Tomas Bellamy

Contact

• workRoom E153d Medical School
  Queen's Medical Centre
  Nottingham
  NG7 2UH
  UK
• work0115 82 30539
• tomas.bellamy@nottingham.ac.uk

Research Summary

The major interest of our group is in understanding the role of bi-directional communication between neurons and glia in brain physiology. Specifically, we are interested in how information contained… read more

Selected Publications

• REUSCH K, RUSSELL NA and BELLAMY TC, 2014. Stimulus discrimination in cerebellar Purkinje neurons. PloS one. 9(2), e87828
• BALAKRISHNAN S, DOBSON KL, JACKSON C and BELLAMY TC, 2014. Ectopic release of glutamate contributes to spillover at parallel fibre synapses in the cerebellum. The Journal of Physiology. 592(Pt 7), 1493-503
• JAMES, L.R., ANDREWS, S., WALKER S, DE SOUSA, P.R.S., RAY, A., RUSSELL, N.A. and BELLAMY, T.C., 2011. High-throughput analysis of calcium signalling kinetics in astrocytes stimulated with different neurotransmitters PLoS ONE. 6(10), e26889
• BALAKRISHNAN, S., JACKSON, C., RUSSELL, N. and BELLAMY, T.C., 2011. Ectopic release sites lack fast vesicle recycling mechanisms, causing long-term depression of neuron-glial transmission in rat cerebellum Glia. 59(1), 82-93

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Current Research

The major interest of our group is in understanding the role of bi-directional communication between neurons and glia in brain physiology. Specifically, we are interested in how information contained in neuronal network activity is encoded by astrocytes into calcium signals, with particular emphasis on the importance of kinetics in signal transduction. To that end, we use the cerebellum - a region of the brain involved in motor coordination and learning - to study the spatiotemporal properties of the glutamate and nitric oxide signalling pathways in astrocytes. We are also interested in the consequences of astrocyte calcium signalling on neuronal network function, focussing on how astrocytes can modulate synaptic strength.

