Professor Susan Duty PhD, FBPhS

Biography

My research team is dedicated to better understanding, and finding improved treatments for, Parkinson’s disease. A key focus is to find drugs to combat the neurodegeneration underpinning Parkinson’s. As well as identifying novel targets for achieving this, such as mGlu4 receptors, we use targeted repurposing strategies to identify existing drugs that boost protective growth factor levels and explore novel delivery mechanisms for the growth factors themselves. Another key focus is to define the mechanisms behind pain in Parkinson’s and identify ways in which patients’ pain can be better managed. I am also co-Head of Department of the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases. Previously I was Head of Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, responsible for delivery of pharmacology education to undergraduate and masters students. I have received Teaching Excellence Awards from King’s College London and the British Pharmacology Society in recognition of innovative education.

Please see my Research Staff Profile for more detail.

Find out more about my research:

• TOBeATPAIN

Key Publications:

• Mann et al., 2020. Antiparkinsonian Effects of a Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 4 Agonist in MPTP-Treated Marmosets. Journal of Parkinson's Disease.
• Fletcher et al., 2019. Targeted re-positioning identifies drugs that increase fibroblast growth factor 20 production and protect against 6-hydroxydopamine-induced nigral cell loss in rats. Scientific Reports.
• Betts et al., 2012. Neuroprotective effects of the mGlu4 receptor positive allosteric modulator, VU0155041 in the 6-hydroxydopamine-lesion rat model of Parkinson’s disease. British Journal of Pharmacology. 
• Sleeman et al., 2012. Fibroblast growth factor-20 protects against dopamine neuron loss in vitro and provides functional protection in the 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rat model of Parkinson’s disease. Neuropharmacology.
• Duty et al., 2011. Animal models of Parkinson's disease: a source of novel treatments and clues to the cause of the disease. British Journal of Pharmacology. 

View all publications

Key Collaborators:

• Professor K Ray Chaudhuri, King's College London
• Professor Marzia Malcangio, King's College London
• Dr Gareth Williams, King's College London
• Dr Michael Jones, Cell Guidance Systems Ltd