Neuroscience & mental health
How can we regenerate a damaged brain? How can we respond to a pandemic of neurodegenerative disease over the next thirty years? How can we reduce the stigma associated with mental illness? How can we identify neurological problems in infancy when there is still time to step in and take early action?
Already, one in four people will suffer mental health problems in their lifetime. As populations inevitably grow older, dementia and related conditions will increase dramatically: a human development with international economic and social implications. How can we stop that from happening?
At King’s Health Partners, we have more than 1,000 people researching the mind and brain. This team is pioneering the treatment of mental disorders and neurological disease by combining the traditionally separate studies of mind and brain. Emerging neuro-imaging technologies are helping us understand the brain in ways never imagined. By raising £200 million for our Neuroscience & mental health research, our World questions| King’s answers campaign is set to tackle some of the biggest health and social questions of our time and to leverage our tremendous strength in this field to improve lives now and over the decades to come. We will invest in three areas of research:
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Age-related conditions. We want to develop accurate diagnostics from concepts in the lab into clinically applicable tests to diagnose people with dementia and Alzheimer’s in the next five to ten years. In tandem with this we assist with the development of new drugs whose development will be fast-tracked by these diagnostic tools.
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Mental health. Through investment in diagnosis and new therapies we will find better treatments and therapies for schizophrenia, depression, addictions and compulsive behaviours. We will support innovative and translational research teams – that will use genetics, imaging, and internet-based therapies.
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Neuropsychiatric conditions. We are rapidly building the critical mass to make landmark developments across many conditions of the brain. We now need new support to fund collaborations between different research areas to help us to develop clinical diagnostic tests which will herald the beginning of a whole new era in personalised treatment for patients suffering from conditions including autism, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and stroke.
King's Institute of Psychiatry
Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute