Dr Andrew Furley

Andrew Senior Lecturer & Postgraduate Research Director
Department of Biomedical Science
The University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield S10 2TN
United Kingdom

email : a.j.furley@sheffield.ac.uk
Room: D231 Alfred Denny building
Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 2354

Career history

2004-present: Senior Lecturer, Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield
1997-2004: Lecturer, CDBG, Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield
1992-1997: MRC Research Scientist, Division of Developmental Neurobiology, NIMR, Mill Hill, London
1990-1992: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow, Center for Neurobiology & Behavior, Columbia University, New York (Advisor: T. Jessell)
1987-1990: Jane Coffin Childs Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dept of Biochemistry, Columbia University, New York (Advisors:F. Alt/T. Jessell)
1987: PhD Leukaemia Biology, Imperial Cancer Research/UCL, London (Supervisor: M. Greaves)
1982: B.Sc. (Hons) Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh

Research interests

Our research is focussed on the role L1CAM-like cell adhesion molecules (L1-CNTNs) in neural development. L1-CNTNs affect neural function at all stages, including the earliest proliferation and differentiation of progenitor and stem cells (Bizzoca et al 2003; Ma et al 2008; Xenaki et al., 2011; Bizzoca et al., 2012), the guidance of axons (Cohen et al 1998; Law et al 2008; Dang et al., 2012), through to firing of action potentials (Poliak et al 2003) and functioning of synapses (Bliss et al 2000). As a result, these molecules are widely implicated in neurological disease and cancers. Our aim is to understand the cellular mechanisms through which L1-CNTNs affect this wide variety of processes.

Activities and distinctions

British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB; www.bsdb.org) Committee member (1999-2005); Publications Secretary (2000-2005; http://www.bms.ed.ac.uk/services/webspace/bsdb/BSDBnewsold.htm
MRC Advisory Board (MAB) 2002-2005
Appointed adviser on genetics and biotechnology to EU-wide consortium (PRIVILEGED) determining the ethical and legal interests in privacy and data protection for research involving the use of genetic databases and bio-banks, 2007. www.privilegedproject.eu

Funding

Recent publications

Bizzoca, A., Corsi, P., Polizzi, A., Pinto, M. F., Xenaki, D., Furley, A. J., and Gennarini, G. (2012).

F3/Contactin acts as a modulator of neurogenesis during cerebral cortex development.
Developmental Biology 365, 133-151.

Dang, P., Smythe, E., and Furley, A. J. (2012).
TAG1 Regulates the Endocytic Trafficking and Signaling of the Semaphorin3A Receptor Complex.
Journal of Neuroscience 32, 10370-10382.

Buchner, D. A., Geisinger, J. M., Glazebrook, P. A., Morgan, M. G., Spiezio, S. H., Kaiyala, K. J., Schwartz, M. W., Sakurai, T., Furley, A. J., Kunze, D. L., Croniger, C. M., and Nadeau, J. H. (2012).
The juxtaparanodal proteins CNTNAP2 and TAG1 regulate diet-induced obesity.
Mammalian Genome 23, 431-442.

Xenaki D, Martin IB, Yoshida L, Ohyama K, Gennarini G, Grumet M, Sakurai T, Furley AJ.
F3/contactin and TAG1 play antagonistic roles in the regulation of sonic hedgehog-induced cerebellar granule neuron progenitor proliferation.
Development. 2011 138:519-29.

Law CO, Kirby RJ, Aghamohammadzadeh S, Furley AJ.
The neural adhesion molecule TAG-1 modulates responses of sensory axons to diffusible guidance signals.
Development. 2008 Aug;135(14):2361-71. Epub 2008 Jun 11.

Dawe, G. S., Ma, Q. H., Futagawa, T., Yang, W. L., Jiang, X. D., Zeng, L., Takeda, Y., Xu, R. X., Bagnard, D., Schachner, M., Furley, A. J., Karagogeos, D., Watanabe, K., and Xiao, Z. C. (2008).
A tag on to the physiological functions of APP in neurogenesis.
Journal of Neurochemistry 106, 32-32.

Ma QH, Futagawa T, Yang WL, Jiang XD, Zeng L, Takeda Y, Xu RX, Bagnard D, Schachner M, Furley AJ, Karagogeos D, Watanabe K, Dawe GS, Xiao ZC.
TAG1-APP signalling pathway through Fe65 negatively modulates neurogenesis.
Nature Cell Biology. 2008 Mar;10(3):283-94. Epub 2008 Feb 17. Erratum in: Nat Cell Biol. 2008 Apr;10(4):497.

Last updated: 12 April 2013