BAP Co-Opted Member Details

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Hugh Marston Co-Opted Council Member: Dr Hugh Marston, PhD, BSc

Schering-Plough Corporation. hugh.marston@spcorp.com
Co-opted in January 2008

Hugh Marston currently leads the Psychopharmacology Section at Schering-Plough Corporation’s research site at Newhouse in Scotland. Hugh gained a BSc jointly in physiology, pharmacology and statistics before studying with Trevor Robbins for a PhD in experimental psychology at Cambridge University. During his period in Cambridge he began to develop his interest in animal models of human CNS disorders initially focussing on manipulations to the cholinergic system on learning, memory and attention. Following completion of a visiting fellowship at NIDA in Baltimore working with Jon Katz on the substrates of cocaine addiction he joined the Fujisawa Institute of Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh directed by John Kelly. Here he developed a behavioural laboratory supporting a number of drug development projects ranging from neuroprotection in stroke, through adenosinergic pharmacology to the development of animal models of cognition relating to schizophrenia. In parallel, academic collaborations included; a foray into chronobiology in association with Tony Harmar and Mick Hastings exploring the role of the VPAC2 receptor and the development of a battery of mouse cognitive tasks to complement those available for rats.

Hugh moved to Organon, latterly Schering-Plough seven years ago and now heads a team providing in vivo expertise in support of the Company’s psychiatry and neuroscience pipe lines from early Lead Finding to Registration. These include late phase projects such as; Bridion – a neuromuscular blocking reversal agent, Asenapine – a novel psychotherapeutic, and AMPA and Glycine modulatory approaches. Earlier in development work is focused on manipulations to the HPA axis, cannabinoids and glutamate as well as a number of highly novel approaches. In particular, he has a keen interest in improving our animal models of psychiatric disease. As such he has established a network of academic collaborations in the UK and Europe to help stimulate innovative approaches. The goals being three fold; to develop pre-clinical approaches that are truly related to the processes perturbed in psychiatric illness, to improve our ability to validate novel targets and find molecules of real value, and finally to allow a better translation of projects from the pre-clinical to clinical phase.

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  1. InVivoStat Statistical Analysis on 23rd August 2010
    New BAP Education web page describing InVivoStat: The Statistical Tool for all Psychopharmacologists. Click here to read more InVivoStat
  2. Information for the Public on 4th August 2010
    We are pleased to launch our Public Web Pages. These are intended for members of the public with an interest in psychopharmacology. Public Web Page
  3. Review of Mental Health Research on 5th July 2010
    In 2009, BAP contributed to the Medical Research Council’s Review of Mental Health Research. The Report has recently been published. A summary report may be found here; MRC Mental Health Research Summary Report. Professor Barbara Sahakian, who will become BAP President-elect later this month, has written an article in the Lancet “A UK strategy for mental health and wellbeing”, also available here; Lancet article

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