Dr Robin Highley
DPhil, FRCPath
School of Medicine and Population Health
Senior Clinical Lecturer in Neuropathology
+44 114 222 2244
Full contact details
School of Medicine and Population Health
Room B28
Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)
385a Glossop Road
Sheffield
S10 2HQ
- Profile
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I graduated in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1993 and subsequently completed a DPhil in Oxford studying the neuropathology of Schizophrenia from which I completed in 1997.
I then trained in medicine at the University of Birmingham from 1997-2002. Following this, I moved to Sheffield, to train in neuropathology, gaining the European Fellowship of Neuropathology in 2008 and FRCPath in 2009.
On completing this training in 2009, I took up an MRC/Motor Neurone Disease Association Lady Edith Wolfson Fellowship to study Motor neurone disease. I became a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Neuropathology in 2012.
I also work as a Consultant Neuropathologist for the South and East Yorkshire Neuropathology Network, which provides diagnostic neuropathology services to the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust.
 
- Research interests
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I am interested in the neuropathology and pathophysiology of neurodegeneration, in particular motor neurone disease (MND), Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
I use standard neuropathological techniques to characterise post mortem tissue kindly donated by individuals with these diseases and to highlight contrasts with tissue from people who were free from disease. These methods are used to study genes, proteins and molecular pathways of interest and the pathological effects of gene mutations known to neurodegeneration.
I study mouse, zebrafish and cellular models of disease and the comparison of these with human tissue based pathology.
Current projects
- The pathobiology and neuropathology of C9ORF72-mediated MND
 - Oligodendrocyte disease and function in MND
 - TIGAR-related pathology in Parkinson’s disease
 - Zebrafish models of Parkinson’s disease
 - The relationship between pathological and radiological measures of white matter in vascular dementia.
 
 
- Publications
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Journal articles
- . Brain Pathology.
 - . Advanced Science, 12(9).
 - . EMBO Molecular Medicine, 16(11), 2882-2917.
 - . Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 15.
 - . Acta Neuropathologica, 144(3), 437-464.
 - . Brain Pathology.
 - . Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15.
 - . Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology, 47(1), 61-72.
 - . Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 347.
 - . Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology, 47(2), 179-197.
 - . The Journal of Pathology, 251(3), 262-271.
 - . Neuropathology & Applied Neurobiology, 46(3), 279-291.
 - . Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology, 45(6), 586-596.
 - . NeuroImage: Clinical, 23.
 - . Data in Brief, 23.
 - . Brain Research, 1706, 218-223.
 - . PLoS One, 14(1).
 - . Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 7.
 - . British Journal of Neurosurgery, 33(1), 96-98.
 - . NeuroImage, 179, 275-287.
 - . Br J Radiol, 91(1088), 20170271.
 - . Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, 27(3), 335-340.
 - . PLoS Genetics, 13(4).
 - . Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 5.
 - . Neurobiology of Disease, 102, 11-20.
 - . Neuropathology , 36(2), 125-134.
 - . Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology.
 - . Human Molecular Genetics, 24(23), 6640-6652.
 - . Acta Neuropathologica, 130(1), 63-75.
 - . Acta Neuropathologica, 130(2), 311-313.
 - . PLoS One, 10(5).
 - . Neurotherapeutics, 12(2), 326-339.
 - . Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol, 41(2), 201-226.
 - . Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, 2(1), 29-37.
 - . Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 16(3-4), 249-251.
 - . Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol, 40(6), 670-685.
 - . J Alzheimers Dis.
 - . Brain, 137(Pt 7), 2040-2051.
 - . Neurology, 82(10_supplement).
 - . Neurology, 82(10_supplement).
 - . Journal of Aging Science, 2(1).
 - . Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol, 40(3), 258-269.
 - . Acta Neuropathol, 127(3), 407-418.
 - . Neurology, 81(9), 808-811.
 - . Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol, 39(5), 562-571.
 - . Practical Neurology, 13(4), 263-267.
 - . J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 84(1), 79-87.
 - . Brain, 135(Pt 3), 751-764.
 - . Acta Neuropathol, 122(6), 657-671.
 - . Mov Disord, 26(11), 2138-2139.
 - TARDBP mutations, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and alternative splicing in human fibroblasts. BRAIN PATHOLOGY, 20, 32-32.
 - . Arch Neurol, 67(4), 455-461.
 - . Neurogenetics, 11(2), 217-225.
 - . APMIS, 117(10), 768-772.
 - . J Anat, 211(4), 534-555.
 - . Ann Neurol, 61(5), 427-434.
 - . Neurology, 67(6), 1074-1077.
 - Size of hippocampal pyramidal neurons in schizophrenia. Psiquiatria Biologica, 11(4), 129-133.
 - . Br J Psychiatry, 183, 414-417.
 - . Psychiatry Res, 124(1), 11-23.
 - . Am J Psychiatry, 160(6), 1177-1179.
 - . Cereb Cortex, 12(11), 1218-1224.
 - . Am J Psychiatry, 159(5), 821-828.
 - . Br J Psychiatry, 178, 337-343.
 - . Acta Neuropathol, 99(5), 547-554.
 - . Am J Psychiatry, 157(1), 40-47.
 - . Br J Psychiatry, 175, 127-134.
 - . Am J Psychiatry, 156(11), 1720-1724.
 - . Biol Psychiatry, 45(9), 1120-1127.
 - . Brain, 122 ( Pt 1), 99-110.
 - . Schizophr Res, 34(1-2), 13-25.
 - . Schizophr Res, 34(1-2), 1-12.
 - A validation of MRI cortical surface rendering of the human post-mortem brain. SCHIZOPHR RES, 29(1-2), 87-87.
 - A stereological study of the volume of the hippocampus in postmortem control and schizophrenic brains. SCHIZOPHR RES, 29(1-2), 88-88.
 - The anatomy of the fornix and schizophrenia: A postmortem study. SCHIZOPHR RES, 29(1-2), 70-70.
 - A postmortem study of the size and asymmetry of the parahippocampal and fusiform gyrii in schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHR RES, 29(1-2), 71-71.
 
