Colin Pouton

For me, fun at work is about studying molecular cell biology with powerful analytical tools - investigating the interface between chemistry and biology.  Applying this science to discover new treatments for disease makes our research even more rewarding.

I have research activities in two main areas:  1) Use of cell and molecular biological models in mechanistic investigations of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, leading to improved models for drug discovery, and 2) Challenging problems in delivery of therapeutic agents, notably  in  (i)  oral  absorption  of  poorly  water-soluble  drugs, and (ii) delivery of nucleic acids for vaccination and gene therapy.

I work in both basic and applied sciences.  I am motivated to help solve therapeutic challenges – but this often requires some serious effort in basic molecular and cell biology.  As a result I am engaged in a variety of projects – and that's the way I like it.

Selected recent publications

Watmuff B., Hartley B.J., Hunt C.P., Fabb S.A., Pouton C.W., Haynes J.M. (2015),  Human pluripotent stem cell derived midbrain PITX3eGFP/w neurons: a versatile tool for pharmacological screening and neurodegenerative modeling Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, vol 9: 104

Williams, H.D., Sassene, P.J., Kleberg, K., Calderone, M., Igonin, A., Jule, E., Vertommen, J., Blundell, R., Benameur, H., Mullertz, A., Porter, C.J., Pouton, C.W. (2014), Toward the establishment of standardized in vitro tests for lipid-based formulations, part 4: Proposing a new lipid formulation  performance  classification  system,  Journal  of  Pharmaceutical  Sciences  [P], vol 103, issue 8, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken NJ USA, pp. 2441-2455

Warren, D., Bergstrom, C.A.S., Benameur, H., Porter, C.J., Pouton, C.W. (2013), Evaluation of the structural determinants of polymeric precipitation inhibitors using solvent shift methods and principle component analysis, Molecular Pharmaceutics [P], vol 10, issue 8, ACS Publications, Washington DC  USA,  pp.  2823-2848.

Williams, H.D., Trevaskis, N., Charman, S.A., Shanker, R., Charman, W.N., Pouton, C.W., Porter, C.J. (2013), Strategies to address low drug solubility in discovery and development, Pharmacological Reviews [P], vol 65, issue 1, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Bethesda  MD  USA,  pp.  315-499

Watmuff, B., Pouton, C.W., Haynes, J.M. (2012), In vitro maturation of dopaminergic neurons derived from mouse embryonic stem cells: Implications for transplantation, PLoS ONE [E], vol 7, issue 2, Public Library of Science, USA, pp. 1-11.

Nefzger, C., Su, C.T.E., Fabb, S.A., Hartley, B.J., Zeng, W., Haynes, J.M., Pouton, C.W. (2012), Lmx1a allows context-specific isolation of progenitors of GABAergic or dopaminergic neurons during neural differentiation of embryonic stem cells, Stem Cells [P], vol 30, issue 7, Wiley-Blackwell, USA, pp.  1349-1361