Rate My Professor Chris French

Associate Professor Chris French is a consultant neurologist and epileptologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine (Neurosciences), Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, at the University of Melbourne. He holds degrees including MBBS, BSc(Med), PhD, and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP). As Group Leader of the Neural Dynamics Laboratory in Melbourne Medical School at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, French directs research on neural dynamics underlying hyperexcitability, memory encoding, and pharmacological modulation of brain activity. His investigations employ patch-clamp electrophysiology, computational modeling via Neuron simulator and Matlab, and neuro-optical techniques such as miniscope imaging in freely moving animals. A key focus is the impact of brain tumors on neural function, particularly seizure generation, utilizing an innovative in vitro model to examine tumor cell invasion and emergent epileptic activity. Additional projects explore electrophysiological properties of human neuronal tissue from neurosurgical resections, sodium channels in epilepsy, antiepileptic drug mechanisms, cognition-related brain wave biomarkers, and potential deep brain stimulation therapies for dementia.

French has advanced epilepsy research through grants such as the 2019 Dean's Innovation Grant for improved pain, heart, and epilepsy drugs, the RACP Foundation Research Award, RMH research grants including 2025 funding for glioblastoma therapy, and co-investigator on the 2010 Brain Foundation Epilepsy Award. Notable publications include 'Modulation of a voltage-gated sodium channel by drug access to the receptor site' (Boiteux et al., PNAS, 2014), 'Therapeutic combinations of classically used antiepileptic drugs produce synergistic anticonvulsant effects in a mouse model of pharmacoresistant seizures' (Taing et al., PLOS ONE, 2017), 'Critical dynamics arise during structured information presentation within hippocampal networks' (Habibollahi & French, Nature Communications, 2023), and contributions to iScience on hippocampal paradigms (2023). His interdisciplinary collaborations with institutions like the Florey Institute, Monash University, and University of Chicago have influenced ion channel studies, drug development, and cognitive neuroscience. French also mentors Honours, Masters, and PhD students, serves in faculty roles such as Honours Director, and contributes to career pathway workshops.