King's College London

Opening the event, Professor Matthew Hotopf, Executive Dean of the IoPPN, reflected on Professor Vernon’s rare ability to bridge disciplines. “Tony embodies what the Institute is about,” he said. “To crack mental health and neurological disorders, we need to bring together clinical insight and mechanistic understanding. Tony straddles both—working on psychosis and schizophrenia while probing the neuronal and molecular levels that underpin these conditions.”

A lecture by Professor Vernon followed, where he described his scientific journey, beginning with watching his father, an electrical engineer, at work which sparked his scientific curiosity. He continued his path, enrolling in a biochemistry undergraduate and PhD at Imperial, followed by postdoctoral research at King’s College London. At King’s he was introduced to 7T small animal MR imaging (MRI)—a technique he would continue to utilise throughout his career to translate discoveries in basic research to human clinical work. He thanked the many people who had encouraged him and fuelled his curiosity along the way.

His research spans protein level biochemistry to MRI in both humans and rodents. A key theme has been to bridge the gap between pharmacological studies performed in animals and treatments for conditions such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s Disease in humans. Latterly, his work has shifted to include human cellular models, for which he has been funded by the NC3Rs for efforts made towards replace animal usage in research.

His lab currently investigates how genetic and environmental risk factors, particularly stress and immune activation, converge to impact on brain development and influence the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. In doing, so the group uses a combination of human cellular models, coupled with neuroimaging applications to relevant animal models through collaborations.

The vote of thanks was given by Professor Deepak Srivastava, who highlighted Professor Vernon’s brilliant ability to communicate with researchers from a diverse range of backgrounds: from the clinical to the molecular. “He embodies what we want and hope to see in a colleague friend, mentor, and supervisor. He makes time for you, has passion, and brings so much energy to what we do.”

Professor Vernon is the co-training coordinator for the UKRI Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and co-runs the MRC PhD program alongside Professor Laura Andreae. He also co-leads a distance-learning module entitled ‘Neurodevelopmental Disorders from Bench to Bedside”.

Watch the full recording below