UK Parkinson's Disease Consortium - UKPDC
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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...
Neurogenetics Group
Our group’s main goal is to identify genetic variability that either causes or contributes to the onset of neurodegenerative disease.
Our work relies heavily on building a large bank of tissue and DNA samples with which to work. In order to facilitate this process, we have developed a number of strong collaborative ties with the clinical teams at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery who are instrumental in identifying potential donors. It is because of this spirit of co-operation that we have accrued one of the world’s largest neurodegenerative sample databases, that includes not only DNA, but in many cases, fibroblasts or brain tissue.
In order to elucidate the genetic
architecture of these diseases, we are currently using state-of-the-art
approaches, which range from genome-wide genotyping, through exome to, in select
cases, whole genome sequencing. These
novel technologies have opened the door to a whole new outlook on genomic
variability and how it impacts on the onset and course of a disease.
We are currently using these technologies to model Parkinson’s disease as a complex disorder with a two-pronged approach: on one hand we are studying families using Sanger sequencing followed by whole-genome genotyping, linkage analysis and ultimately exome sequencing, and on the other hand we are using our extensive sample biobank to perform large scale association studies with genotype and, in the near future, sequence data.
It is expected that over the next 2-5 years
technology will improve to a point where whole genome sequencing becomes
feasible on large cohorts of samples. Our group is in an ideal position to make
use of these innovations with great success.
We would be interested to hear from
any individuals with Parkinson’s disease who have a family history of the
disorder as we are currently recruiting for research studies. Please contact Dr Una-Marie Sheerin here.
Page last modified on 31 jan 11 17:51
