James N. Sleigh

James N. Sleigh received his undergraduate Masters in Biology (MBiol) from the University of Bath (2005-2009), which included a year at Harvard Medical School (2007-2008) researching the neuromuscular disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), James then completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford (2009-2012), extending his work on SMA, while studying a number of other disorders impacting peripheral motor and sensory nerves. From 2012-2014, James worked in the laboratory of Dr. Zameel Cader on the genetic peripheral neuropathy Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). During a four year, Wellcome Trust-funded Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-2018), he continued his research on genetic peripheral neuropathy at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology working with Prof. Giampietro Schiavo.

Funded by a Career Development Award (2019-2024) from the MRC, James is now a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, leading a team working on causes of motor and sensory nerve degeneration and the mechanisms underpinning the dynamic cellular process of axonal transport. By improving understanding of neuropathic pathways and associated pathologies, the Sleigh Laboratory aims to generate pre-clinical molecular therapies for genetic peripheral nerve diseases.