ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´

Contact

• workRoom B75 Psychology
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 84 67438
• fax0115 95 15324
• tobias.bast@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Education

2002: PhD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich

1999: Diploma in Biochemistry (subsidiary subjects: Biopsychology and Philosophy), Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

Positions

2018: Associate Professor, School of Psychology, ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´

2008: Lecturer, School of Psychology, ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´

2005: Caledonian Research Foundation Fellow, Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, University of Edinburgh,UK

2003: Research fellow, Division of Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, UK

1999: Research associate/ Scientist, Behavioural Neurobiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich

1998: Studentische Hilfskraft (undergraduate assistant), Biopsychology Group, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

Expertise Summary

Brain mechanisms of cognition and behaviour and of cognitive and behavioural deficits; hippocampus; prefrontal cortex; learning and memory; behavioural testing; in vivo electrophysiology; rodent models

Teaching Summary

My main teaching interests are in the areas of neuroscience and biological psychology. I contribute to undergraduate (across all three years) and postgraduate teaching within the School of Psychology… read more

Research Summary

My research examines how a brain circuit consisting of the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and connected subcortical sites mediates and integrates important cognitive functions, including… read more

Selected Publications

• CHARLOTTE JL TAYLOR, JACCO G RENSTROM, JOANNA LOAYZA, MIRIAM GWILT, STUART A WILLIAMS, RACHEL GRASMEDER ALLEN, PAULA M MORAN, JOHN GIGG, JOANNA NEILL, MICHAEL HARTE and TOBIAS BAST, 2025. The journal of neuroscience: the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
• MAGGI, SILVIA, HOCK, REBECCA M, O'NEILL, MARTIN, BUCKLEY, MARK, MORAN, PAULA M, BAST, TOBIAS, SAMI, MUSA and HUMPHRIES, MARK D, 2024. eLife. 13, e86491
• SARA GONÇALVES, GARETH W. HATHWAY, STEPHEN G. WOODHAMS, VICTORIA CHAPMAN and TOBIAS BAST, 2023. J Pain: The official journal of the US association for the study of pain. 24(8), 1478-1492
• MARKUS BAUER, MATTHEW G. BUCKLEY and TOBIAS BAST, 2021. Brain and Neuroscience Advances. 5, 23982128211002725

• View all publications

PhD theses (2018 onwards) I have had the pleasure to supervise can be found .

If you have secured your own funding or have a specific funding scheme in mind and you would like to work towards a PhD with me, please email me. Suitable candidates would typically have some relevant research experience (e.g., from undergraduate or MSc projects).

Occasionally, funding may become available for specific PhD projects, which I will advertise on this page and on other suitable job pages.

FUNDED POSITIONS AVAILABLE!

1) One of the fully funded Katz PhD studentships is targeted at a project involving integrative in vivo neuroscience studies in a rat model of Tourette's Syndrome-related striatal disinhibition, which I will supervise with Stephen Jackson. Application deadline is 24 November 2024, with an envisaged start date of 1st February (although later start date may be agreed). Only Home Students are eligible. Please see here for more information and contact me if you are interested!

2) We also offer two fully funded PhD studentships as part of the MRC AIM DTP or the BBSRC DTP. These are integrative neuroscience projects in rats to examine the Contribution of insula or mid-cingulate cortex activity to the control of tic-like movements and other behaviours relevant to Tourette's syndrome, with a September 2025 start date. The projects are in partnership with the neurotechnology company Neupulse. Application deadline for the MRC AIM DTP project is 10 January 2025 and for the BBSRC DTP project is 31 January 2025. For more information, including on how to apply, please see for the MRC AIM DTP project (scroll down to list of projects and select 'Contribution of insula activity to control of tic-like movements and other behaviours relevant to Tourette's syndrome: integrative neuroscience studies in rats - iCASE project') and for the BBSRC DTP project. Contact me if you are interested!

