Roger  Thompson

Roger Thompson, PhD

Positions

Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Full Member

Hotchkiss Brain Institute

Contact information

Web presence

Phone number

Office: +1 (403) 210-6312

Background

Educational Background

B.Sc(H). Biological Sciences, Queen's University, 1994

Doctor of Philosophy Biological Sciences, McMaster University, 2000

Biography

Dr. Thompson is a cellular and synaptic neuroscientist with interests in mechanisms of cell to cell communication and how this is altered by hypoxia (stroke) and other diseases, such as dementia.  He received his PhD in Biology from McMaster University in 2000 where he studied under the eminent neuroscientist Dr. Colin Nurse. Following this, he joined Dr. John Caldwell at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center as an NSERC funded postdoctoral fellow.  In Colorado, Dr. Thompson learned key molecular biology techniques and made seminal discoveries on the nature of molecular transport across intracellular membranes, specifically the Golgi complex.  In 2004 he move to the University of British Columbia to work as a postdoc with Dr. Brian MacVicar.  In Vancouver he discovered the role of pannexin ion channels in neuronal death during stroke and published this work in the leading journal, Science.  Since 2008 he has been a faculty member at the University of Calgary.  He has built an outstanding research team that studies the role of pannexin channels and glutamate receptors in neuronal death and synaptic (dis)function. Dr. Thompson and his team are particularly interested in how environmental and physiological stressors (such as stroke) interact with normal brain mechanism to cause dementia. 

Research

Areas of Research

Dementia
Stroke
Activities

Dr. Thompson's lab is focussed on understanding the mechanisms of neuronal death during neurodegenerative diseases and the fundamentals of synaptic plasticity. They currently focus on a novel mechanism of signalling by the NMDA receptor, its so-called metabotropic role. Additionally, the lab uses state of the art electrophysiology, imaging, and molecular biology techniques to elucidate the diverse neuronal and synaptic roles played by an ion channel, pannexin-1 in cell death and plasticity.

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Awards

  • AHFMR Scholar, 2009
  • Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada New Investigator, 2008
  • Henry J.M. Barnett Scholarship Award, 2008