JOSHUA L. SMALLEY

Research Assistant Professor

he/him/his

EDUCATION

BSc, Biochemistry, University of Surrey, Surrey, United Kingdom

MSc, Toxicology, University of Surrey, Surrey, United Kingdom

PhD, Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

Josh is a research associate with expertise in biochemistry, neuroscience and bioinformatics. His research interests include characterizing endogenous GABAa receptor subunit composition, investigating how this can influence receptor-interacting proteins, and how this dictates the pharmacology and sub-cellular localization of receptor sub-types. This work involves the development of large data-rich 'omic' technologies and bioinformatic analyses for the identification of novel GABAA receptor-related targets for neurological diseases.

After receiving his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in biochemistry and toxicology respectively from the University of Surrey, UK, Josh undertook his Ph.D. in genetics and bioinformatics under the supervision of Timothy Gant and Flaviano Giorgini at the MRC Toxicology Unit, UK. His Ph.D. project involved studying the potential applications of the connectivity map (cMap), a bioinformatic tool that can be used to detect similarities in drugs and disease based on transcriptional fingerprints. Following his Ph.D., Josh worked with one of the developers of the cMap—Justin Lamb—as a visiting scientist at Genometry Inc., Boston, MA. Josh returned to the United Kingdom for a postdoctoral position under Professor Ian Forsythe at the University of Leicester, UK, where he studied the phospho-dependent modulation and trafficking of the voltage-gated potassium channel; Kv2.1.

As well as having a passion for all thing’s science, Josh also enjoys restoring classic motorcycles. He has so far saved, rebuilt, and restored three 1989 Honda Hawk GTs from salvage yards.