My main teaching interests are in the areas of neuroscience and biological psychology. I contribute to undergraduate (across all three years) and postgraduate teaching within the School of Psychology and previously also contributed some teaching to a Neuroscience module in Life Sciences.

Year 1

Psychology of Addiction (PSGY1005). Handouts for my lecture can be found .

Biological Psychology (PSGY1003). Handouts for my lectures can be found .

1^st Year Tutorials: Information can be found .

Year 2

Neuroscience and Behaviour (PSGY2007/4029). Handouts for my lectures can be found .

2^nd Year Tutorials: Information can be found .

Year 3

Mechanisms of Learning and Psychopathology (PSGY3018). Handouts for my lectures can be found .

Research Project. A description of the project and project-related material can be found .

MSc Psychology (Conversion)

Material for my Neuroscience and Behaviour (PSGY4029) seminars can be found .

MSc Cognitive Neuroscience

Material for my lecture and seminar in Functional Imaging Methods can be found .

MSc projects

Information about the MSc projects I offer to supervise can be found .

Previous Teaching

Sensational Neuroscience (LIFE3082), Year 3/4, Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences. Handouts for my lectures and the workshop can be found .

Statistical and Research Methods, Year 2. Handouts and material for my lectures can be found .

Practical, Year 2. Handouts for the lecture in week 1 can be found .

Mind and Brain, Year 3. Handouts for my lectures can be found .

BAP Preclinical Certificate Course, Module 8: .

Current Research

My research examines how a brain circuit consisting of the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and connected subcortical sites mediates and integrates important cognitive functions, including everyday-type memory (e.g., memory for places and events) and attention, and other behavioural processes (emotional, motivational, sensorimotor). In addition, I study how dysfunction in this neural circuit causes cognitive and behavioural deficits. My major approach to address these questions is to combine sophisticated behavioural testing with a wide range of in vivo neuroscience methods to analyse and manipulate brain function in rat models. A concise overview of main lines of research and key underlying ideas can be found in our recent reviews (; ). More recently, I have also begun to apply translational behavioural tests, similar to the tests we use in animal models, in human participants to facilitate the translation of our neurobiolgical findings from animal models to humans. In addition, I have begun collaborating with mathematicians and computational neuroscientists in order to develop quantitative models of neuro-behavioural processes and to apply more sophisticated statistical analyses to our neuro-behavioural data.

Current lines of research

Hippocampo-prefrontal/subcortical interactions mediating the hippocampal learning-behaviour translation: Continuing work on the hippocampal learning-behaviour translation (; also see press release), we aim to identify prefrontal and subcortical mechanisms underlying behavioural performance based on hippocampus-dependent rapid-place learning and to characterize how the hippocampus interacts with these sites. We have begun to collaborate with and colleagues (Mathematics, ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´) to integrate relevant neurobiological findings into neuro-computational models ().

Less can be more - the significance of GABAergic neuronal inhibition for cognition and behaviour and the contribution of neural disinhibition to clinically relevant cognitive and behavioural deficits: GABAergic inhibition has been shown to be important for shaping neural activity, and neural disinhibition, i.e. GABA dysfunction, has been implicated in many brain disorders, including schizophrenia, cognitive ageing, Alzheimer's disease and Tourette's. We examine how GABAergic inhibition in distinct brain regions, including hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and striatum, contributes to distinct cognitive and behavioural functions and to explore new pharmacological treatment strategies ameliorating the neuro-behavioural consequences of neural disinhibition. To this end, we study the neural-network effects and behavioural/cognitive deficits resulting from brain region-specific manipulations of GABAergic inhibition in rodent models [; ; ; ; ; ) also see press releases, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2025, a for a lay audience, an (in German), and popular science article ( (in German); , , version)].

