Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care Section
Head of Section: Prof Masao Takata
Academic Staff: Prof Andrew Rice, Dr Robert Dickinson, Dr Daqing Ma, Dr Nandor Marczin, Dr Istvan Nagy, Dr Stefan Trapp, Dr Michael Wilson & Prof Nick Franks*
The Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine, and Intensive Care (APMIC) Section brings together academics interested in main topics of perioperative care: anaesthesia, analgesia and other aspects of critical care relating primarily to the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems.
The research undertaken within the Section is motivated by the clinical need to deliver best service in perioperative medicine and pain management. Our interests range from ventilator-induced lung injury via the molecular basis of anaesthetic actions to the long-term management of neuropathic and chronic pain. Studies are driven by the desire to understand the molecular basis of these processes, how organprotection can be achieved in the clinical setting, and how metabolic disease (e.g. diabetes) interacts with brain function. The individual research groups strongly interact and have also close links with the Biophysics Section in the Division of Cell & Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, where a number of groups share our interest in the regulation of neuronal excitabilty by anaesthetics, metabolism and other factors.
For further more detailed information about the research interests of the individual research groups please use the links to the individual academics within the panel on the right.
The Section works with the other Sections in the Department of Surgery and Cancer and Faculty of Medicine, as well as Departments within the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial, such as Life Sciences and Chemistry. We also work closely with local NHS Trusts and Health Authorities, along with other universities.
The Section contributes to both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Most members of the department are involved in teaching the highly successful BSc course Surgery and Anaesthesia, of which Dr Michael Wilson is a Director. The Section also is host to a number of PhD students and enquiries from prospective students are always welcome. Professor Masao Takata is the Director of Postgraduate Studies within the Department of Surgery and Cancer. Finally, the Section is home to the Chelsea & Westminster Healthcare Simulation Center, a state of the art teaching aid that can simulate a wide variety of clinical situations allowing the ultimate in experiential learning.
Our laboratories regularly attract students from the BSc in 'Surgery and Anaesthesia' for exciting experimental projects. A number of those students have subsequently taken up studies for a PhD within the Department. We can also accommodate PhD students who are funded via the MRC DTA.
Techniques regularly used in our labs include in vivo and in vitro physiology and pharmacology, behavioural studies, immunohistochemistry, patch-clamp recordings, site-directed mutagenesis, single-cell RT-PCR, organotypic cultures and flow cytometry.
*Professor Franks' primary appointment is in the Faculty of Natural Sciences where he is Head of the Division of Cell & Molecular Biology and Head of Biophysics
