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Staff Profile

Dr Sasha Gartside

Senior Lecturer

  • Email: sasha.gartside@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7633
  • Address: Dr SE Gartside
    Senior Lecturer
    Biosciences Institute
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Newcastle University
    The Medical School
    Framlington Place
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE2 4HH

Background

I am a senior lecturer in the Biosciences Institute working in the Neuroscience, Neurodisability and Neurological Disorders Theme in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. 

I graduated from Liverpool University with a BSc in Pharmacology in 1986 and from there went to work as a technician in the MRC Clinical Pharmacology Unit at Oxford University. In 1989 I was awarded an MRC studentship and completed my thesis in the Oxford University, Department of Psychiatry supervised by Prof. Phil Cowen. In 1992, I was awarded my DPhil in Neuropharmacology from Wolfson College. I spent a year in Lyon, France as a postdoctoral fellow and then returned to Oxford where I held an MRC Training Fellowship to study the impact of MDMA (ecstasy) on the brain. 

In 1999, I moved to Newcastle University to take up a lectureship in the Department of Neurology, Neuroscience and Psychiatry. I am now a senior lecturer in the Biosciences Institute.

Research

Research Interests

I have two main areas of research:


Affective disorders and their treatment.

Affective (mood) disorders (depression and bipolar disorder) are common psychiatric disorders which have a chronic and recurrent course, and are very distressing for sufferers and their families. Patients with affective disorders have not only a reduced quality of life but also a reduced life span and a significant number of patients commit suicide. The aetiology of affective disorders is complex with many ‘risk factors’. Although we have some effective drug treatments for mood disorders, patients take a long time to respond to the drugs and even then may not recover completely; other patients find no benefit at all. In order to better treat, cure, or event prevent affective disorders, we need to understand more about how brain function is altered by both the risk factors for affective disorders and the effective treatments. With this knowledge, I hope that we may be able to vastly improve the treatment of these common and distressing disorders. My research work has particularly focussed on i) gaining a clearer understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology of brain monoamine neurotransmitter systems; ii) determining how these neurotransmitter systems are affected by stress and other risk factors for affective disorders; and iii) how these neurotransmitter systems are affected by established and novel antidepressant and mood stabilizing treatments.


The structure, function and plasticity of the auditory midbrain.

Hearing is one of our most important senses. Hearing impairment, and in particular reduced ability to hear speech in noisy environments, is very isolating while hearing disorders including tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and hyperacusis (super sensitivity to sounds) are disabling and distressing. My research is aimed at understanding the structure and function of the auditory system (in particular the auditory midbrain), how activity in the auditory system is modified by other senses and by emotions, and the mechanisms underlying adaptation and mal-adaptation in the auditory system.

In my laboratories I employ a wide range of techniques in rodents including in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, microdialysis, behavioural analysis, immunocytochemistry, microscopy and optogenetics.

Teaching

Postgraduate Teaching

I am module leader and I teach the MRes module 'The biological basis of psychiatric disorders and their treatment'

Undergraduate Teaching

I teach on the

Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacology BSc courses

Pharmacy MPharm

MBBS 5 year and accelerated course

Research supervision

I supervise undergraduate project students (BSc and MPharm) and postgraduate (MRes and PhD) research students

Continuing Professional Development

I teach Neuroscience and Psychopharmacology to trainee psychiatrists preparing for the Royal College of Psychiatrists membership examinations (MRCPsych) in the NHS Northern Deanery.

I teach Psychopharmacology to British and overseas health professionals including consultant psychiatrists, nurses and GPs under the auspices of the British Association for Psychopharmacology in Masterclasses and specialist meetings around the country.

I contribute to psychopharmacology content in the British Association for Psychopharmacology's online CPD portfolio

Publications