Robert Banks Email and Phone Number

Dr Robert W (Bob) Banks is a zoologist and neuroscientist. Bob’s research is centred on the structure and function of sense organs in muscle known as muscle spindles, which he began studying as a postgraduate student in the Department of Human Biology and Anatomy of Sheffield University.Soon after completing his PhD, Bob joined Prof David Barker’s group in the Department of Zoology at Durham University, as a Research Fellow, followed by periods in the lab of Prof Paul Bessou, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, and as a lecturer in histology at UCL. Bob returned to Durham in 1981, where he was successively Research Fellow and Lecturer on Zoology until his retirement in 2013. During that time Bob’s main collaborations have been with Prof Manuel Hulliger of the University of Calgary, Prof Yves Laporte of the Collège de France, and Dr Guy Bewick of Aberdeen University. Although retired from his teaching post, Bob actively continues his research collaboration with Guy. Together they discovered a glutamatergic system that regulates the sensitivity of mechanosensory nerve endings, such as the muscle spindle.Bob was awarded the degree of DSc by Durham University in 1995, on the basis of his published work. He is a Fellow of St Cuthbert’s Society, one of the constituent colleges of Durham University, and is a recipient of a Dunelmensis Award for a “sustained contribution of an alumna or alumnus in facilitating the advancement of Durham University”.He is one of three Founding Directors of Dioka Therapeutics established in 2022.