and clinical academic, specialising in veterinary neurology and neurosurgery. Her research focuses on brain temperature and how this interacts with the molecular circadian clockwork in human brain cells.
The human brain can no longer be viewed as an isothermal machine. This demands a reappraisal of how daily neuronal activity is regulated and raises questions about how brain-injured patients are managed. Nina wants to understand how changes in brain temperature variability might predict and influence the manifestation of chronic brain disorders.
Circadian and sleep disruption are increasingly associated with these disorders, but the impact of temperature variation on the neural clockwork and brain health is largely unexplored. Nina aims to address some of the prevailing controversies in neural chronobiology from a thermal, biophysical, and neurovascular perspective. Her goal is to transform the therapeutic landscape for brain disease by understanding how brain clocks work, and how the brain works around the clock.
Related links
- Heatwave: A 4D map of human brain temperature
- Human brain temperature and its clinical value (YouTube)
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