Dr Patrick McHugh

Dr P McHugh completed his PhD in Pharmacogenomics at the University of Otago’s (New Zealand) Christchurch School of Medicine in 2006. He undertook Postdoctoral work in the University of Otago’s Department of Pathology and subsequent work as a Research Fellow in the University’s Carney Centre for Pharmacogenomics. For the past few years he has been working as a Research Scientist in the University of Bath’s Department of Biochemistry. In late 2011 he joined the University of Huddersfield as a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Applied Science’s Division of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences focusing on several areas of research including CNS drug development and mental health neuroscience.

Dr McHugh research interests include;

1.    The development of novel compounds for the treatment of neuropathic pain, neurodegenerative disorders & psychiatric disease.

2.    The development of disease biomarkers.

3.    The mechanism of action of CNS drugs.

4.    The aetiology of neuropathic pain, neurodegenerative disorders & psychiatric disease.

2012

McHugh, P., Wright, J., Williams, R. and Brown, D. (2012) ‘Prion Protein Expression Alters APP Cleavage without Interaction with BACE-1’ Neurochemistry International , 61 (5), pp. 672-680. ISSN 01970186

2011

McHugh, P (2011) ‘The tetrahydrobiopterin pathway: a novel target for the treatment of depression’ Pharmacogenomics , 12 (12), pp. 1625-1627. ISSN 1462-2416

Davies, P., McHugh, P., Hammond, V., Marken, F. and Brown, D. (2011) ‘Contribution of Individual Histidines to Prion Protein Copper Binding’ Biochemistry , 50 (50), pp. 10781-10791. ISSN 0006-2960

McHugh, P., Joyce, P., Deng, X. and Kennedy, M. (2011) ‘A polymorphism of the GTP-cyclohydrolase I feedback regulator gene alters transcriptional activity and may affect response to SSRI antidepressants’ The Pharmacogenomics Journal , 11 (3), pp. 207-213. ISSN 1470-269X

McHugh, P., Wright, J. and Brown, D. (2011) ‘Transcriptional Regulation of the Beta-Synuclein 5?-Promoter Metal Response Element by Metal Transcription Factor-1’ PLoS ONE , 6 (2), p. 17354. ISSN 1932-6203

2010

McHugh, P (2010) ‘Tetrahydrobiopterin Pathway may Provide Novel Molecular Targets for Acute and Long Term Efficacy of Mood-Regulating Drugs ’ Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine , 8 (3), pp. 174-181. ISSN 1875-6921

McHugh, P., Rogers, G., Glubb, D., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2010) ‘Proteomic analysis of rat hippocampus exposed to the antidepressant paroxetine’ Journal of Psychopharmacology , 24 (8), pp. 1243-1251. ISSN 0269-8811

Glubb, D., McHugh, P., Deng, X., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2010) ‘Association of a functional polymorphism in the adrenomedullin gene (ADM) with response to paroxetine’ The Pharmacogenomics Journal , 10 (2), pp. 126-133. ISSN 1470-269X

2009

Wright, J., McHugh, P., Stockbridge, M., Lane, S., Kralovicova, S. and Brown, D. (2009) ‘Activation and repression of prion protein expression by key regions of intron 1’ Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences , 66 (23), pp. 3809-3820. ISSN 1420-682X

Joyce, P., McHugh, P., Light, K., Rowe, S., Miller, A. and Kennedy, M. (2009) ‘Relationships Between Angry-Impulsive Personality Traits and Genetic Polymorphisms of the Dopamine Transporter’ Biological Psychiatry , 66 (8), pp. 717-721. ISSN 0006-3223

McHugh, P., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2009) ‘Polymorphisms of sepiapterin reductase gene alter promoter activity and may influence risk of bipolar disorder’ Pharmacogenetics and Genomics , 19 (5), pp. 330-337. ISSN 1744-6872