Hippocampo-prefrontal-subcortical circuit and aversive stimulus processing - fear memory and pain: Previous research, including our own, revealed a key role for the hippocampo-prefrontal-subcortical circuit in fear memory (e.g., ; ; ; ). I continue into the role of this circuit in fear behaviour in collaboration with Carl Stevenson (Biosciences, ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´) (e.g., ). Recently, I have also become interested in how this circuit is implicated in chronic pain conditions. We have begun translational studies to examine how chronic pain affects components within the hippocampo-prefrontal-subcortical circuit, as well as the cognitive and behavioural functions mediated by these components in rat models (; press release) and patients with chronic pain (; press release) (in collaboration with colleagues at the Versus Arthritis Pain Centre and in Life Sciences, ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´).

New applications of radiological and translational brain imaging methods in rodents: Methods developed for the non-invasive imaging of the human brain (MRI and other radiologic imaging methods) could substantially complement the neurobiological approaches traditionally used to characterise brain structure and function in rodent models. In several projects we are adapting such methods for new applications in rodent models. We developed Ratlas-LH, an open access in vivo MRI atlas of the Lister hooded brain (; ).

Application of computational methods: In collaboration with mathematicians and computational neuroscientists, we use computational methods to integrate neuro-behavioural data into quantitative models () and to analyse our neural () and behavioural () data. These interdisciplinary efforts to link mathematical methods and neuroscience hold great potential to maximise the conceptual insights gained from neuroscience experiments.

Studies of human cognition, using translational behavioral tests similar to our rodent paradigms: We have adapted a key rodent test of hippocampus-dependent rapid place learning, the delayed-matching-to-place (DMP) watermaze test (; ), for human testing, using a virtual maze on a computer (). In line with findings in rats that the DMP watermaze task is a highly sensitive assay of hippocampal function, we have shown that good performance of human participants on the virtual DMP test is associated with specific neural activity patterns in the medial temporal lobe, including hippocampus (; ). Studies using this new virtual maze task, and other translational behavioral tests, in human participants have great potential to facilitate translation of findings from rodent model studies to humans. I have also contributed to studies on cognitive function in retired professional footballers (; ; ), where we planned to use translational behavioral tests, but due to the Covid pandemic we had to change our plans and use telephone cognitive assessments ().

