My main research interest is in the biology of motor neurones and their connections in skeletal muscle, especially the development, plasticity, degeneration, regeneration and pathology of neuromuscular junctions. Synapses at  neuromuscular junctions are the first components of a motor neurone to degenerate in many forms of Motor Neurone Disease (MND/ALS). We combine electrophysiological techniques and imaging to find out how this synaptic degeneration is triggered and to explore ways that it could be slowed down or completely prevented: using gene-based therapies, drugs or exercise. I also collaborate in research into mechanisms of organophosphorus toxicity at neuromuscular junctions, and in the development of microendoscopic imaging technologies intended for observation of living neuromuscular junctions that might ultimately be used to diagnose, monitor and treat the progression of MND and other neuromuscular diseases. I also have an emerging interest in the utility of the larval Drosophila (fruit-fly) neuromuscular system as a model for investigation of  neuromuscular synaptic physiology and mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease.

http://www.nutshell-videos.ed.ac.uk/richard-ribchester-neuromuscular-junctions/

http://www.euanmacdonaldcentre.com/professor-richard-ribchester/

http://www.delsys.com/news/delsys-prize/winner-2015/

http://www.ccns.ed.ac.uk/People/Academic/ribchester.html