Our research spans genetic, molecular and cellular models of neurodegeneration through the characterisation of human pathophysiology of dementia, to early phase clinical trials.
Our success is built on the effective integration of clinical and preclinical research programs with major specialist NHS services, and research partnerships with the UK Dementia Research Institute (DRI, hosted within the Department), the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), the Alzheimer’s Research UK Alborada Drug Discovery Institute (DDI), the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), Departments of Psychiatry, Chemistry and Public Health, and the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre.
Our clinical research programs build on long term natural history studies, of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment, Frontotemporal Dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Huntington’s disease, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus and Vascular Dementia. These clinical cohorts enable biomarker development and validation, novel AI based diagnostics, genetics and cognitive neurosciences, and are the foundations for interventional studies.
The Department is strong in early-phase clinical trials, with a dedicated Neurology Clinical Trials Unit. Our trials span novel cell-based therapies and gene-therapies, disease-modifying drugs and psychopharmacology, in precision cohorts with deep-phenotyping for stratification and endpoint analysis including novel cognitive and imaging biomarkers.
Our preclinical programs have discovered genetics associations of Alzheimer’s disease and Frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and the specificity of molecular misfolding and connectivity-based spread in the brain. The molecular biology and a-synculein and tau, their aggregation and clearance, and the mechanisms of cellular injury and tolerance through unfolded protein responses (UPR) have led directly to the development of novel therapeutics and clinical trials.
Patient and public involvement is important for Dementia and Neurodegeneration, with clear priorities for research leading to better diagnosis and treatment.
Principal Investigators
Prof Franklin Aigbirhio
Dr Edward Avezov
Dr Gabriel Balmus
Prof Roger Barker
Prof Michael Coleman
Dr Tim Fryer
Dr Andras Lakatos
Dr Emmanouil Metzakopian
Dr Maura Malpetti
Dr Will McEwan
Dr Timothy Rittman
Prof James Rowe
Prof Maria Grazia Spillantini
Kamen Tsvetanov
Dr Caroline Williams-Gray
Prof Patrick Yu Wai Man
Academic Clinical Lecturers
Dr Negin Holland
Dr Alex Murley
Dr Tom Stoker
Dr David Whiteside