Neville Brookes
Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacology
University of Maryland School of Medicine
United States of America
Biography
Dr. Brookes' laboratory studied how brain cells integrate and coordinate the membrane transport activities controlling the fluxes and compartmentation of amino acid neurotransmitters and their metabolic precursors. The goal was to understand how these fluxes are normally regulated and how their perturbation may underlie neurodegenerative disorders associated with aging and exposure to environmental neurotoxicants. Dr. Brookes applied expertise in neural cell culture, acquired in the laboratory of Dr. Philip Nelson at NICHD, to elucidate the role of astrocytes in the glutamate-glutamine cycle. These studies were funded by NIEHS, and involved collaborations with Dr. R. J. Turner at NIDR and with Dr. S. Broer at Australian National University. Currently, Dr. Brookes is course director of GPLS 607 (Principles of Pharmacology) and GPLS 623 (Molecular Neurotoxicology), is a section leader for GPLS 601 (Core Course), and he contributes several pharmacology classes in the 'Foundations of Disease' and 'Pathophysiology & Therapeutics I' courses for the sophomore medical class.
Research Interest
Amino acid transport, Astrocytes, pH regulation, Glutamate-glutamine cycle