2008

McHugh, P., Rogers, G., Glubb, D., Allington, M., Hughes, M., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2008) ‘Downregulation ofCcnd1 and Hes6in rat hippocampus after chronic exposure to the antidepressant paroxetine’ Acta Neuropsychiatrica , 20 (6), pp. 307-313. ISSN 0924-2708

McHugh, P., Rogers, G., Loudon, B., Glubb, D., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2008) ‘Proteomic analysis of embryonic stem cell–derived neural cells exposed to the antidepressant paroxetine’ Journal of Neuroscience Research , 86 (2), pp. 306-316. ISSN 0360-4012

2006

McHugh, P., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2006) ‘The proteomics of antidepressant drug response’ American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics , 141B (7), pp. 787-788. ISSN 1552-4841

Joyce, P., McHugh, P., Kennedy, M., McKenzie, J., Sullivan, P., Mulder, R., Luty, S., Carter, J., Frampton, C., Robert Cloninger, C. and Miller, A. (2006) ‘A dopamine transporter polymorphism is a risk factor for borderline personality disorder in depressed patients’ Psychological Medicine , 36 (06), p. 807. ISSN 0033-2917

Harris, T., Gomas, K., Weir, F., Holyoake, A., McHugh, P., Wu, M., Sin, Y., Sin, I. and Sin, F. (2006) ‘Molecular analysis of polymerase gamma gene and mitochondrial polymorphism in fertile and subfertile men’ International Journal of Andrology , 29 (3), pp. 421-433. ISSN 0105-6263

2004

Bland, M., McHugh, P., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2004) ‘Polymorphism analysis of serotonergic transcription factors’ American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics , 130B (1), p. 158. ISSN 1552-4841

McHugh, P., Rogers, G., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2004) ‘Embryonic stem cell-derived neurons : a model for antidepressant pharmacogenomics’ American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics , 130B (1), p. 158. ISSN 1552-4841

2003

Armstrong, K., McHugh, P., Chinn, W., Frampton, E. and Walsh, P. (2003) ‘Tussock moth species arriving on imported used vehicles determined by DNA analysis ’ New Zealand Plant Protection , 56, pp. 16-20. ISSN 1175-9003

2002

Holyoake, A., McHugh, P., Wu, M., O'Carroll, S., Benny, P., Sin, I. and Sin, F. (2002) ‘Research of single mitochondrial nucleotide substitutions in male infertility should consider human mitochondrial haplogroups - Reply’ International Journal of Andrology , 25 (6), pp. 374-374. ISSN 0105-6263

McHugh, P., Rogers, G., Cameron, V., Begg, E., Joyce, P. and Kennedy, M. (2002) ‘Pharmacogenomics of antidepressant drug responses’ American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part A , 114 (7), p. 881. ISSN 1552-4825

2001

Holyoake, A., McHugh, P., Wu, M., O'Carroll, S., Benny, P., Sin, I. and Sin, F. (2001) ‘High incidence of single nucleotide substitutions in the mitochondrial genome is associated with poor semen parameters in men’ International Journal of Andrology , 24 (3), pp. 175-182. ISSN 0105-6263

Sin, F., Holyoake, A., McHugh, P., Wu, M., O'Carroll, S., Benny, P. and Sin, I. (2001) ‘High Frequencies of Nucleotide Substitutions in mtDNA in Subfertile Men ’. In: Andrology in the 21st Century : Proceedings of the VIIth International. : Medimond Medical . pp. 385-389. ISBN 9780970668011

• The development of novel compounds for the treatment of neuropathic pain, neurodegenerative disorders & psychiatric disease.
• The development of disease biomarkers.
• The mechanism of action of CNS drugs.
• The aetiology of neuropathic pain, neurodegenerative disorders & psychiatric disease.

Experience in techniques such as cell culture, PCR, cloning, QPCR, Western analysis, promoter assays, as well as a general knowledge of molecular biology would be an advantage to pursue post-graduate study in the above projects

If you are interested in working with Dr McHugh please e-mail your CV with a covering letter to p.c.mchugh@hud.ac.uk.