Research

The Sobell Department houses all the teams within the Institute of Neurology who work on the control of movement from single cell studies of cultured motor neurons and muscles in isolated neuromuscular preparations to functional neurosurgery on patients with movement disorders.

The Department’s research is currently focussed upon movement disorders, stroke and the functional reorganisation of the damaged brain and spinal cord, motor neurone disease and the pathophysiology of nerve conduction. Our research also involves understanding how the brain controls skilled movements of the hand and higher cognitive aspects of decision making and reward.

The Department contains a range of expertise, which is unique in the UK, with 20 Principal Investigators in 16 research groups, who hold between them three 5-year programme grants and over 30 PhD Studentships.

Principal Investigators

Dr P. Bays

 Dr S. Bestmann Prof. K. Bhatia Dr M. Davare
Prof. B. Day Dr M. Edwards Dr S Farmer Dr T. Foltynie
Prof. L. Greensmith Prof. H. Hariz Prof. K Harris
 Prof. M. Jahanshashi
Prof. E. Joyce Dr S. Kennerley Dr J. Kilner Prof. M. Koltzenburg
Prof. R. Lemon Dr P. Limousin Prof. J Rothwell Dr C. Selai
Dr N. Ward Mr L. Zrinzo    

Research Groups

Action and Cognition
  (Bays)
Human Decision Implementation and Action Selection (Bestmann)
Clinical Movement Disorders (Bhatia, Selai)
 Human Hand Function (Davare)
Whole Body Sensorimotor Control (Day)
Pathophysiology of Human Movement Disorders (Edwards)
Neurophysiology of Human Motor Development (Farmer)
The Pathophysiology of Motor Neuron and Neuromuscular Disorders (Greensmith)
Unit of Functional Neurosurgery (Hariz, Limousin, Foltynie & Zrinzo)
 Quantitative Neuroscience  (Harris)
Cognitive Motor Neuroscience (Jahanshahi)
 Neuropsychiatry (Joyce)
Neurophysiology of Decision-Making and Action Selection (Kennerley)
Action Understanding & Social Cognition (Kilner)
Pain and Nociception (Koltzenburg)
Cortical Control of Skilled Hand Function (Lemon)
Physiology and Pathophysiology of Human Motor Control (Rothwell)
Neuroimaging of Plasticity and Recovery (Ward)

The UCL Institute of Neurology promotes teaching and research of the highest quality in neurology and the neurosciences. The Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery are members of  UCL Partners, Europe's largest academic health science partnership.