Senior Lecturer David A Mahns

 

Biography


David Mahns is a Senior Lecturer in Integrative Physiology at the School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney. After completing his doctoral work in Cardiovascular Physiology (1999) David undertook post-doctoral work in sensory physiology under the direction of Professor Mark Rowe as a NHMRC research officer.
In 2003 he was appointed as Lecturer & Course coordinator (2003-2006).
In 2007 David was appointed as a senior lecturer in Integrative Physiology at the University of Western Sydney.


David specializes in quantifying the contribution of sensory nerves arising from skin and deep structures such as muscle and bone to perception.
Recent work has focused on defining how we distinguish between non-painful (eg innocuous touch) and painful stimuli.
These questions are addressed using psychophysical observations and detailed electrophysiological recording.
In collaboration with Professor Macefield we are examining the contribution of different sensory nerves to the abnormal condition of allodynia where gentle touch is perceived painful.

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Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

  • Integrative physiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Sensory physiology
  • Pain and Tactile sensibility
  • Microneurography

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Grants / Current Projects

2011-2013
Pleasure & Pain: Defining the origin and contextual boundaries
UWS Eminent Visitor Grant, $45,000
Research Team: Dr David A Mahns, Prof Francis McGlone

2011
Separation of discriminative and affective touch: A TMS study
UWS Infrastructure Grant, $68,000
Research Team: Dr David A Mahns, Prof Francis McGlone, Prof Håkan Olausson (visiting fellow, 2011)

2010-2011
Neural mechanisms of muscle pain, referral and allodynia in humans
UWS Internal Grant, $15,000
Research Team: Dr David A Mahns

2007-2010
Neural Mechanism of bone pain
Funding NHMRC Project Grant, $276, 000
Research Team: Dr David A Mahns

2007
Peripheral encoding of forces associated with manipulation by tactile afferents in the human finger
Funding: UWS Research Grants Scheme, $25,000
Research Team: Prof John Morley, Dr David A Mahns

2006
Neural Mechanism of bone pain, along with seed funding
Faculty-based Research Grant, UNSW, $20,000
Research Team: Dr David Mahns, Prof Mark Rowe

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Selected Publications

IVANUSIC JJ, SAHAI V, MAHNS DA. (2009) The cortical representation of sensory inputs arising from bone. Brain Research 1269:47-53.

WEERAKKODY , N., MAHNS DA, TAYLOR J AND GANDEVIA S. (2007). Impairment of human proprioception by high-frequency cutaneous vibration. Journal of Physiology 581: 971-980.

IVANUSIC JJ, MAHNS DA, SAHAI V, AND ROWE MJ. (2006) Absence of large-diameter sensory fibres in a nerve to the cat humerus. Journal of Anatomy 208: 251-255.

MAHNS DA, PERKINS NM, SAHAI V, ROBINSON L, AND ROWE MJ. (2006) Vibrotactile frequency discrimination in human hairy skin. Journal of Neurophysiology 95: 1442-1450.

MAHNS DA, IVANUSIC JJ, SAHAI V, AND ROWE MJ. (2006) an intact peripheral nerve preparation for monitoring the activity of single, periosteal afferent nerve fibres. Journal of Neuroscience Methods ;156:140-144

SAHAI V, MAHNS DA, PERKINS NM, ROBINSON L, AND ROWE MJ. (2006) Vibrotactile coding capacities of spinocervical tract neurons in the cat. Journal of Neurophysiology 95: 1465-1477.

SAHAI V, MAHNS DA, ROBINSON L, PERKINS NM, COLEMAN GT, AND ROWE MJ. (2006) Processing of vibrotactile inputs from hairy skin by neurons of the dorsal column nuclei in the cat. Journal of Neurophysiology 95: 1451-1464.

MAHNS DA, SAHAI V, AND IVANUSIC JJ. (2005) Mechanosensory perception: are there contributions from bone-associated receptors? Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology 32: 100-108.

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Professional Activities

Member, Australian Neuroscience Society
Member, UWS School of Medicine Executive Committee
Member, UWS School of Medicine Research Committee
Higher Degrees Research Coordinator, UWS School of Medicine
Honours Coordinator, UWS School of Medicine
Doctoral Supervisor: Saad Nagi, Matthew Barton, Allan Lotfizadeh, Carol Gano
Honours Supervisor: Mariam Mamozai
Masters Supervisor: Larah Jarque

 

Community Engagement

Hosting high-school work experience students in research laboratory
Public and school lectures on careers in medical research
Annual participation, UWS Youth Science Forum
Annual participation/promotion, Australian Brain Bee Challenge

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