Animal and Translational Models for CNS Drug Discovery, Vol. 1: Psychiatric Disorders

Dr McArthur began his professional career investigating the role of serotonin on feeding behaviour while as a young research assistant at the Section of Neurobiology at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, Canada. This interest led him to complete a PhD in the psychopharmacology of feeding behaviour and macronutrient selection with John Blundell at the University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, and later in 1981 to work on adrenergic involvement in energy expenditure and obesity at Beecham Pharmaceuticals with Jon Arch. While still at Beechams Robert transferred to the muscarinic Alzheimer's project, in whose lab the initial procognitive effects of the M1 functional agonist, Sabcomeline, were demonstrated. Following the merger of Beecham with SmithKline French, Robert went to work for a year in contract research with Roger Porsolt in Paris. In 1992, Robert was appointed Head of Behavioral Pharmacology at Farmitalia Carlo Erba/Pharmacia in Milan, and his group worked on serotonergic mechanisms in Alzheimer's, anxiety (5-HT1A and 5-HT3/4), experimental prion, and Na+ channel-blocking and glutamate release inhibition effects in epilepsy. His laboratory characterised the anti-seizure properties of Safinamide, which is now in Phase III for the treatment of Parkinson's. Robert's development experience includes Reboxetine and depression; Cabergoline and Parkinson's disease; Nicergoline and dementia and Amperozide and alcoholism. In 1998, Robert transferred to the Pharmacia and Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan where as senior behavioural pharmacologist responsible, he worked on mutant mouse characterizations, the establishment of a primate unit assessing cognitive changes in monkeys (CANTAB), and development of anxiety models in marmosets. Soon after the merger of Pharmacia and Upjohn with Monsanto-Searle, Robert returned to Europe where in 2001 he and Dr Annette Domeney founded the consulting company, McArthur and Associates GmbH in Basel. Robert has since worked on a series of projects for both large Pharma as well as biotechs, including further primate work in Parkinson's, development of behavioural pharmacology expertise, novel target validation, due diligence, medical writing, strategy evaluation, and as an expert witness in a priority claim's case. Dr McArthur has pursued his academic interests in translational neuroscience. In 2003, Robert was appointed as a visiting Associate Research Professor in the Department of Neuroscience (Division of Behavioural Neuroscience) at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He has since written and co-edited extensively on the subject of the clinical and translational relevance of animal models of CNS disorders.

Franco Borsini, Head, Central & Peripheral Nervous System and General Pharmacology Area - R&D Department, sigma-tau SpA, Pomezia (Rome), Italy