• JOANNA LOAYZA, CHARLOTTE TAYLOR, JACCO RENSTROM, RACHEL GRASMEDER ALLEN, STEPHEN R. JACKSON and TOBIAS BAST, 2025. bioRxiv: The preprint server for biology.
• JACCO RENSTROM, CHARLOTTE L TAYLOR, RACHEL GRASMEDER ALLEN, JOANNA LOAYZA, LUKE O’HARA, MORITZ VON HEIMENDAHL, SERENA DEIANA, PAULA M MORAN, CARL W STEVENSON, SILVIA MAGGI and TOBIAS BAST, 2025. bioRxiv: The preprint server for biology.
• CHARLOTTE JL TAYLOR, JACCO G RENSTROM, JOANNA LOAYZA, MIRIAM GWILT, STUART A WILLIAMS, RACHEL GRASMEDER ALLEN, PAULA M MORAN, JOHN GIGG, JOANNA NEILL, MICHAEL HARTE and TOBIAS BAST, 2025. The journal of neuroscience: the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
• JOSEFINA WEINEROVA, RONI TIBON, TOBIAS BAST and RACHEL GRASMEDER ALLEN, 2025. Brain and Neuroscience Advances. 9, 23982128251363046
• MAGGI, SILVIA, HOCK, REBECCA M, O'NEILL, MARTIN, BUCKLEY, MARK, MORAN, PAULA M, BAST, TOBIAS, SAMI, MUSA and HUMPHRIES, MARK D, 2024. eLife. 13, e86491
• SARA GONÇALVES, GARETH W. HATHWAY, STEPHEN G. WOODHAMS, VICTORIA CHAPMAN and TOBIAS BAST, 2023. J Pain: The official journal of the US association for the study of pain. 24(8), 1478-1492
• ESPAHBODI, S, HOGERVORST, E, MACNAB, TP, THANOON, A, FERNANDES, GS, MILLAR, B, DUNCAN, A, GOODWIN, M, BATT, M, FULLER, CW, FULLER, G, FERGUSON, E, BAST, T, DOHERTY, M and ZHANG, W, 2023. Heading frequency and risk of cognitive impairment in retired male professional soccer players JAMA Open Netwrok. 6(7), e2323822.
• TARA-MEI POVALL MACNAB, SHIMA ESPAHBODI, EEF HOGERVORST, AHMED THANOON, GWEN SASCHA FERNANDES, BONNIE MILLAR, ASHLEY DUNCAN, MARIA GOODWIN, MARK BATT, COLIN W. FULLER, GORDON FULLER, EAMONN FERGUSON, TOBIAS BAST and MICHAEL DOHERTY, 2023. Sports Medicine - Open. 9, 43
• STUBBENDORF C, HALE E, BAST T, CASSADAY HJ, MARTIN SJ, SUWANSAWANG S, HALLIDAY DM and STEVENSON CW, 2023. Scientific Reports. 13, 17631
• BAILEY SJ, BAST T, CHABY L, KINON BJ, HARTE MK, MEAD S, MOLONEY RD, RAGAN I, STANFORD SC, TRICKLEBANK MD, ZERVAS M and AJRAM LA, 2023. Journal of Psychopharmacology.
• TOBIAS BAST, RACHEL GRASMEDER ALLEN, SILVIA MAGGI and JACCO RENSTROM, 2023. Genes, Brain and Behaviour.
• WILLIAMS SA, GWILT M, HOCK R, TAYLOR C, LOAYZA J, STEVENSON CW, CASSADAY HJ and BAST T, 2022. eNeuro. 9, ENEURO.0270-21.2021
• AFRODITI KOURAKI, TOBIAS BAST, EAMONN FERGUSON and ANA M. VALDES, 2022. Scientific Reports. 12, 943
• ESPAHBODI, SHIMA, FERNANDES, GWEN, HOGERVORST, EEF, THANOON, AHMED, BATT, MARK, FULLER, COLIN W, FULLER, GORDON, FERGUSON, EAMONN, BAST, TOBIAS, DOHERTY, MICHAEL and ZHANG, WEIYA, 2022. BMJ Open. 12(4),
• MARKUS BAUER, MATTHEW G. BUCKLEY and TOBIAS BAST, 2021. Brain and Neuroscience Advances. 5, 23982128211002725
• CHARLINE TESSEREAU, REUBEN O’DEA, STEPHEN COOMBES and TOBIAS BAST, 2021. Brain and Neuroscience Advances. 5, 2398212820975634
• MALCOLM J. W. PRIOR, TOBIAS BAST, STEPHANIE MCGARRITY, JÃœRGEN GOLDSCHMIDT, DANIEL VINCENZ, ADAM SEATON, GERARD HALL and ALAIN PITIOT, 2021. Brain and Neuroscience Advances. 5, 23982128211036332
• GWILT, MIRIAM, BAUER, MARKUS and BAST, TOBIAS, 2020. Hippocampus. 30(10), 1021-1043
• TOBIAS BAST, 2020. Mente y cerebro. 62-67
• TOBIAS BAST, 2020. Mind: Mente e Cervello. 92-99
