Prof. William T O'Connor

Research Interests

Multitudes of different neurotransmitters are used to relay messages between nerve cells in the brain. Using microdialysis (via a specially constructed and very small artificial blood vessel) I monitor the release of neurotransmitters from nerve cells in those nerve circuits mediating movement and emotion. The aim is to understand the role of neurotransmitter release in these nerve circuits thereby leading to new treatments for Parkinsons disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia and head trauma. All studies are performed in the intact brain of animals and man. During the past 15 years my research has focussed on the application of microdialysis to the study of neurotransmitter release in the intact conscious brain of animals and man although other topics, namely the neurpharmacology of neurological and psychiatric disorders, analytical chemistry, data management and neuroinformatics have attracted my attention and continue to do so. A more recent initiative is the development of a neurotrauma model in the rat, which mimics the brain damage associated with mild and severe head injuries in the human. A neuroinformatics workbench is also being developed whereby the findings from the microdialysis studies obtained from the rat is pooled into a biologically based, object driven computer model for probing limbic and motor nerve circuitry I believe that this approach will lead to the prediction of better and safer drugs for the treatment of brain damage and mental illnesses in the human.