John Jefferys

John Jefferys - Professor of Neuroscience

Department of Neurophysiology,Division of Neuroscience , The Medical School,

University of Birmingham, UK

I was trained in Physiology at University College London where the emphasis was on the electrophysiology of excitable tissues, and the cellular and membrane mechanisms of action potentials and synaptic transmission. During successive research posts in London medical schools I developed a strong interest in applying basic electrophysiology to experimental models of neurological diseases, as well as a good deal of experience of Institutional mergers! In 1996 I was tempted away from London to the relative stability of Birmingham, which promptly reorganised its Medical School so that I have now moved from the Department of Physiology to become Head of the Department of Neurophysiology - the smallest of the Departments within the newDivison of Neuroscience.

My group is currently funded by the MRC and The Wellcome Trust

- UCL: my PhD was with Dr AR Gardner-Medwin on the propagation of action potentials into dendrites, and on the effects of externally applied electric fields on neuronal excitability

- Royal Free Hospital: I worked with Prof PK Thomas on diabetic neuropathy

- Institute of Neurology, Queen Square: I worked in Prof TA Sears department on acute and chronic models of epilepsy. Prof Helmut Haas and I, working in Zurich, found a strange epileptiform discharge we called the field burst, which did not depend on synaptic activity, but rather on non-synaptic synchronisation by electric fields and movements of ions.

- St Mary's Hospital Medical (now part of Imperial College): I worked as a Wellcome Trust Senior Lecturer in Prof CC Michel's Department, eventually gaining promotion to Reader, and Professor of Neurophysiology. During this period I developed the programme of work on epilepsy, prion diseases and physiological gamma rhythms which is described in the web pages for my group.

Selected Papers

and complete list of full publications from: 1996,1997, 1998

From UCL

Jefferys, J.G.R. (1979). Initiation and spread of action potentials in granule cells maintained in vitro in slices of guinea-pig hippocampus. Journal of Physiology 289, 375-388.
Jefferys, J.G.R. (1981). Influence of electric fields on the excitability of granule cells in guinea-pig hippocampal slices. Journal of Physiology 319, 143-152.

From Royal Free Hospital

Jefferys, J.G.R. and Brismar, T. (1980). Analysis of peripheral nerve function in streptozotocin diabetic rats. Journal of the Neurological Sciences 48, 435-444.
Thomas, P.K., Jefferys, J.G.R., Sharma, A.K. and Bajada, S. (1981). Nerve conduction velocity in experimental diabetes in the rat and rabbit. Journal of Neurology,Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 44, 233-238.
Thomas, P.K., Jefferys, J.G.R., Smith, I.S. and Loulakakis, D. (1981). Spinal somatosensory evoked potentials in hereditary spastic paraplegia. Journal of Neurology,Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 44, 243-246.

From Institute of Neurology

Jefferys, J.G.R. and Haas, H.L. (1982). Synchronized bursting of CA1 pyramidal cells in the absence of synaptic transmission. Nature 300, 448-450.
Haas, H.L. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1984). Low-calcium field burst discharges of CA1 pyramidal neurones in rat hippocampal slices. Journal of Physiology 354, 185-201.
Brace, H.M., Jefferys, J.G.R. and Mellanby, J. (1985). Long-term changes in hippocampal physiology and in learning ability of rats after intrahippocampal tetanus toxin. Journal of Physiology 368, 343-357.
Jefferys, J.G.R. (1989). Chronic epileptic foci in vitro in hippocampal slices from rats with the tetanus toxin epileptic syndrome. Journal of Neurophysiology 62, 458-468.
Traub, R.D., Miles, R. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1993). Synaptic and intrinsic conductances shape picrotoxin-induced synchronized after-discharges in the guinea-pig hippocampal slice. Journal of Physiology 461, 525-547.
Traub, R.D., Jefferys, J.G.R. and Miles, R. (1993). Analysis of the propagation of disinhibition-induced after- discharges along the guinea-pig hippocampal slice in vitro. Journal of Physiology 472, 267-287.