• CHRISTINE STUBBENDORFF, ED HALE, HELEN J. CASSADAY, TOBIAS BAST and CARL W. STEVENSON, 2019. Psychopharmacology. 236(6), Volume 236, Issue 6, pp 1771–1782
• TOBIAS BAST, 2019. Gehirn & Geist: Das Magazin für Psychologie, Hirnforschung und Medizin. 8, 46-51
• TOBIAS BAST, 2019. Cerveau & Psycho. 116, 16-22
• MATTHEW BUCKLEY and TOBIAS BAST, 2018. Hippocampus. 28(11), 796-812
• MCGARRITY, STEPHANIE, MASON, ROB, FONE, KEVIN, PEZZE, MARIE and BAST, TOBIAS, 2017. Cerebral Cortex. 27(9), 4447–4462
• TOBIAS BAST, MARIE PEZZE and STEPHANIE MCGARRITY, 2017. British Journal of Pharmacology. 174(19), 3211–3225
• HEATH FC, JURKUS R, BAST T, PEZZE MA, LEE JLC, VOIGT JP and STEVENSON CW, 2015. Psychopharmacology. 232, 2619–2629
• JIA WANG, TOBIAS BAST, YU-CONG WANG and WEI-NING ZHANG, 2015. Hippocampus. 25, 1517-1531
• WEINING ZHANG, TOBIAS BAST, YAN XU and JORAM FELDON, 2014. Behavioural Brain Research. 262, 47-56
• DA SILVA BM, BAST T and MORRIS RGM, 2014. Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.). 21(1), 28-36
• PEZZE M, MCGARRITY S, MASON R, FONE KC and BAST T, 2014. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 34(23), 7931-7946
• PEZZE, M. and BAST, T., 2012. Neuropharmacology. 63(4), 710-718
• JACKSON, S.J., HUSSEY, R., JANSEN, M.A., MERRIFIELD, G.D., MARSHALL, I., MACLULLICH, A., YAU, J.L.W. and BAST, T., 2011. Behavioural Brain Research. 216(1), 293-300
• BAST, T., 2011. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 21(3), 492-501
• BAST, T., WILSON, I.A., WITTER, M.P. and MORRIS, R.G.M., 2009. PLOS biology. 7(4), e1000089
• BAST, T, 2007. Reviews in the neurosciences. 18(3-4), 253-81
• PELEG-RAIBSTEIN, D, PEZZE, M A, FERGER, B, ZHANG, W-N, MURPHY, C A, FELDON, J and BAST, T, 2005. Neuroscience. 132(1), 219-32
• BAST, T, DA SILVA, BM and MORRIS, RGM, 2005. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 25(25), 5845-56
• BANNERMAN, D M, RAWLINS, J N P, MCHUGH, S B, DEACON, R M J, YEE, B K, BAST, T, ZHANG, W-N, POTHUIZEN, H H J and FELDON, J, 2004. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. 28(3), 273-83
• PEZZE, M A, BAST, T and FELDON, J, 2003. Cerebral cortex. 13(4), 371-80
• BAST, T and FELDON, J, 2003. Progress in neurobiology. 70(4), 319-45
• BAST, T, ZHANG, W-N and FELDON, J, 2003. Hippocampus. 13(6), 657-75
• BAST, T, PEZZE, M A and FELDON, J, 2002. Behavioural pharmacology. 13(8), 669-73
• ZHANG, WEI-NING, BAST, TOBIAS and FELDON, JORAM, 2002. Behavioral neuroscience. 116(1), 72-84
• ZHANG, W-N, BAST, T and FELDON, J, 2002. Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior. 73(4), 929-40
• BAST, T, DIEKAMP, B, THIEL, C, SCHWARTING, R K W and GÃœNTÃœRKÃœN, O, 2002. The Journal of comparative neurology. 446(1), 58-67
• BAST, T, ZHANG, W N and FELDON, J, 2001. Experimental brain research. 139(1), 39-52
• BAST, T, ZHANG, W N, HEIDBREDER, C and FELDON, J, 2001. Neuroscience. 103(2), 325-35
• ZHANG, W N, BAST, T and FELDON, J, 2001. Behavioural brain research. 126(1-2), 159-74
• BAST, T, ZHANG, W N and FELDON, J, 2001. Hippocampus. 11(6), 828-31
• BAST, T, ZHANG, W N and FELDON, J, 2001. Psychopharmacology. 156(2-3), 225-33
• ZHANG, W N, BAST, T and FELDON, J, 2000. Neuroscience. 101(3), 589-99
• BAST, T, ZHANG, W, FELDON, J and WHITE, I M, 2000. Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior. 67(3), 647-58