Steven J. West

Steven J. West is the Histology Research Scientist for the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre. In this role, he is developing new tissue clearing and histology protocols, as well as image analysis methods, to contribute to understanding the structural organisation of the central nervous system (CNS). Steven is currently working with the International Brain Laboratory to help develop an activity map of the whole brain during a decision making task, where he will be using serial section 2-photon microscopy and light sheet microscopy with tissue clearing methods. Further interests include mapping CNS regions at the synaptic, dendritic and cellular level, and understanding how the CNS is altered with age.

Prior to joining SWC, Steve completed his DPhil in neuroscience at the University of Oxford, where he studied the impact of peripheral nerve injury on primary somatosensory spinal circuits. During his DPhil, he developed histological labelling protocols and automated stereological image analysis methods for assessing synaptic structures from confocal image stacks. He further pursued a post-doctoral research position in Oxford where he further refined his histological expertise by developing protocols on tissue clearing with immunofluroescence techniques.