The Department of Neuroscience is based on two sites at the Denmark Hill Campus. The section located within the main IoP campus hosts the
MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration and its research focuses on the cellular and molecular bases of neurodegenerative diseases, for example, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and Batten diseases and Motor Neuron Disease. The other section, the
Centre for the Cellular Basis of Behaviour (CCBB), is located in the James Black Centre on the King's College Hospital site and focuses on the basic mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder and depression, and on factors controlling neural stem cell development. In 2013, the Department will move into the Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, now being built next to the James Black Centre.
Research: The Department's research activities are co-ordinated by the Head of the Department, Professor Noel Buckley, whose staff include three Professors, three Readers, three Senior Lecturers, four Lecturers, one Research Fellow and 25 post-doctoral research scientists. The staff supervise 16 PhD students who use a wide range of techniques including genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, stem cell biology, advanced histology, confocal microscopy, live-cell video microscopy, electrophysiology and behavioural studies.
Teaching The Department offers a highly successful MSc in Neuroscience, which aims to transform a student's theoretical knowledge in the neurosciences into practical skills that will best meet their career aspirations. Staff within the Department, contribute extensively to this MSc and to the MSc in Clinical Neuroscience, as well as providing training for ERASMUS MSc students from FH Campus Wien, Vienna. The department also supervises PhD students, providing a range of research projects from basic cellular and molecular neuroscience and behavioural studies, to research into neurodegenerative diseases and experimental therapies. The MSc in Neuroscience can be also be offered as the first year of a 1+3 year programme, providing a vehicle for students without prior experience in this field to pursue a career in the neurosciences. The Department also contributes to a cross-divisional postgraduate program in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine.
Students participate in induction sessions organised by the Institute of Psychiatry Graduate Committee and by the Graduate School and are encouraged to make full use of the broad range of Generic Skills Training courses that are available across the College. All PhD students have two supervisors and their progress is closely monitored by the Neuroscience PhD Committee. The Department hosts weekly research seminars, given by experts in the field of neuroscience, and a weekly forum exists where students present and discuss their research with peers and colleagues. Opportunities are provided to interface with school children and other members of the public through ‘work experience’ weeks and open days.
The IoP shares the same site as the world famous Maudsley Hospital, which is part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) - one of the largest mental health providers in Europe. King’s is committed to translational research and is proud to be the only university in the country to host three National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) and six MRC centres. At the IoP we partner with SLaM to host the only specialist BRC for Mental Health in the UK working towards better treatment, earlier diagnosis and individualised healthcare. Students also have access to the largest library in Europe dedicated to psychiatry and related disciplines.
The Department’s general laboratories are all open plan and are located on both sites (see above). The Department also provides state of the art specialised facilities for basic and clinical neuroscience research. These include a seven tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, a comparative biology unit and suites of laboratories for microscopy including confocal microscopy, genomics analysis, proteomics, cell sorting and category II work and tissue culture. PhD students share these facilities with their supervisors and post-doctoral research workers and have desk space in adjacent open-plan offices. There are extensive libraries on both sites.
MSc Neuroscience students have their own student room with workspace and computers and also have access to the general computer rooms and the libraries in the IoP and the Weston Education Centre, both on the Denmark Hill Campus, and the libraries on the other campuses. Those students carrying out their research projects within the Department will use the laboratories described in the previous paragraph.
MRC, Alzheimer's Research UK, King's Graduate School.
Funded PhD positions are advertised on the Neuroscience website:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iop/depts/neuroscience/study/pgresearch/currentopps.aspx and on
http://www.findaphd.com
