During
postdoctoral studies at the
Australian National University with
David Curtis, he helped establish the role of
glutamate as a central
neurotransmitter and characterised its actions between
AMPA,
N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) and
kainate receptor subtypes. At the
Royal Veterinary College, Lodge linked his interests in
anaesthesia and
glutamate receptors by making the key discovery that the dissociative anaesthetics,
ketamine and
phencyclidine, selectively blocked
NMDA receptors. He related
NMDA receptor antagonism to
psychotomimetic effects. This provided a basis for the
glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia and redirected pharmaceutical search for
schizophrenia therapies. David was recruited as a director of
Eli Lilly's
neuroscience program, where he helped develop glutamate receptor approaches to brain diseases, resulting in
clinical trials, e.g. for schizophrenia, some of which are ongoing. , Lodge's research concerns the mechanism of action of new ‘legal highs’ and the consequences of spontaneous mutations in glutamate receptors. ==Awards and honours==