Dr David Marples

Biography

I trained as a medic at Oxford, and did a D.Phil. in physiology with Ann Taylor before finishing my medical training. After my house jobs, I got back to research as soon as possible... I spent another two years as a post-doc with Ann, studying the role of the cytoskeleton in the response to vasopressin. I then spent two years in Aarhus, Denmark, working with Soren Nielsen, mainly on the newly-discovered aquaporin-2 (AQP2) water channel. I am now continuing this work, often in collaboration with Soren, in Leeds.

Research Interest

Regulation of shuttling and expression of aquaporin 2 water channels Aquaporin-2 water channels are shuttled from a store in vesicles to the apical plasma membrane in response to vasopressin. One half of our research is focussed on the cellular apparatus involved in this regulated exocytic process, for which cAMP, rather than calcium, is the trigger. The other major strand concerns the cellular signals which regulate AQP2 levels within the cells. This is important in the pathogenesis of a number of water balance disorders. A final interest is the organisation of microtubules within epithelial cells, and their role in regulated vesicular trafficking, including that of AQP2.