Dr Robert Huckstepp

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick

Scientific Background

Research Interests

My research interests mainly focus on respiratory and cardiovascular neurobiology. Cardiorespiratory control is essential for life from before birth all the way through, except for the briefest of pauses, to death. The neural networks that control cardiorespiratory activity form a dynamic microcircuit that must continually monitor and adapt to a set of ever-changing vital parameters (such as blood gas and pH levels) to maintain homeostasis. This cardiorespiratory microcircuit therefore has many components, and is subject to numerous internal, external and sensory control mechanisms.

My research primarily focuses on the role of neurones and glia in the control of breathing, and how different groups of neurones within the respiratory network interact with one another to generate and pattern respiratory output. I have recently developing a model of sleep apnoea, to study the link between sleep disordered breathing and it's comorbidities.

I have collaborations: utilizing Inscopix microscopy to study the respiratory network; developing an algorithm to find apnoeas in respiratory recordings; studying biocompatibility of new compounds; investigating the effects of novel purinergic agonists/antagonists on cardiorespiratory physiology; identifying the role of tanycytes in feeding; and investigating the role of PKG1α in food reward.

I am the director of Post-doctoral affairs Director, Postdoctoral Affairs, co-lead the neuroscience cluster, and I sit on the JEDI committee. I am a member of the Royal Society of Biology, Sigma Xi, and the Alzheimer's research UK west midlands consortium, and I am a faculty member of F1000.

Research Groups

Neuroscience

Co-lead of the Neuroscience theme for the brain, behaviour and society GRP

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Laid-back, supportive, hands on

Provision of Training

Given the type of science I do, and the legalities around it, I take responsibility for your technical training at first, and allowing guide to more independence at a pace that suits your specific circumstances.

Progression Monitoring and Management

We will meet to discuss expect progress and timelines. I will then give you the freedom to meet those deadlines, but will check in to make sure you are on course. I am not a micromanager, but I am there for you whenever you need me. Of course if you fall behind, I will take a more hands on approach.

Communication

AI am quite busy and do a lot of catching up at the end of the day, once my kids go to bed, so I am known to email my team/PhD students at all hours of the day and night. However I will not expect you to do the same, unless there is a welfare issue, that we are legally obliged to deal with occurs, in which case you will need to be responsive at any time on any day of the week.

I comomnicate with my team, through different mediums depending on the urgency of the need. Email is for things that can wait, but whatsapp or text messing is used for urgent communication. I do this so that everybody knows how responsive they must be, that includes me when I am contacted by a member of the team, it makes it easy for me to know the urgency of the situation,

I am happy to discuss any issues that are impacting your ability to fulfil your potential or my/our expectations.

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me:

In a group meeting

It depends on what is happening in the lab. Group meetings normally occur about once every 2 weeks, but may be weekly or monthly, when needed

In year 1 of PhD study

At least once per week

In year 2 of PhD study

Once per week, if needed, it depends on the student

In year 3 of PhD study

Once per week, if needed, it depends on the student

These meetings will be preferably face to face but possibly via video chat or telephone. Given the nature of the work, I must be contactable for a response on every day of the week, including weekends.

Working Patterns

Where there is not a legal requirement, the timing of work in my lab is completely flexible, and I expect students to manage their own time. As long as people hit their deadlines.

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times for legal reasons, and students need to be able to commit to them.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 1 week’s notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.

Project Details

Dr Huckstepp is the supervisor for the below project:

Understanding the role of inhibition in the expiratory microcircuit

Secondary Supervisor(s): Professor Nicholas Dale

University of Registration: University of Warwick

BBSRC Research Themes: Understanding the Rules of Life (Neuroscience and Behaviour)

Apply here!

Deadline: 23 May, 2024

Project Outline

Breathing is our first act upon birth, and the last action we complete before death. The first to last breath taken, is in fact, how we define someone's life. We don't love our children from their 'first blink', we don't love our partners until our 'dying thought', soldiers do not fight until their last 'heart beat', and nobody at a surprise encounter has ever said 'as I live and walk'. However we risk taking breathing for granted. The breathing pattern is generated by specialised nuclei -the preBötzinger complex (preBötC; controlling inspiration), a post-inspiratory oscillator, currently thought to be the postinspiratory complex (PiCo), and the parafacial lateral region (pFL: controlling expiration).

We know a significant amount about the inspiratory oscillator: It's subdivisions, as well as it's inputs and outputs; We even know it's human analogue, which consists of ~120,000 neurons. Much less is known about the other 2 oscillators. Of the remaining 2, the expiratory oscillator is the better studied but even then our knowledge is minimal: We know broadly which neurotransmitters these neurons produce, but not if they are sub-divided further; we know the function of the excitatory subtype, but not the inhibitory one, and whilst we have a map of it's inputs, it's outputs remain largely unknown. Finally, the post-inspiratory oscillator remains largely uninvestigated; we know it's subdivisions but the function of them is mostly undetermined, other than they drive post-inspiratory motor output whilst reducing inspiratory period; we know little about it's outputs except that it does not appear to project directly to the expiratory oscillator.

In this set of experiments we will manipulate different subpopulations of neurons in the rhythm generating network. The manipulations will focus on the role of the often overlooked inhibitory neurons, and the excitatory neurons that drive them. By changing their activity individually or in combination, we can begin to parse out how the different types of neurons in these oscillators work together to pattern motor output. Furthermore, we will make the neurons express fluorescent molecules to identify and quantify the neurons, whilst simultaneously allowing us to build an anatomical map of the outputs of these neurons, upon which our functional data will be added. By building such an in depth map we hope to build a model of respiration to help guide future experiments and therapeutic targeting.

Anatomical mapping and study of functional interactions that generate the phased motor output of breathing are vital areas in need of research. We have already begun this work, by dissecting the functional interactions of the inspiratory (preBötzinger Complex: preBötC) and expiratory (parafacial lateral region: pFL) oscillators. Using a urethane anaesthetized spontaneously breathing rat preparation, we will extend this to the subpopulation level of the network, and expand the model to include a third oscillator that controls post-inspiration (postinspiratory complex: PiCo), and a known inhibitory nucleus whose primary role is to coordinate the phases of breathing, the Bötzinger Complex (BötC). Given the duration of the project we will focus on how inhibitory neurons within the preBötC, BötC, and pFL, and the excitatory neurons within preBötC, PiCo, and pFL that drive them, to see how they pattern breathing, and particularly expiration. Using commercially available viral plasmids, our collaborator will supply us with all of the necessary viruses to complete this project. We will utilize well established optogenetic (opsins) and chemogenetic tools (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDS) and Pharmacologically Selective Actuator Modules (PSAMs)), to simultaneously alter the output of 2 different sub-populations of the rhythm generator. This functional map of interactions, will be enhanced by the simultaneous building of an anatomical map of anterograde connections of these nuclei. At the end of this study we will have created the most in depth map of the neural microcircuit for expiratory related breathing and created a series of tools to functionally probe them.

Techniques

Optogenetics
Chemogenetics
Plethysmography
Non-recovery surgery
Recovery surgery
Immunocytochemistry
Epifluorescent/confocal microscopy

Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership