John Stein (physiologist)
John Frederick Stein PhD CBiol FIBiol FRCPath is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, where he holds a Professorship in physiology. He has research interests in the neurological basis of dyslexia.
Life
A doctor of philosophy, Stein became a research biologist and neurologist and took up a teaching career. He is active in furthering the medical benefits of animal testing, speaking at pro-testing rallies and demonstrations, and has defended animal testing in high-profile television interviews.
He is the chair of the Dyslexia Research Trust[1] and is a proponent of the magnocellular theory of dyslexia. He has supervised many medical and physiology students at the University conducting laboratory work investigating the theory. He is a trustee of the Institute for Food, Brain and Behaviour[2] and Chair of the Institute's Science Advisory Council.[3]
Stein came into the public eye when Gordon Brown suggested a student had been discriminated against because of her state school education. This was despite the fact that she had comparable qualifications to the accepted applicants, who came from a broad range of backgrounds. Government ministers were quick to comment that Oxford remained biassed in favour of public schools, but they did so before it became clear that no discrimination on that basis had occurred. Indeed, on the contrary, Stein and others had worked to break down barriers and to encourage access to those from a state school background.
Stein is held in high esteem by the many students, present and past, whose lives and careers he has helped shape.
Stein is the brother of the chef Rick Stein, and the uncle of the DJ Judge Jules.
Deep brain stimulation
Along with Tipu Aziz and Kevin Warwick, Stein is presently working on an intelligent Deep brain stimulation system for Parkinson's disease.
Dyslexia research
Alongside his former D.Phil student, Joe Taylor, Stein has advocated a new theory of central noradrenergic deficiency in Dyslexia. Taylor and Stein have proposed that increasing noradrenergic output from the locus coeruleus via a subcortical irradiance detection pathway may prove effective in the treatment of the condition.[4]
References
- ↑ THE DYSLEXIA RESEARCH TRUST, Registered Charity no. 1052989 at the Charity Commission
- ↑ INSTITUTE FOR FOOD, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOUR, Registered Charity no. 517817 at the Charity Commission
- ↑ http://www.ifbb.org.uk/science-advisory-council
- ↑ Taylor, Visser and Stein. The efficacy of spectral filters in the upregulation of retinohypothalamic drive. Program No. 927.13. 2007. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007.