Dr Richard Tuxworth MA PhD

• Associate fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2012
• PhD (University of London), 1999
• MA (Cantab), 1998
• BA (Cantab) in Natural Sciences, 1994

Richard studied for a PhD in cell biology at the MRC Centre for Molecular Cell Biology at University College London with Robert Insall before moving to the University of Minnesota where he was a post-doctoral fellow with Meg Titus. He returned to the UK to work with Bill Chia and Guy Tear at the MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King's College London. In October 2012 Richard moved to the University of Birmingham as a Lecturer in Molecular Genetics in the School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine. He is now a Senior Lecturer and Head of Education in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.

• Head of Education for the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
• Biomedical Science BSc - module co-lead for year 3 "From Genes to Therapy"
• MSc Genomic Medicine  - Programme deputy lead and module co-leads for "Fundamentals of Human Genetics and Genomics" and “Genomics of Common and Rare Diseases”
• MBChB

Richard currently supervises two PhD students. He is interested in supervising post-graduate students in the following areas: 

• The molecular and cellular basis of neurodegeneration
• The response of the nervous system to DNA damage
• Drosophila models of disease
• Lysosomal storage disorders and other inherited metabolic disorders
• The function of lysosomes in neuronal health and disease
• Stress signalling in neurons

If you are interested in studying any of these subject areas please contact Richard directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings  

Richard Tuxworth is a cell biologist interested in disorders of the nervous system. He studies both early-onset inherited forms of neurodegeneration and the more common neurodegenerative disorders associated with old age. His laboratory is particularly interested in understanding how DNA damage impacts on nervous system function in neurological disease and finding out whether manipulating the response of cells to DNA damage could be used therapeutically.

DNA damage in neurological disease

Richard and colleagues in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences are investigating how accumulating DNA damage impacts on central nervous system function in chronic neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s diseases, and in acute neurological diseases, such after trauma. Richard’s group uses a combination of cell culture, biochemistry, genetics and genomics to understand the cell biology of neural responses to DNA damage and uses simple models of neurodegenerative disease developed in fruit flies to perform rapid surveys of potential new methods of intervention in neurological disease.

Lysosomal storage disorders and neural development

Lysosomes are low-pH organelles critical for recycling in cells and for coordination of growth and stress signalling. Lysosomes become dysfunctional in a large group of inherited syndromes known as the lysosomal storage disorders. Many result in neuropathology at a young age, including fatal childhood-onset neurodegeneration. The early pathology suggests lysosomal function must be essential for normal neuronal development. To study this, Richard’s group primarily use fruit flies as a simple model system to understand how and why the nervous system is sensitive to changes in lysosomal biology.