Book chapters
- , Greenfield's Neuropathology 10e Set (pp. 875-906). CRC Press
 - , Bancroft's Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques (pp. 306-336). Elsevier
 - Motor Neuron Disorders, GREENFIELD'S NEUROPATHOLOGY, 9TH EDITION, VOLS 1AND 2 (pp. 817-848).
 - , Bancroft's Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques (pp. xiii-xiv). Elsevier
 - , Bancroft's Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques (pp. 353-380). Elsevier
 - Techniques in neuropathology In Suvarna KS, Layton C & Bancroft JD (Ed.), Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques (pp. 352-380). Churchill Livingstone
 - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and the Frontotemporal Dementias In Strong MJ (Ed.), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and the Frontotemporal Dementias OUP Oxford
 - The neuropathology of the motor neurone diseases In Strong MJ (Ed.), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and the Frontotemporal Dementias OUP Oxford
 - , Bancrofts Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques E Book (pp. 353-380).
 
Conference proceedings
- Investigating Amyloid-Related Imaging Abnormalities (ARIA) Using Neurosurgical Biopsies of CAA-related inflammation (CAA-ri): What Constitutes a Neuropathological Diagnosis of CAA-ri?. NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 51
 - Investigating the Inflammatory Response to Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA-ri). NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 51
 - Inflammatory pathology in human motor neuron disease. JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Vol. 261 (pp S5-S5)
 - Tissue Microarray (TMA) Use in Post Mortem Neuropathology. NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 46 (pp 46-46)
 - . Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology, Vol. 45(S1) (pp 33-33). London, UK, 6 March 2019 - 6 March 2019.
 - DNA Methylation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Vol. 249 (pp S15-S15)
 - . Journal of Pathology, Vol. 240 (pp S13-S13). Nottingham, UK
 - . NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 42(S1) (pp 28-28). Royal College of Physicians, London
 - The role of TIGAR in Parkinson's disease. NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 42 (pp 34-35)
 - Investigating the mechanisms underlying oligodendrocyte dysfunction in C9ORF72 ALS. NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 41 (pp 26-27)
 - . Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, Vol. 85(10) (pp e4.130-e4)
 - Neurodegeneration caused by intronic expansions of C9ORF72 is a clinically heterogeneous but pathologically distinct disease. LANCET, Vol. 381 (pp 32-32)
 - Evidence for an ischemic origin of deep brain 'microbleeds'. CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASES, Vol. 35 (pp 42-42)
 - A pathological basis for the association of parkinsonism and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 39 (pp 51-51)
 - Barrett's Metaplasia: Exploiting a Tissue-engineered Model to Understand the Response of the Oesophageal Squamous Mucosa to Bile and Acid Exposure. JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Vol. 228 (pp S3-S3)
 - Extra-motor manifestations of motor neurone disease and the role of TDP43 in ALS variants. NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 33(2) (pp 264-265)
 - Axonal number and myelin sheath degeneration in MRI hyperintense white matter lesions in the aging brain. NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Vol. 33(2) (pp 266-267)
 - Deviations in brain structure as pointers to the role of asymmetry and sex in the genetics of schizophrenia.. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS, Vol. 81(6) (pp 533-533)
 - A study of sylvian fissure asymmetries in the Runwell 3 series of psychotic brains. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, Vol. 18(2-3) (pp XF2-XF2)
 
Preprints
- , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
 - , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
 - , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
 
 
- Teaching activities
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I teach neuropathology and neuroanatomy to medical students as well as orthoptics students and postgraduate psychiatry trainees.