• KEYNES, ROBERT G., KARCHEVSKAYA, ANASTASIA, RIDDALL, DIETER, GRIFFITHS, CHARMAINE H., BELLAMY, TOMAS C., CHAN, A. W. EDITH, SELWOOD, DAVID L. and GARTHWAITE, JOHN, 2019. N-10-carbonyl-substituted phenothiazines inhibiting lipid peroxidation and associated nitric oxide consumption powerfully protect brain tissue against oxidative stress CHEMICAL BIOLOGY & DRUG DESIGN. 94(3), 1680-1693
• DOBSON, KATHARINE L., SMITH, ZOE H. and BELLAMY, TOMAS C., 2018. Distribution of vesicle pools in cerebellar parallel fibre terminals after depression of ectopic transmission PLOS ONE. 13(7),
• DOBSON, KATHARINE L., SMITH, ZOE H. and BELLAMY, TOMAS C., 2018. Distribution of vesicle pools in cerebellar parallel fibre terminals after depression of ectopic transmission (vol 13, e0200937, 2018) PLOS ONE. 13(11),
• TILŪNAITĖ, A., CROFT, W., RUSSELL, N., BELLAMY, T. C. and THUL, R., 2017. A Bayesian approach to modelling heterogeneous calcium responses in cell populations: PLoS computational biology PLoS computational biology. 13(10), e1005794
• CROFT, WAYNE, REUSCH, KATHARINA, TILUNAITE, AGNE, RUSSEL, NOAH, THUL, RÜDIGER and BELLAMY, TOMAS C., 2016. Probabilistic encoding of stimulus strength in astrocyte global calcium signals Glia. 64(4), 537–552
• DOBSON K.L., JACKSON C., BALAKRISHNAN S. and BELLAMY T.C., 2015. Caffeine modulates vesicle release and recovery at cerebellar parallel fibre terminals, independently of calcium and cyclic AMP signalling. PloS one. 10(5), e0125974
• CROFT, WAYNE, DOBSON, KATHARINE L. and BELLAMY, TOMAS C., 2015. Plasticity of Neuron-Glial Transmission: Equipping Glia for Long-Term Integration of Network Activity NEURAL PLASTICITY.
• BELLAMY, TOMAS C., DUNAEVSKY, ANNA and PARRI, H. RHEINALLT, 2015. Glial Plasticity NEURAL PLASTICITY.
• BELLAMY TC, DUNAEVSKY A and PARRI HR, 2015. Glial Plasticity. Neural plasticity. 2015, 723891
• CROFT W, DOBSON KL and BELLAMY TC, 2015. Plasticity of Neuron-Glial Transmission: Equipping Glia for Long-Term Integration of Network Activity. Neural plasticity. 2015, 765792
• DOBSON KL and BELLAMY TC, 2015. Localization of Presynaptic Plasticity Mechanisms Enables Functional Independence of Synaptic and Ectopic Transmission in the Cerebellum. Neural plasticity. 2015, 602356
• REUSCH K, RUSSELL NA and BELLAMY TC, 2014. Stimulus discrimination in cerebellar Purkinje neurons. PloS one. 9(2), e87828
• BALAKRISHNAN S, DOBSON KL, JACKSON C and BELLAMY TC, 2014. Ectopic release of glutamate contributes to spillover at parallel fibre synapses in the cerebellum. The Journal of Physiology. 592(Pt 7), 1493-503
• JAMES, L.R., ANDREWS, S., WALKER S, DE SOUSA, P.R.S., RAY, A., RUSSELL, N.A. and BELLAMY, T.C., 2011. High-throughput analysis of calcium signalling kinetics in astrocytes stimulated with different neurotransmitters PLoS ONE. 6(10), e26889
• BALAKRISHNAN, S., JACKSON, C., RUSSELL, N. and BELLAMY, T.C., 2011. Ectopic release sites lack fast vesicle recycling mechanisms, causing long-term depression of neuron-glial transmission in rat cerebellum Glia. 59(1), 82-93
• NEWTON, M, NIEWCZAS, I, CLARK, J and AND BELLAMY, T.C., 2010. A real-time fluorescent assay of the purified nitric oxide receptor, guanylyl cyclase. Analytical Biochemistry. 402, 129-136
• JACKSON, C., WELCH, H.C. and BELLAMY, T.C., 2010. Control of cerebellar long-term potentiation by P-Rex-family guanine-nucleotide exchange factors and phosphoinositide 3-kinase PLoS One. 5(8), e11962
• BALAKRISHNAN, S. and BELLAMY, T.C., 2009. Depression of parallel and climbing fiber transmission to Bergmann glia is input specific and correlates with increased precision of synaptic transmission Glia. 57(4), 393-401
• JAMES, L.R., GRIFFITHS, C.H., GARTHWAITE, J. and BELLAMY, T.C., 2009. Inhibition of nitric oxide-activated guanylyl cyclase by calmodulin antagonists British Journal of Pharmacology. 158(6), 1454-1464
• THUL, R, BELLAMY, TC, RODERICK, HL, BOOTMAN, MD and COOMBES, S, 2008. Calcium Oscillations Cellular Oscillatory Mechanisms. 641, 1-27
• BELLAMY, TC, 2007. Presynaptic Modulation Of Parallel Fibre Signalling To Bergmann Glia Neuropharmacology. 52(2), 368-375
• BELLAMY, T.C., 2006. Interactions between Purkinje neurones and Bergmann glia. Cerebellum. 5, 116-126
• BELLAMY, TC and OGDEN, D, 2006. Long-Term Depression Of Neuron To Glial Signalling In Rat Cerebellar Cortex European Journal Of Neuroscience. 23(2), 581-586
• BELLAMY, TC and OGDEN, D, 2005. Short-Term Plasticity Of Bergmann Glial Cell Extrasynaptic Currents During Parallel Fiber Stimulation In Rat Cerebellum Glia. 52(4), 325-335
• GRIFFITHS, C, WYKES, V, BELLAMY, TC and GARTHWAITE, J, 2003. A New And Simple Method For Delivering Clamped Nitric Oxide Concentrations In The Physiological Range: Application To Activation Of Guanylyl Cyclase-Coupled Nitric Oxide Receptors Molecular Pharmacology. 64(6), 1349-1356
• WYKES, V, BELLAMY, TC and GARTHWAITE, J, 2002. Kinetics Of Nitric Oxide-Cyclic Gmp Signalling In Cns Cells And Itspossible Regulation By Cyclic Gmp Journal Of Neurochemistry. 83(1), 37-47
• BELLAMY, TC, GRIFFITHS, C and GARTHWAITE, J, 2002. Differential Sensitivity Of Guanylyl Cyclase And Mitochondrial Respiration To Nitric Oxide Measured Using Clamped Concentrations Journal Of Biological Chemistry. 277(35), 31801-31807
• BELLAMY, TC and GARTHWAITE, J, 2002. Pharmacology Of The Nitric Oxide Receptor, Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase, In Cerebellar Cells British Journal Of Pharmacology. 136(1), 95-103
• BELLAMY, TC and GARTHWAITE, J, 2002. The Receptor-Like Properties Of Nitric Oxide-Activated Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase In Intact Cells Molecular And Cellular Biochemistry. 230(1-2), 165-176
• BELLAMY, TC, WOOD, J and GARTHWAITE, J, 2002. On The Activation Of Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase By Nitric Oxide Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America. 99(1), 507-510
• BELLAMY, T C and GARTHWAITE, J, 2001. "cAMP-specific" phosphodiesterase contributes to cGMP degradation in cerebellar cells exposed to nitric oxide. Molecular pharmacology. 59(1), 54-61
• BELLAMY, T C and GARTHWAITE, J, 2001. Sub-second kinetics of the nitric oxide receptor, soluble guanylyl cyclase, in intact cerebellar cells. The Journal of biological chemistry. 276(6), 4287-92
• BELLAMY, TC and GARTHWAITE, J, 2001. Sub-Second Kinetics Of The Nitric Oxide Receptor, Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase, In Intact Cerebellar Cells Journal Of Biological Chemistry. 276(6), 4287-4292
• BELLAMY, T C, WOOD, J, GOODWIN, D A and GARTHWAITE, J, 2000. Rapid desensitization of the nitric oxide receptor, soluble guanylyl cyclase, underlies diversity of cellular cGMP responses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 97(6), 2928-33