User:Suzanne L Dickson

Career I was recruited to the position of Professor of Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University in 2004, having had a tenured position as Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and associated Fellowship at Peterhouse, a Cambridge College (between 1996 and 2004).

My first lectureship appointment was at the Department of Anatomy at King’s College London in 1994, one year after the completion of my PhD (University of Cambridge). As a PhD student I was privileged to work with Prof Gareth Leng during which time we provided the first evidence that growth hormone secretagogues (now known to be ghrelin mimetics) activate hypothalamic cells.

This work paved the way to a research career focused on understanding the brain systems through which ghrelin operates, together with understanding the role of the central ghrelin signaling system in appetite, energy balance and, more recently, reward, including alcohol reward.

Research Interests

The main interest of my research group is the integrated neurobiology of appetite and reward with particular emphasis on understanding disease mechanisms that lead to obesity and/or feeding disorders.

In particular, we are interested in the effects of metabolic signals, such a ghrelin, on appetitive brain networks. We have active research programs that pursue the physiological brain targets for the circulating hormone, ghrelin, and to understand how the brain ghrelin signalling system may be developed as a therapeutic target for the aforementioned diseases.

We combine classical neurobiological approaches, including electrophysiology and neuroanatomy, with endocrine and genetic techniques to better understand biological events at the level of the organism.