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Llwyd Orton is Senior Lecturer in Neurophysiology in the Department of Life Sciences at Manchester Met. Since summer 2021 he is Academic Lead for the Doctor of Clinical Science (DClinSci) Network on the Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST) programme. He also wrote, developed and Programme Lead for the MSc Human Physiology. He leads units at levels 5 (second year undergraduate) to 8 (PhD) across a number of degrees.
Prior to joining Manchester Met, Llwyd was a masonry restorer, before undertaking undergraduate honours studies in Neuroscience and Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Manchester. He followed this with a PhD and post-doctoral training in Auditory Neuroscience at Newcastle University under the supervision of Adrian Rees. He took up a Lectureship at Manchester Met in 2014, where he contributes to teaching and research, with a focus on sensory processing, particularly the auditory system. He has ongoing research projects within the Centre for Bioscience, including investigating the link between hearing loss and increased risk of dementia.
His interest in pedagogy and academic practice motivated further study via an MA in Higher Education at Manchester Met. His inclusive and humanist approach to education has overseen completion of 3 successful PhD, 12 MSc, and 52 BSc final research projects and he is currently supervising 10 DClinSci research projects.
Through leadership and management of the final year undergraduate project unit from 2016-2020 (ca. 300 students per annum), he employed technology-enhanced teaching modifications that increased student satisfaction from 75% to 93%, which contributed to record high NSS scores in the Department of Life Sciences in 2020.
He has received 14 competitive funding awards totalling £724,750 from funders including Action on Hearing Loss, Alzheimer’s Research UK and The Physiological Society. He has published as lead author in prestigious international journals The Journal of Neuroscience, eLife, Psychological Medicine and the European Journal of Neuroscience as well as a book chapter in the Oxford Handbook of the Auditory Brainstem, with all lead author outputs freely available via open access.
Llwyd has been shortlisted for four awards at the MMU Student Union awards for Best post-graduate supervisor in 2018, Course of the year for the MSc Human Physiology in 2019, and Best personal tutor & Outstanding commitment to inclusive teaching in 2020.
“It comes from a deep-rooted conviction that if there is anything worthwhile doing for the sake of culture, then it is touching on subject matters and situations which link people, and not those that divide people.”
- Krzysztof Kieślowski
"When you learn about the teaching and the practice of another tradition, you always have a chance to understand your own teaching and practice."
- Thích Nhất Hạnh
“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.”
- Bertrand Russell
“The beginning is always today.”
- Mary Wollstonecraft
The nervous system is the centre of all we are. It mediates and controls our sensory experiences, thoughts and actions. How the nervous system is organised to produce its functions, both in health and disease, is therefore of fundamental importance. I use my passion for this subject to teach a range of topics in neuroscience, ranging from the basic function of nervous systems, to research-led sessions on the association between hearing loss and increased dementia risk. My teaching also encompasses a clinical neurophysiology focus.
If you learn with me, you will investigate what nervous systems are made of (neuroanatomy) and how they function (neurophysiology). You’ll learn some of the techniques we can use to study the brain, such as electrophysiology (EEG, ECog, evoked potentials, single unit recording, patch clamping), imaging (fMRI, CT, MEG, PET), and molecular biology (ELISA, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridisation, Western Blot, PCR). These fundamentals provide a basis to investigate diseases and disorders of the nervous system.
PhD students supervised:
HSST Neurophysiology Clinical Doctorate supervisor:
I am currently accepting applications for self-funded PhD students.
My current research has three strands:
My research employs the following approaches:
External collaborators:
AO. Milne, L. Orton, CH. Black, GC. Jones, M. Sullivan, et al. RA. Grant. (2021). California sea lions employ task-specific strategies for active touch sensing. Journal of Experimental Biology. 224(21), pp.jeb243085-jeb243085.
SD. Webb, LD. Orton (2021). Microglial peri-somatic abutments classify two novel types of GABAergic neuron in the inferior colliculus. European Journal of Neuroscience. 54(5), pp.5815-5833.
AM. Chaney, FR. Lopez-Picon, S. Serrière, R. Wang, D. Bochicchio, et al. SD. Webb, M. Vandesquille, MK. Harte, C. Georgiadou, C. Lawrence, J. Busson, J. Vercouillie, C. Tauber, F. Buron, S. Routier, T. Reekie, A. Snellman, M. Kassiou, J. Rokka, KE. Davies, JO. Rinne, DA. Salih, FA. Edwards, LD. Orton, SR. Williams, S. Chalon, H. Boutin. (2021). Prodromal neuroinflammatory, cholinergic and metabolite dysfunction detected by PET and MRS in the TgF344-AD transgenic rat model of AD: a collaborative multi-modal study. Theranostics. 11(14), pp.6644-6667.
C. Eversfield, L. Orton (2019). Auditory and visual hallucination prevalence in Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine. 49(14), pp.2342-2353.
LD. Orton, CA. Papasavvas, A. Rees (2016). Commissural gain control enhances the midbrain representation of sound location. Journal of Neuroscience. 36(16), pp.4470-4481.
LD. Orton, A. Rees (2014). Intercollicular commissural connections refine the representation of sound frequency and level in the auditory midbrain. eLife. 3,
LD. Orton, PWF. Poon, A. Rees (2012). Deactivation of the inferior colliculus by cooling demonstrates intercollicular modulation of neuronal activity. Frontiers in Neural Circuits. 6,
A. Rees, LD. Orton (2018). Unifying the midbrain: The commissure of the inferior colliculus. In: The Oxford Handbook of the Auditory Brainstem. pp.549-576.
Fourteen competitive funding awards as PI since 2016, totalling £724,750 from funders including Action on Hearing Loss, Alzheimer’s Research UK and The Physiological Society.
Expert commentary on hearing aids reducing risk of dementia:
Shortlisted for multiple MMU Student Union awards:
Faculty of Science & Engineering 5-a-side football tournament champions 2018 & 2019.
BBSRC
Action on Hearing Loss