UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences

Senior leaders and scientists from Yale and UCL mixed with Government Ministers, MPs and Peers at an event at the House of Commons this week, which aimed to raise awareness of the Yale-UCL Collaborative as a novel research model and example of transatlantic working.

The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) today announced that UCL will host the organisation’s secretariat, working to curb chronic diseases such as stroke, diabetes, chronic lung disease and heart disease throughout the world.

One of the first initiatives taken forward within the new UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science (ICS) was the establishment of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR). This is linked to the award of £5.27 million from the Department of Health to manage 6 national cardiac clinical audits for 36 months from April 2011. The audits include acute coronary syndromes (MINAP), cardiac interventions, adult cardiac surgery, congenital heart disease, cardiac rhythm management and heart failure.

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• Links
• Rohan de Silva’s webpage
• Reta Lila Weston Institute
• Nature Genetics original article
• The PSP Association
• Brain Research Trust

Nerve cells that transmit light signals from the eye into the brain use a molecule best known for its role in blood vessel growth as a ‘stepping stone’ to help them reach the opposite brain hemisphere, according to research published in Neuron.

• Links
• Professor Andrew Lees’s webpage
• Journal of Parkinson’s Disease original article

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Department of Neurodegenerative Disease

• Links
• Eleanor Maguire’s webpage
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging
• Dargut and Milena Kemali Foundation

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• MRC Prion Unit

Scientists at the MRC Prion Unit at UCL have made the unexpected discovery that two antibodies, extensively studied in relation to CJD, may also have an effect on Alzheimer's Disease.

Better control of cholesterol levels and blood pressure and a decline in smoking have contributed to a 74% drop in the risk of heart attack among nearly 10,000 civil servants working in London over a 20-year period, according to new research from the UCL-led Whitehall II study.