Dr Tyra Zetterström

Dr Zetterström graduated in Pharmacy (Apotekarexamen) at the University of Uppsala, Sweden in 1979 with Honours in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Following a brief period as a practising pharmacist, she established her interest in the neuropharmacology of CNS transmitters in the Department of Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden and obtained her PhD in 1986. Together with her supervisor Professor Urban Ungerstedt she pioneered the method of microdialysis for the in vivo pharmacological analysis of the CNS neurotransmitter dopamine.

Dr Zetterström spent the next three years in the Department of Physiology in Oxford as a Wellcome Trust Swedish-British Fellow. In 1989 she joined the newly established Smith Kline Beecham Centre for Applied Neuropsychobiology in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology in Oxford and was appointed to Research Lecturer in 1997.

She joined the Leicester School of Pharmacy at the start of the new millennium. Throughout her time at DMU, Dr Zetterström’s research has focused on the pharmacology and physiology of monoamine transmitters, particularly in relation to their influence on expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a key protein for neuronal development and adaptation. Highlights of Dr Zetterström’s research are findings of drug induced BDNF mRNA expression, including therapeutics for the treatment of depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).

Pharmacology

Click here for a full listing of Tyra Zetterström‘s publications and outputs.

Sharp, T. & Zetterström, T.S. (2007) What did we learn from microdialysis? In: Handbook of microdialysis. Handbook of behavioural sciences (EDS Westerink BHC and Cremers TIFH), Academic Press, pp. 5-16.

de Foubert, G., Carney, S.L., Robinson, C.S., Destexhe, E.J., Tomlinson, R., Hicks, C.A., Murray, T.K., Gaillard, J.P., DeVille, C., Xhenseval, V., Thomas, C.E., O’Neill, M.J. & Zetterström, T.S. (2004) Fluoxetine induced change in rat brain expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor varies depending on length of treatment. Neuroscience, 128, 597-604.

Coppell, A.L., Pei, Q. & Zetterström, T.S. (2003) Bi-Phasic BDNF gene expression following antidepressant drug treatment. Neuropharmacology, 22, 903-910.

• Pharmacology and physiology of monoamine neurotransmitters
• Neuroadaptive processes associated with treatment of psychiatric conditions including depression and ADHD
• Physiological and pharmacological regulation of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression.

• Chemical transmission and drug action in the central nervous system
• Therapeutics and Mental Health (anxiolytics, antidepressants, antipsychotics and hypnotics)
• Antiepileptic drugs
• Analgesic drugs
• Drug addiction, dependence and abuse
• CNS stimulants and treatment of ADHD
• CNS drugs and neuronal adaptation
• Physiology and Pharmacology of the Sympathetic nervous system
• Lung disorders and drug treatment.

• 1989-present, Member of British Pharmacological Society
• 1995-present, Member of British Neuroscience Association, including Federation of European Neuroscience (FENS)
• 2005-present, Member of British Association of psychopharmacology.

Recent lectures at conferences and meetings of international and national scientific societies include:

• British Association for Psychopharmacology, Invited Speaker (2011)
• British Association for Psychopharmacology Invited Speaker (2009)
• ECNP, Istanbul, Invited Speaker Turkey (2009)

• Neuropharmacology: Molecular action of antidepressant drugs
• Effects of Psychostimulants and its use in children.

Ayah Komal Siddiqi 1 supervisor

RIF Grant
Project Title: Chronic treatment with methylphenidate (Ritalin) during development and neuronal toxicity into adulthood: a proof of principle study.
Start Date: September 2010
End Date: August 2011.