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- Public lecture: The autophagy signaling network, c-‐myc and pathology: don't mess with the cell cycle!
- Video: Brain Disease Research - Keeping You You
- Video: Degenerating Brains public symposium
- Mutations in VCP gene implicated in a number of neurodegenerative diseases
- Public lectures: new research into Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron Disease
- Blog: Degenerating neurons
- Global research team discovers new Alzheimer’s risk gene
- Direct Observation of the Interconversion of Normal and Toxic Forms of a-Synuclein
- Video: The genetics of LRRK2 by Nick Wood
- Video: Parkinson's UK site visit for the Targeting LRRK2 project
- Successes of Deep Brain Stimulation for patients with Parkinson's disease
- Recordings in Parkinson's disease patients reveal details of communication between deep and superficial brain structures
- Five new Parkinson's genes identified
News
Public lecture: The autophagy signaling network, c-‐myc and pathology: don't mess with the cell cycle!
You are invited to a public lecture by Francesco Cecconi, an eminent scientist in the field of autophagy and neurodegeneration, on Thursday the 25th of April at 17:00, in the lecture theatre of 33 Queen Square, University College Hospital London, WC1N. The lecture will be followed by a general discussion with drinks and food. More...
Video: Brain Disease Research - Keeping You You
Have you ever wondered how scientists research the brain?
Have you wondered who digs through that beautiful mass of grey matter between
our ears to understand how it works and why it stops working? Meet the
Neurodegenerative Diseases Initiative. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and MRC, this
team of scientists from around the globe investigates Alzheimer's, Parkinson's
and Motor Neuron Diseases. The team is on the hunt for understanding and
treatments for brain diseases. More...
Video: Degenerating Brains public symposium
The "Degenerating Brains" public symposium was held on the 13th March 2013, as part of Brain Awareness Week. Around 250 people showed up to hear Professors John Hardy (UCL), Chris Shaw (KCL) and David Rubinsztein (Cambridge) discuss new discoveries in neurodegenerative diseases and how they might impact drug treatment. More...
Mutations in VCP gene implicated in a number of neurodegenerative diseases
New research, published in Neuron, gives insight into how single mutations in the VCP gene cause a range of neurological conditions including a form of dementia called Inclusion Body Myopathy, Paget’s Disease of the Bone and Frontotemporal Dementia (IBMPFD), and the motor neuron disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). More...
Public lectures: new research into Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron Disease
You are invited to an evening (13th March 2013) exploring the very latest in cutting edge research into neurodegenerative diseases. Supported by the Wellcome Trust, scientists investigating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron disease will explain how our understanding of these disorders is changing in the light of new discoveries in genetics and cell biology, and how these discoveries impact on developing new drugs for these diseases.
18.00 Welcome and introduction
18.10 Lectures commence
More...
Successes of Deep Brain Stimulation for patients with Parkinson's disease
15 April 2011
A team, led by Dr Tom Foltynie, from UCL Institute of Neurology’s Unit of Functional Neurosurgery recently published a study in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, highlighting the positive results of Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation (STN DBS) surgery on patients with Parkinson’s disease. Specifically the study looked at the outcome of 79 consecutive patients who underwent the surgery at the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, showing that the surgery was both safe and beneficial to Parkinson’s patients.
The team demonstrated that at their 12 month follow-up visits, patients' symptoms and signs of Parkinson's had improved by 55% compared with their disability at start of the study. These figures compare favourably with all previously published series of STN DBS studies and justify the novel approach used by the researchers – that of “magnetic resonance image guided targeting." This approach allows researchers to ensure that electrodes are placed precisely and accurately using only a single trajectory through each hemisphere of the patient's brain.
Most importantly the team showed that by using this approach, the safety of performing STN DBS at Queen Square is second to none as not a single patient experienced any form of haemorrhage within the brain. An editorial accompanying this paper written by Professor Paul Krack in Grenoble, France described these data as "a new Benchmark in STN DBS".
Acknowledgements: The Unit of Functional Neurosurgery at the UCL-IoN is supported by the Parkinson Appeal and the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation
Image: The team at the Unit of Functional Neurosurgery
Media Contact: Alison Brindle
Page last modified on 15 apr 11 15:57
