Dr Martin Stebbing

Qualifications

PhD (Medicine), University of Melbourne, 1996

B.Sc. (Hons), University of Melbourne, 1991

Teaching responsibilities

At present my teaching responsibilities include teaching in the Physiology, Neuroscience and Cell Biology disciplines. This includes teaching into the Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences - Bachelor of Applied Science, Chinese Medicine, Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Human Movement programs.

Research interests

My major area of research interest is the neurobiology of neuropathic pain and the physiology of sensory systems in the periphery and the spinal cord. Neuropathic pain can follow many kinds of damage to the nervous system, including diabetic neuropathy, infection, trauma (eg car accidents) or iatrogenic injury during surgery (eg. mastectomy, thoracotomy and gall bladder removal). Currently available treatments are inadequate and the mechanisms causing neuropathic pain are still not properly understood. Changes in damaged sensory neurons with cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglia may contribute to the pathology. Changes within the dorsal horn of the spinal cord have also been implicated. The dorsal horn is the first point of processing of somatic and visceral sensory information within the central nervous system.

The aim of my research is to develop a better understanding of the function of the dorsal horn and the changes in the nervous system that lead to neuropathic pain. I have taken a multidisciplinary approach to investigating how sensory neural circuits are wired up and how they function. I have utilised several different methods including electrophysiological recordings from single cells using patch clamp, combined with 3-dimensional reconstructions of neuronal morphology using confocal microscopy.

I am affiliated with the Cardiovascular, Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research group at RMIT and the Autonomic Neuroscience/Pain and Sensory Mechanisms Laboratory at the University of Melbourne

I have successfully supervised doctoral candidates and currently supervise several students, at both PhD and honours level.

Industry / profession / community involvement

I am currently a member of the following societies:

• The Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS)
  2004 Symposium organiser, National Scientific Conference; Principal organiser Satellite symposium entitled “Understanding Pain - Biology to Behaviour”
• The Australian Physiological Society (AuPS)
• The Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR)
  1999 NSW Membership Convenor, co-chair NSW state conference organising committee, author state and national conference websites.
• The International Society for Autonomic Neuroscience (ISAN)
  1997 Organiser international congress events and jobs forum, author young scientists web page.
• The Society for Neuroscience (USA)
• I am a regular reviewer of articles submitted to journals such as the Journal of Physiology, British Journal of Pharmacology, Neuroscience Letters and Digestive Diseases and Sciences, and of grant applications to the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council.
• In October 2003 I took part in the Science Meets Parliament day organised by the Federation of Australian Science and Technology Societies. I met with politicians to discuss support for scientific research in Australia and gave a radio interview on Plenty Valley FM.
• I am currently Chair of the Neurosciences Victoria Pain Research Program Committee and I was manager of the Neurosciences Victoria Cellular Neurophysiology Platform from 2002-2004.

Research publications since 1996

Nurgali, K., Stebbing, M.J. and Furness, J.B. (2004) Correlation of electrophysiological and morphological characteristics of enteric neurons in the mouse colon. J Comp Neurol. 468: 112-124.

Furness, J.B., Robbins, H.L., Xiao, J., Stebbing, M.J., Nurgali, K. (2004) Projections and chemistry of Dogiel type II neurons in the mouse colon. Cell Tissue Res. 317: 1-12.

Furness, J.B., Clerc, N., Vogalis, F. and Stebbing, M.J. (2003) The enteric nervous system and its extrinsic connections. In: Textbook of Gastroenterology (4th Ed), ed. Yamada, T., Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp. 12-34.

Furness, J.B., Stebbing, M.J. and Clerc, N. (2003) Sensory neurons of the gastrointestinal tract. In: Textbook of Gastroenterology (4th Ed), ed. Yamada, T., Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp. 34-47.

Kawai, M., Nguyen, T.V., Stebbing, M.J., Clerc, N., Komori, S. and Furness, J.B. (2003) Comparison of effects of phorbol dibutyrate and of low frequency stimulation of synaptic inputs on currents that determine the excitability of myenteric AH neurons Eur J Physiology 447: 298-304.

Lopez de Armentia, M., Leeson, A.H., Stebbing, M.J., Urban, L., McLachlan, E.M. (2003) Responses to sympathomimetics in rat sensory neurones after nerve transection. NeuroReport 14: 9-13.

Nurgali, K., Furness, J.B. and Stebbing, M.J. (2003) Analysis of purinergic and cholinergic fast synaptic transmission to identified myenteric neurons. Neuroscience 116: 335-47.

Nurgali, K., Furness, J.B. and Stebbing, M.J. (2003) Correlation of electrophysiology, shape and synaptic properties of myenteric AH neurons of the guinea-pig distal colon. Autonomic Neuroscience 103: 50-64.

Smith, P.A., Stebbing, M.J., Moran, T.D., Tarkkila, P. and Abdulla, F.A. (2001) Neuropathic Pain and the Electrophysiology and Pharmacology of Nerve Injury. Drug Develop. Res. 54: 140-153.

Stebbing, M.J., Bornstein, J.C., Johnson, P.J. and Vremec, M.A. (2001) Role of a2-adrenoceptors in sympathetic inhibition of motility reflexes of the guinea-pig ileum. J. Physiol. 534: 465-478.

Abdulla, F.A., Stebbing, M.J., Smith, P.A. (2001) Substance P suppresses Ca2+-sensitive K+ conductance in ‘small’ neurons and in ‘large’ axotomized neurons of rat dorsal root ganglion. Eur. J. Neurosci. 13: 545-552.

Stebbing, M.J., Eschenfelder, S., Häbler, H.-J., Acosta, M.C., Jänig, W. and McLachlan, E.M.(1999) Changes in the action potential in sensory neurones after peripheral axotomy in vivo. NeuroReport 10: 201-206.

Stebbing, M.J., McLachlan, E.M. and Sah, P. (1998) Are there functional P2X receptors in intact dorsal root ganglia of rats? Neuroscience 86: 1235-1244.

Young, H.M., Ciampoli, D., Johnson, P.J., and Stebbing, M.J. (1996) Involvement of nitric oxide in inhibitory transmission to the longitudinal muscle of the mouse caecum. J.Auton.Nerv.Syst. 61, 103-108.

Stebbing, M.J. and Bornstein, J.C. (1996) Electrophysiological mapping of fast excitatory synaptic inputs to morphologically and chemically characterised myenteric neurons of guinea-pig small intestine. Neuroscience 73, 1017-1028.

Awards

• 1997-1999 UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 1998 Tow Research Awards - Poster Prize.
• 2000 Canadian Neurotrauma Fellowship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Patents

Use of protein kinase C inhibitor for suppressing sustained slow postsynaptic excitation (SSPE).In the name of Pfizer International: Inventors, JB Furness and MJ Stebbing, US Patent 60/458673 (2003)