Professor Trevor Smart PhD

Trevor Smart holds the Schild Chair in Pharmacology and is the Head of the Research Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology at UCL. He also chairs the UCL Neuroscience Research Domain. His work is primarily focused on the molecular pharmacology and physiology of GABAA, glycine and NMDA receptors which are major inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitter receptors in the brain controlling nerve cell excitability. Multidisciplinary electrophysiological, imaging, genetic and structural approaches are used to understand how GABA, glycine and NMDA receptors function in single cells and in networks within the nervous system. These receptors feature prominently in neurological diseases with the GABA receptor particularly explored as a target for several therapeutic classes of drugs.