Professor Walter Marcotti
School of Biosciences
Professor of Sensory Neuroscience
Co-director of the Neuroscience Institute


+44 114 222 1098
Full contact details
School of Biosciences
B1 221
Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
葫芦影业
S10 2TN
- Profile
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- 2012 - present: Professor of Sensory Neuroscience
- 2006 - present: Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of 葫芦影业, UK.
- 2004 - 2005: Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Sussex, UK.
- 2001 - 2004: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Sussex, UK.
- 1997 - 2000: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Bristol, UK.
- 1994 - 1997: PhD, University of Pavia, Italy.
- 1989 - 1992: University Degree in Biological Science, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
- Research interests
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- Molecular and physiological mechanisms controlling the functional maturation of the auditory system.
- Mechanoelectrical transduction at the hair cell stereocilia
- Signal processing at ribbon synapses
- Age-related hearing loss
- Mechanisms underlying different forms of hearing loss and deafness
Auditory neuroscience and deafness sensory transduction synaptic transmission
Sensory organs and the neural networks responsible for processing sensory information are supremely well adapted for detecting input from the external environment. Their challenge is to maximize sensitivity and fidelity over a wide dynamic range. The sensory receptors of the mammalian auditory system, the inner hair cells (IHCs), do this with unparalleled temporal precision (kHz range). We know little about the molecular and physiological mechanisms controlling the functional maturation of the auditory system or signal processing at the primary auditory synapses, the IHC ribbon synapses. Crucial to this work, is the need of near-physiological in vitro and the development of in vivo experimental models.
My laboratory is uniquely suited for this task because it is the only one in the world that routinely uses near-physiological conditions for in vitro mammalian cochlear physiology and performs in-vivo electrophysiology from the zebrafish. How biological systems orchestrate their development and how complex signals are processed by mature neuronal networks are major challenges in the quest to understand human biology and disease.
The auditory system provides an ideal model with which to address these questions, primarily because it involves a highly ordered array of a very small number of sensory cells with well-defined neuronal circuitry. It is also a key priority for human health because hearing loss affects more than 360 million people worldwide (WHO 2013), a number that will increase with the aging population.
- Publications
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Featured publications
Journal articles
All publications
Journal articles
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
Preprints
- Research group
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Collaborators
- Prof Steve Brown and Dr Mike Bowl (MRC Harwell, Oxford, UK)
- Prof Corne Kros (University of Sussex, Brighton, UK)
- Grants
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- Teaching activities
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Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules
Undergraduate:
- BMS335 Sensory Neuroscience (Co-ordinator)
- Level 3 Practical and Dissertation Modules
Masters (MSc):
- BMS6335 Sensory Neuroscience (Co-ordinator)
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Reviewing editor for Journal of Physiology
- Awards
- Wellcome Trust Investigator (2022)
- Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator (2014)
- Sharpey-Schafer Lecture and Prize (2011) 鈥 Physiological Society, Oxford.
- Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2004), The Royal Society, UK.