From St Mary's

Empson, R.M., Amitai, Y., Jefferys, J.G.R. and Gutnick, M.J. (1993). Injection of tetanus toxin into the neocortex elicits persistent epileptiform activity but only transient impairment of GABA release. Neuroscience 57, 235-239.
Collinge, J., Whittington, M.A., Sidle, K.C.L., Smith, C.J., Palmer, M.S., Clarke, A.R. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1994). Prion protein is necessary for normal synaptic function. Nature 370, 295-297.
Jefferys, J.G.R. (1994). Experimental neurobiology of epilepsies. Current Opinion in Neurology 7, 113-122.
Jefferys, J.G.R., Empson, R.M., Whittington, M.A. and Prusiner, S.B. (1994). Scrapie infection of transgenic mice leads to network and intrinsic dysfunction of cortical and hippocampal neurons. Neurobiology of Disease 1, 25-30.
Traub, R.D., Jefferys, J.G.R., Miles, R., Whittington, M.A. and T¢th, K. (1994). A branching dendritic model of a rodent CA3 pyramidal neurone. Journal of Physiology 481, 79-95.
Whittington, M.A. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1994). Epileptic activity outlasts disinhibition after intrahippocampal tetanus toxin in the rat. Journal of Physiology 481, 593-604.
Jefferys, J.G.R. (1995). Non-synaptic modulation of neuronal activity in the brain: electric currents and extracellular ions. Physiological Reviews 75, 689-723.
Whittington, M.A., Sidle, K.C.L., Gowland, I., Meads, J., Hill, A., Palmer, M.S., Jefferys, J.G.R. and Collinge, J. (1995). Rescue of neurophysiological phenotype seen in PrP null mice by transgene encoding human prion protein. Nature Genetics 9, 197-201.
Whittington, M.A., Traub, R.D. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1995). Synchronized oscillations in interneuron networks driven by metabotropic glutamate receptor activation. Nature 373, 612-615.
Whittington, M.A., Traub, R.D. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1995). Erosion of inhibition contributes to the progression of low magnesium bursts in rat hippocampal slices. Journal of Physiology 486, 723-734.

From Birmingham (also see other web pages for my group)

Traub, R.D., Colling, S.B. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1995). Cellular mechanisms of 4-aminopyridine-induced synchronized after-discharges in the rat hippocampal slice. Journal of Physiology 489, 127-140.
Jefferys, J.G.R., Traub, R.D. and Whittington, M.A. (1996). Neuronal networks for induced "40 Hz" rhythms. Trends in Neurosciences 19, 202-208.
Traub, R.D., Whittington, M.A., Colling, S.B., Buzsaki, G. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1996). Analysis of gamma rhythms in the rat hippocampus in vitro and in vivo. Journal of Physiology 493, 471-484.
Colling, S.B., Collinge, J. and Jefferys, J.G.R. (1996). Hippocampal slices from prion protein null mice: disrupted Ca2+-activated K+ currents. Neuroscience Letters 209, 49-52.
Colling, S.B., Man, W.D.C., Draguhn, A. and Jefferys, J.G.R., Dendritic shrinkage and dye-coupling between rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells in the tetanus toxin model of epilepsy, Brain Res., 741 (1996) 38-43.
Traub, R.D., Whittington, M.A. and Jefferys, J.G.R., Gamma oscillation model predicts intensity coding by phase rather than frequency, Neural Comput., 9 (1997) 1251-1264.
Colling, S.B., Khana, M., Collinge, J. and Jefferys, J.G.R., Mossy fibre reorganization in the hippocampus of prion protein null mice, Brain Res., 755 (1997) 28-35.
Whittington, M.A., Traub, R.D., Faulkner, H.J., Stanford, I.M. and Jefferys, J.G.R., Recurrent EPSPs induced by synchronized fast cortical oscillations, Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA, 94 (1997) 12198-12203.M
Traub, R.D., Jefferys, J.G.R. and Whittington, M.A., Simulation of gamma rhythms in networks of interneurons and pyramidal cells, J.Comput.Neurosci., 4 (1997) 141-150.
Whittington, M.A., Stanford, I.M., Colling, S.B., Jefferys, J.G.R. and Traub, R.D., Spatiotemporal patterns of gamma-frequency oscillations tetanically induced in the rat hippocampal slice, J.Physiol.(Lond.), 502 (1997) 591-607.
Colling, S.B., Stanford, I.M., Traub, R.D. and Jefferys, J.G.R., Limbic gamma rhythms. I. Phase-locked oscillations in hippocampal CA1 and subiculum, J.Neurophysiol., 80 (1998) 155-161.
Draguhn, A., Traub, R.D., Schmitz, D. and Jefferys, J.G.R., Electrical coupling underlies high-frequency oscillations in the hippocampus in vitro, Nature, 394 (1998) 189-192.
Jefferys, J.G.R., Mechanisms and experimental models of seizure generation, Curr.Opin.Neurology, 11 (1998) 123-127.
Stanford, I.M., Traub, R.D. and Jefferys, J.G.R., Limbic gamma rhythms. II. Synaptic and intrinsic mechanisms underlying spike doublets in oscillating subicular neurons, J.Neurophysiol., 80 (1998) 162-171.
Traub, R.D., Spruston, N., Soltesz, I., Konnerth, A., Whittington, M.A. and Jefferys, G.R., Gamma-frequency oscillations: a neuronal population phenomenon, regulated by synaptic and intrinsic cellular processes, and inducing synaptic plasticity, Prog.Neurobiol., 55 (1998) 563-575.