NPP Seminar Series - Professor Robert Brownstone

A key role of central nervous systems is to drive the musculoskeletal system to move. Hence, a large proportion of the mammalian nervous system spread across diverse regions is used to drive movement. In humans, diseases or injuries to any of these regions can lead to impairments in movement, whether hypokinetic or hyperkinetic. Understanding how these diseases affect the integrated neural circuits in these different regions to impair the wonderful symphony of movement could lead to both a better understanding of nervous system physiology, and improved treatments for these patients. 

In this talk, Rob will focus on one disease: DYT-TOR1A dystonia, a generalised, early-onset dystonia resulting from a single gene mutation. Rob will attempt to take you through our iterative journey from patients to new mouse models and back to patients, and to discuss what we have learned about movement and about dystonia.