UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences

Small bypass vessels which act as a ‘back-up system’ for the heart’s main arteries play a significant role in reducing the mortality of patients with coronary artery disease, according to new research.

The 1st UCL Nephrology Day was held on the Bloomsbury campus on September 14th. It included participation from senior staff members from the Yale University School of Medicine Departments of Cellular and Molecular Physiology (Professors Caplan and Giebisch) and Medicine (Nephrology) (Professors Aronson and Somlo), as part of the Yale UCL initiative and Yale UCL Senior Scientist Lecture Series. Over 100 registered delegates attended, from within and outside UCL, and even some from abroad including a delegation from China. The guest speakers from Chongqing Medical University were Han Lei, President of CQMU and Professor/Physician of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Hong Yang, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of CQMU and Dean of the College of Foreign Languages.

Professor Peter Fonagy, Head of UCL’s Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, spoke at the first of a series of mental health open forums taking place in conjunction with comedienne Ruby Wax’s Losing It show.

Researchers, led by UCL Institute of Neurology's Dr Sebastian Crutch, have secured funding from Alzheimer's Research UK, which will allow them to study posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) in more depth using high-tech eye-tracking equipment. Read: Health Canal

Ringing in the ears may be a by-product of the brain 'turning up the volume' to cope with subtle hearing loss, according to Dr Roland Schaette and Professor David McAlpine (UCL Ear Institute). Read: Science News

Congratulations to UCL Institute of Neurology’s Professor John Hardy, who has been awarded the IFRAD 2011 European Grand Prize for Alzheimer's Research. The prize, worth €150,000, will be awarded to Professor Hardy on September 21st, World Alzheimer’s Day, during IFRAD's annual Gala. Professor Hardy was awarded the prize in recognition of his pioneering work in identifying the biological cascade of Alzheimer's disease.

Sirtuins, proteins believed to significantly increase lifespan in a number of organisms – and the claimed target of some anti-ageing creams – do not, in fact, affect animal longevity, according to new research funded by the Wellcome Trust and the European Union.

Up to £5,000 per project is available to UCL staff through the 2011 UCL Grand Challenges Small Grants Scheme. The closing date for applications is 18 November 2011.

Congratulations to UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience’s Professor Neil Burgess and Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology’s, Professor Angus Silver, who have been awarded Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowships (PRF).

Congratulations to UCL Institute of Neurology Professors Martin Rossor and Anthony Schapira, who have both been awarded funding in the first ever Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration Research (CoEN) initiative.