Position:
Professor
Department:
College of Medicine and Public Health
Organization:
Flinders University and South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute
Country:
Australia
Prof. Stuart Brierley
BSc, PhD
Stuart Brierley is an international leader on the ‘Gut-Brain’ axis, in particular the different afferent classes innervating the gut, the channels and receptors underlying their function and how these mechanisms are changed in acute and chronic visceral pain. This has been possible by developing novel techniques (including mouse colonic afferent recordings) and combining them with molecular biology, genetically modified mice, optogenetics, and clinically relevant models of acute and chronic visceral pain, human biospecimens and translational science. This includes using human DRG neurons for functional and RNA analysis to determine coupling of ion channels and GPCRs in health and disease to determine how the first in class guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) agonist linaclotide (Linzess) inhibits colonic nociception, the role of NaV1.1 in mechanical pain and the role of enterochromaffin cells in visceral hypersensitivity.