Dr Mark Baker

Profile

Mark Baker completed an honours degree in Physiology at Leeds University in 1981. Following his PhD studies on the hippocampus in St Andrews, he spent two post-docs with Hugh Bostock FRS at the Institute of Neurology studying the function and pharmacology of axonal ion channels, and he assisted Hugh in devising the methodology for ‘threshold-electrotonus’ recording, now used clinically to assess peripheral nerve function. Mark gained experience of pharmacology in industry at Pfizer in the 1980s, and then in the lab of J. Murdoch Ritchie FRS in the department of Pharmacology at Yale. While in the USA, Mark made a detailed characterization of the potassium channels expressed in Schwann cells, using polypeptide neurotoxins. Mark was a member of John Wood's molecular nociception group at UCL from 2000 to 2005, and he studied the effects of Na+ channel gene knock-out or mutation on damage sensing neurones, using patch-clamp techniques. Mark has made contributions to understanding the roles played by distinct Na+ channel sub-types in generating neuropathic and inflammatory pain. He was appointed non-clinical lecturer in Neuroscience in 2005.

Teaching

Research

Research Interests:

Mark’s recent research interests have included studying amyloid-b (1-42) ion channels in real cell membranes in collaboration with John Viles (historically BBSRC/ QMUL Life-Sciences initiative PhD studentship and Wolfson bursary supported). Mark has investigated  the functional effects of temperature on optic nerve axons and the impact of electroneutral Na⁺ transport in normal and diseased central axons (MS society innovation award and subsequently with an MS society PhD studentship).

Publications

Key Publications

Bode DC, Stanyon HF, Hirani T, Baker MD, Nield J, Viles JH (2018). Serum Albumin's Protective Inhibition of Amyloid-β Fibre Formation Is Suppressed by Cholesterol, Fatty Acids and Warfarin. J Mol Biol 10.1016/j.jmb.2018.01.008 https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/33744

Baker MD, Kanagaratnam M, Pendleton C, Souza DA, Pettit J, Howells J (2017). Diuretic sensitive electroneutral Na+ movement and temperature effects on central axons. The Journal of Physiology 10.1113/JP273963 https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/19446

Bode DC, Baker MD, Viles JH (2016). Ion Channel Formation by Amyloid-β42 Oligomers but not Amyloid-β40 in Cellular Membranes. Journal of Biological Chemistry 10.1074/jbc.M116.762526 https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/21600

Coates TA, Woolnough O, Masters JM, Asadova G, Chandrakumar C, Baker MD (2015). Acute temperature sensitivity in optic nerve axons explained by an electrogenic membrane potential. Pflugers Arch vol. 467, (11) 2337-2349. 10.1007/s00424-015-1696-2 10.1007/s00424-015-1696-2

Bulmer D, Hockley J, Mcguire C, Cibert-Goton V, Tranter M, Knowles C, Baker M, Mcmurray S et al. (2015). Differential roles of voltage-gated sodium channels on visceral afferent excitability to mechanical and inflammatory mediators. Neurogastroenterology and Motility vol. 27, 110-110.

All Publications