Section of Neuroscience

The Department of Neuroscience consists of the Section of Neuroscience and the Centre for the Cellular Basis of Behavior. It also hosts the MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research. Professor Noel Buckley is the head of the Department of Neuroscience.

The main focus of the Section of Neuroscience’s research is to further understanding of the molecular basis of neurodegeneration, focusing on the way the brain degenerates in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, and the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.

The CCBB also carries out research in these areas, such as Batten disease, and additionally carries out research on neural stem cells and on the neurobiology of mental health, especially on understanding the cellular organisation of the cerebral cortex in relation to the neurodevelopmental hypotheses of schizophrenia.

For more details, please refer to http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/departments/?locator=7&context=research

Our principal achievements have centred around (1) derivation, characterisation and application of neural stem cells and (2) understanding genetic and molecular mechanisms that underlie neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. We have uncovered genetic and epigenetic pathways regulating neural stem cell renewal in model organisms such as fly and mouse and used transplantation studies to examine efficacy of neural stem cells in animal models of stroke and Huntington’s Disease (HD). Notably, this has led to the first association between in vivo MRI-based anatomical measurements and their prediction of behavioural improvements in stroke. Further, we have pioneered the use of human neural stem cells for treatment of stroke and have produced the first clinical grade human neural stem cell lines, currently entering clinical trials for stroke. Another trailblazer is the first clinical trial of human neural stem cells in a neurodegenerative disorder (Batten Disease). Further efforts are aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which diet modulates adult hippocampal neurogenesis and the subsequent impact on mental health. Other breakthroughs include the demonstration that similar impairments of synaptic signalling may underlie both early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and schizophrenia (SZ), providing a novel linkage between seemingly disparate disorders. Further progress continues to be made into fundamental genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disorders and psychiatric disorders, particularly with regard to understanding susceptibility gene expression in SZ and the role of ß-amyloid in AD. HD is also in our sights, and we have carried out the first whole-genome study of aberrant transcription factor binding in HD brain and examined the therapeutic potential of neural stem cell transplantation in animal models of HD.

The Department of Neuroscience is involved in several collaborations, across the globe, including collaborators in the US (Columbia University, Washington University, Penn University, UCLA, UCSD), Australasia (Lincoln University, University of Sydney), Europe (Universities of Milan, Rome, Naples Helsinki, Freiburg) and Asia (The Genome Institute of Singapore). We also have many collaborations within the UK including Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Nottingham, and also with ReNeuron, a UK biotech company focusing on stem-cell therapy.

The department participates in a BSc (Intercalated) in Neuroscience Neuroscience and Neuropsychology pathway.

The department also runs one taught MSc course in Neuroscience. This Masters degree is offered as a one-year full-time programme and as a two-year part-time programme; it provides specialised pathways in Addiction Biology, Developmental Neurobiology, Neurodegeneration, Neuroimaging and Cognitive Neuroscience

For those wishing for supervision in doing a PhD, current vacancies can be found here.