Curriculum Vitae#

Dimitri M Kullmann MA DPhil FRCP FFICM FMedSci
Professor of Neurology, UCL Institute of Neurology

Education
Oxford University:
BA 1979 Physiological Sciences
DPhil 1984

London University:
MB BS 1986 Medicine

Editorships
Brain: Editor-in-Chief (2014 – present)
Neuron: Editorial Board (1997 – present)

Current Research Funding
2015 – 2018: MRC "Activity-dependent regulation of synaptic strength and cellular mechanisms of migraine" (KE Volynski, I Pavlov, DMK) £727,994
2015 – 2018: MRC "Periodic paralysis: from molecules to mice" (R Mannikko, DMK, MG Hanna, S Schorge) £467,547
2015 – 2020: Wellcome Trust "Synaptopathies: genetics, biophysical and circuit mechanisms of paroxysmal neurological disorders" (DMK, K Volynski, S Schorge, MG Hanna, H Houlden, JE Rothman, J Jepson, S Sisodiya, PJ Goadsby) £4m
2014 – 2019: MRC "Gene therapy for refractory epilepsy" (DMK, S Schorge, MC Walker) £3.1m
2011 – 2018: Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator "Synaptic neurology" £2.3m

Current Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust Clinical Postdoctoral Fellowship for S Crisp; Epilepsy Research UK Fellowship for R Wykes; Marie-Curie Fellowships for G Lignani, A Lieb and H Martin.

Research
1979 – 1983, 1987 – 1989, Oxford: DPhil & postdoctoral research with Julian Jack: Feedback gain in the segmental spinal motor circuitry in a decerebrate vertebrate preparation; quantal analysis to unitary postsynaptic signals in the spinal cord. This work revealed presynaptic sites of action of the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen and anaesthetic agents.
1990 – 1992, UCSF: Postdoctoral work with Roger Nicoll. I showed that long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission is associated with increases in both quantal content and quantal amplitude, and described a form of non-associative plasticity.
1992 – 1997, Institute of Neurology: Discovery of ‘silent synapses’ and spillover-mediated heterosynaptic actions of glutamate on NMDA and metabotropic glutamate receptors.
1997 – 2007, UCL: Extra- and heterosynaptic signaling mediated by glutamate and GABA. Discovery of tonic inhibition in interneurons and two forms of LTP in interneurons. Biophysical mechanisms of channelopathies.
2007 – present, UCL: Quantitative analysis of calcium-exocytosis coupling in small excitatory boutons; gene therapy for experimental epilepsy; mechanisms of inherited and autoimmune channelopathies; dynamical analysis of network oscillations.

Clinical work: neurology, synaptopathies and neurological intensive care.