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Clinical Neurosciences

Welcome to the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. 

Our mission is to improve the lives of people with neurological illness and injury through discovery, innovative treatments and training the next generation.

We are embedded within Cambridge University Hospitals, allowing our research questions to stem from problems we have encountered in the clinic, and to directly address the needs of patients and families. We work in partnership with the Departments of Psychiatry, Genetics and Paediatrics, to improve brain and mind health, through life, together.

We investigate the mechanisms of brain disease and injury, to devise new diagnostics and treatments, as well as using large data to improve the way we deliver current treatments. Our work has already led to new treatments in use world-wide.

Professor Alasdair Coles
Head of Department

 


 



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Latest news

Cambridge researchers reveal genes that help us to plan daily tasks

14 July 2026

Researchers at the MRC Biostatistics Unit and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge have made an exciting discovery about how our genes affect thinking skills. Published in Nature Communications , the study reveals how our genes influence skills we use every day to plan, organise and make...

First in-human clinical trial results show feasibility of new Parkinson cell therapy

9 July 2026

Transplanting stem-cell derived dopamine progenitor cells into the brain to treat Parkinson’s disease is feasible, a landmark study has shown. Eight patients were transplanted in the first clinical trial, and no serious side effects linked to the transplanted cells were seen during the first year of follow‑up. Read the...

Problems with cell’s ‘plumbing’ linked to signalling issues in neurodegenerative conditions

1 July 2026

New research led by Prof Edward Avezov (UK DRI at Cambridge) reveals how the architecture of the cell’s transport network, the endoplasmic reticulum, can go awry and lead to problems with signalling in brain cells in conditions like Alzheimer’s. The study, published in Advanced Science, could lead to new therapeutic...

Research Impact Report 2025


Download our PDF report showcasing our latest research findings, major discoveries and trials in 2025:
Clinical Neuroscience Research Impacts Report 2025 
(offsite link)