Dr Ben Pickard

Senior Lecturer

Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences

Personal statement

Ben Pickard obtained a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College London (1992), and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (1996). Before coming to the University of Strathclyde, he worked at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge on factors regulating DNA methylation, and at the Molecular Medicine Centre, Edinburgh, identifying genetic risk factors for common psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.

Publications

Genomics of lithium action and response: Pickard Benjamin S.; Neurotherapeutics Vol 14, pp. 582-587, (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13311-017-0554-7
Brain changing tubers : gene expression changes following mediaeval tuber consumption: Woods N, Gebril A, Simpson Ann, Iannetta Ppm, Kenicer G, Tate R J, Pickard B, Gray A I, Ferro V A; Planta Medica Vol 81, pp. S1-S381, (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0036-1596241
Specialised information processing deficits and distinct metabolomic profiles following TM-domain disruption of Nrg1: O'Tuathaigh CMP, Mathur N, O'Callaghan MJ, MacIntyre L, Harvey R, Lai D, Waddington JL, Pickard BS, Watson DG, Moran PM; Schizophrenia Bulletin, (2016)
The EpiTect Methyl qPCR Assay as novel age estimation method in forensic biology: Mawlood Shakhawan K., Dennany Lynn, Watson Nigel, Pickard Benjamin S.; Forensic Science International Vol 264, pp. 132-138, (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.03.047
Metabolomic Profiling of Post-Mortem Brain Reveals Changes in Amino Acid and Glucose Metabolism in Mental Illness Compared with Controls: Zhang Rong, Zhang Tong, Ali Ali Muhsen, Al Washih Mohammed, Pickard Benjamin, Watson David G.; Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal Vol 14, pp. 106-116, (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2016.02.003
Quantification of global mitochondrial DNA methylation levels and inverse correlation with age at two CpG sites: Mawlood Shakhawan K., Dennany Lynn, Watson Nigel, Dempster John, Pickard Benjamin S.; Aging Vol 8, pp. 636-641, (2016)

more publications

Teaching

Director of Postgraduate (Taught) Programmes: oversight of MSc courses
Course Director: new MSc Global Public Health
Deputy, undergraduate Biomedical Sciences student-staff committee
Teaching/class co-ordination across Biomedical Science classes: BM101, 102, 104, 305, 407, 410 (genetics, genomics, human disease, clinical biochemistry, neurdegeneration
Teching on MSc Generic Skills: MP931 (Bioethics)
Personal Development Advisor
Internal/external examiner PhD theses
External examiner MSc Neuroscience, UCL, (2013-2015)

Certificates of Recognition in University of Strathclyde Student Union Teaching Excellence Awards: 2012, 2013, 2014.

Research interests

The role of the NPAS3 and ABCA13 genes in psychiatric illness
Metabolomic markers of mental illness
A novel stem cell type, and it potential use in research and therapeutics
A new gene trap-based mutation screening methodology to identify genes participating in specific aspects of cell function or response to drug treatment.
Functional genetics of neuroinflammation and pathogen infection
Oxidative stress biology
Telomere manipulation to produce new cell lines for research
Environmental factors influencing epigenetic marks on the genome

Projects

Pharmacells contribution to IAA Secondment: Carswell, Hilary (Principal Investigator) Pickard, Benjamin (Co-investigator); Period 25-Jun-2016 - 31-Mar-2017
BB/J013854/1 BBSRC DPT Studentships (with Glasgow University) | Ireland, Liam: Plevin, Robin (Principal Investigator) Pickard, Benjamin (Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2014 - 01-Oct-2017
BB/J013854/1 BBSRC DPT Studentships (with Glasgow University) | Fullerton, Josephine Linda: Winn, Philip (Principal Investigator) Pickard, Benjamin (Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2012 - 31-Mar-2017
Development of novel gene delivery systems for brain targeting by intravenous administration: Dufes, Christine (Principal Investigator) Pickard, Benjamin (Co-investigator); Period 01-May-2016 - 30-Apr-2019
Development of starting materials for cell-based treatments (project plan for SMART grant): Carswell, Hilary (Principal Investigator) Carter, Katharine (Co-investigator) Currie, Susan (Co-investigator) Pickard, Benjamin (Co-investigator); Period 01-Apr-2015 - 31-Mar-2016
Investigating the biology of psychiatric illness using blastomere-like stem cells: Pickard, Benjamin (Principal Investigator); Employing neurons derived from blastomere-like stem cells as a tool to investigate the genetics, biology and pharmacology of psychiatric illnesses; Period 01-Sep-2011 - 31-Dec-2012

more projects

Address

Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
Hamnett Wing John Arbuthnott Building

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