Stuart Peirson
Research Areas
Medical Sciences Division Themes
- Neuroscience
- Behavioural Science
- Integrative Physiology
- Genetics and Genomics
- Bioinformatics and Statistics
Neuroscience Sub-Themes
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Systems, Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience
- Genes and Developmental Neuroscience
Neuroscience Keywords
- Circadian Rhythms
- Visual System
- Phototransduction
- Biostatistics
- Gene Expression
- G-Protein Coupled Receptors
- Retina
- Rhythm
- Sensory Transduction
- Sleep
Techniques and Equipment
Collaborators
- Russell Foster, Circadian and Visual Neuroscience
- Mark Hankins, Circadian and Visual Neuroscience
- Stephanie Halford, Circadian and Visual Neuroscience
- Sumathi Sekaran, Circadian and Visual Neuroscience
- Jeremy Taylor, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
- Matthew Wood, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
| Web | Personal Website |
|---|---|
| Department | Department of Ophthalmology |
The mammalian circadian axis
The rotation of the Earth provides a predictably changing environment in which all life has evolved. As a consequence, the ability to anticipate changes in environment confers an enormous selective advantage. To be able to anticipate such changes requires an internal means of telling the time – a circadian clock. The dramatic daily changes in both light quantity and spectral composition form the primary time cues for the circadian system, which detects light via the familiar rods and cones of the retina, as well as by other more unusual receptors, such as the pineal gland (in non-mammalian species) and the recently-identified photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (pRGCs). As well as circadian photoentrainment, pRGCs regulate a variety of acute non-image forming responses to light including melatonin suppression and the pupillary light response.
In mammals, these retinal photoreceptors project to a central clock located in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), which regulates activity and rest cycles. However, the circadian system consists of numerous independent clocks, in both the brain as well as peripheral tissues such as the heart, liver and kidney.
I am interested in a range of opsin-vitamin A based photopigments which mediate these non-image forming responses to light, using both molecular techniques such as qPCR, laser capture microdissection (LCM) and microarrays as well as behavioural techniques such as wheel-running assays and action spectroscopy.
A secondary field of research relates to technical aspects of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). I have applied this technique for a diverse range of biological studies, and am particularly interested in improving the speed, accuracy and reproducibility of qPCR methodologies. Much of this work has involved alternative approaches to data analysis, including the publication of a freely-available Excel-based platform, DART-PCR.
Sources of Funding
- Children with Leukaemia 2004- 2005
- Hoffman-La Roche Ltd 2007- 2010
Biography
BSc in Neuroscience, University of Sheffield (1994-7)
PhD in Neuroscience, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London (1997-2001)
Research Associate, Imperial College London (2001-2006)
Senior Research Scientist, University of Oxford (2006-)
Selected Publications
- Peirson Stuart N, Oster Henrik, Jones Sarah L, Leitges Michael, Hankins Mark W, and Foster Russell G (2007) Microarray analysis and functional genomics identify novel components of melanopsin signaling. Curr Biol, 17(16):1363-72.
- Peirson Stuart and Foster Russell G (2006) Melanopsin: another way of signaling light. Neuron, 49(3):331-9.
- Peirson Stuart N, Butler Jason N, Duffield Giles E, Takher Sharanjit, Sharma Puneet, and Foster Russell G (2006) Comparison of clock gene expression in SCN, retina, heart, and liver of mice. Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 351(4):800-7.
- Munoz Marta, Peirson Stuart N, Hankins Mark W, and Foster Russell G (2005) Long-term constant light induces constitutive elevated expression of mPER2 protein in the murine SCN: a molecular basis for Aschoff's rule? J Biol Rhythms, 20(1):3-14.
- Peirson Stuart N, Thompson Stewart, Hankins Mark W, and Foster Russell G (2005) Mammalian photoentrainment: results, methods, and approaches. Methods Enzymol, 393:697-726.
- Peirson Stuart N, Bovee-Geurts Petra HM, Lupi Daniela, Jeffery Glen, DeGrip Willem J, and Foster Russell G (2004) Expression of the candidate circadian photopigment melanopsin (Opn4) in the mouse retinal pigment epithelium. Brain Res Mol Brain Res, 123(1-2):132-5.
- Parry Juliet WL, Peirson Stuart N, Wilkens Horst, and Bowmaker James K (2003) Multiple photopigments from the Mexican blind cavefish, Astyanax fasciatus: a microspectrophotometric study. Vision Res, 43(1):31-41.
- Peirson Stuart N, Butler Jason N, and Foster Russell G (2003) Experimental validation of novel and conventional approaches to quantitative real-time PCR data analysis. Nucleic Acids Res, 31(14):e73.
- Semo Ma'ayan, Lupi Daniela, Peirson Stuart N, Butler Jason N, and Foster Russell G (2003) Light-induced c-fos in melanopsin retinal ganglion cells of young and aged rodless/coneless (rd/rd cl) mice. Eur J Neurosci, 18(11):3007-17.
