The University of Sydney - Research Supervisor Connect

About Dr Jonathon Arnold

There are plenty of discoveries to be made as cannabinoid pharmacology is in its infancy.

Dr Jonathon is an internationally-recognised researcher in the pharmacology of cannabis and the cannabinoids (cannabis-like drugs).

Research interests: Dr Jonathon Arnold founded the Cannabinoid Research Group in the early 2000's, and this is now comprised of 1 post-doctoral researcher, 3 PhD students and 2 Honours students. For the last 12 years he has been an active researcher in the cannabinoid field. His current research has 3 main project areas:

1. Cannabinoid-modulation of multidrug resistance
2. A mouse model of genetic vulnerability to cannabis-induced psychosis, and
3. The effects of cannabinoids on brain and behaviour.

Recent publications:Dr Arnold's group has recently published a paper on interactions between cannabinoids and p-glycoprotein in Biochemical Pharmacology. This publication heralds the beginning of a new area of cannabinoid research and was the 4th most downloaded paper between January and March 2006 as noted by ScienceDirect's “Top 25 Hottest Articles” page. Another recent article published in Psychopharmacology shows Neuregulin 1 heterozygous mice have enhanced sensitivity to the behavioural actions of a tetrahydrocannabinol. This provides the first evidence that a schizophrenia-susceptibility gene may alter psychosis-related effects of cannabinoids. International recognition:Dr Arnold has an international reputation in cannabinoid research. In 2005 he was an invited speaker at the Spanish Society of Cannabinoid Research (SEIC) in Barcelona, Spain. His presentation at SEIC coincided with a 6 month sabbatical visit to the laboratory of Prof Guaza, Department of Neural Plasticity, Cajal Institute, Madrid. This year Dr Arnold has been invited to present his research on the Neuregulin 1 heterozygous mice and cannabinoids at the 12th Biennial Meeting of the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS) in Tübingen, Germany.Peer review and supervision: Dr Arnold reviews cannabinoid-related manuscripts for Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Brain Research and The British Journal of Pharmacology. He has supervised 5 Honours students to completion (3 awarded a 1st class). Currently he is coordinator of 2nd year “Pharmacology: Drugs and People” at the University of Sydney.

Selected publications