My research focus is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as motor neuron disease.

My overall aim is to develop measures of disease that can be used as biomarkers in clinical trials. I am particularly interested in a noninvasive technique called surface electromyography, which detects pathological electrical activity in affected muscles.

As a consultant neurologist, I regularly review patients at King's College Hospital in the specialist motor nerve clinic. I am also a principal investigator for the FUSION trial, which investigates a new drug targeting a particular genetic subtype of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Separate to my primary research focus, I am the author of a book called Nature Within. This explores our species' inherent connection with the natural world and the myriad ways this benefits human health.

Please see my Research Staff Profile for more details.

 

 Find out more about my research 

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/spiqe 

 
Key publications 

• Bashford et al., 2020. The rise and fall of fasciculations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Brain Communications.
• Weddell et al., 2021. First-recruited motor units adopt a faster phenotype in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of Physiology.
• Bashford et al., 2019. SPiQE: An automated analytical tool for detecting and characterising fasciculations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Clinical Neurophysiology.
• Planinc et al., 2023. Fasciculation electromechanical latency is prolonged in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Clinical Neurophysiology.
• Scott et al., 2025. Noninvasive quantification of fasciculations to track tofersen therapy in superoxide dismutase 1 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Clinical Neurophysiology. 

View all publications 

 

 Key collaborators

• Professor Anne Vanhoestenberghe, King's College London
• Dr Raquel Iniesta, King's College London
• Professor Jon Rohrer, University College London
• Professor Roger Whittaker, Newcastle University