Brain and mind translation research

The Biomedical Research Group employs state-of-the-art capabilities to explore the mechanisms underlying disease, with a prominent focus on both molecular and in-vitro brain research. This includes disorders of myelinating cells (Parkinson), ischemia (Fern), and brain tumours (Hanemann, Parkinson, Barros), and the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence is world-leading in neural oncology research. Neurodegenerative diseases are an additional area of expertise, including study of Alzheimer's (Glebov), Motor Neurone (Hanemann), Huntingdon’s (Luo), and Parkinson's (Kramer, Glebov, Carroll) diseases. 

One highlight is ongoing work to understand genetic aspects of Parkinson’s and how these influence disease development risk, phenotype and progression. These insights are complemented by additional research that explores potential mechanisms for repair (Barros, Dun, Parkinson). Together, this body of research aims to develop new biomarkers and treatments and to test them in different model systems we have established. This involves developing new ways of conducting clinical trials, finding new drug targets, developing new targeted therapies using innovative trial designs (Hanemann, McCallum, Carroll, Zeissler), and optimizing/developing outcome measures in a way that is meaningful to patients (Hobart). Our Clinical Trials Unit has successfully run multicentre symptomatic and neuroprotective trials in neurodegenerative diseases.

In addition to discovery science our Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence engages in a range of translational research and is world-leading in neural oncology research. The research team includes a number of clinicians and has close links to hospitals in Plymouth and Bristol. Its research is supported and enabled by our established neurofibromatosis and meningioma biobanks and a developing low-grade glioma biobank, which include matched blood samples. The team deliver a number of clinical trials and recent successes include a study showing how drugs used to treat AIDS and HIV could be used for meningioma and acoustic neuroma brain tumours.

Researchers in the School of Psychology examine the mechanisms by which environmental risk factors influence mental health. This includes understanding of the processes that underpin human motivation, which lie at the heart of many health-related behaviours (Lloyd, Andrade, Brennan, May). 

There is a large focus on how individual differences contribute to behaviour and experience, such as variability in resilience, emotion, and visible appearance, and the social and cognitive implications of these in everyday life (Bacon, May, Norman). 

Additional projects include: 

Psychological insights greatly inform the legal process, and members of the School also conduct research on a variety of forensic topics that contribute to our knowledge of criminal behaviour and investigation (Brennan, Hollins, Ganis).

The Rehabilitation Research Group undertakes work to enhance understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to functional difficulties, as well as the factors that affect rehabilitation, care packages, and service delivery.

Much of their work characterises the impact of impairments on function in people with central and peripheral neurological disease (Marsden, Freeman). This includes including diabetic neuropathy (Paton) and variables affecting prognosis, such as the risk factors associated with falls in people with multiple sclerosis (Gunn). 

An important focus on the eye and vision research group has been the assessment of whether the easily accessible retinal microvasculature could provide a window into accelerated ageing, or an individual’s systemic vascular health and cardiovascular risk (Mroczkowska, Szostek). 

The Cataract and Refractive Surgery research team conducts both in-vivo and in-vitro investigations to examine the efficacy of Intraocular lens (IOL) implantation and the surgical techniques used to implant them. The team has developed new outcome measures for the clinical assessment of IOLs which assess; visual function, the subjective perception of vision, and the stability of the IOLs within the eye (Del Águila-Carrasco, Papadatou, P. Buckhurst). 

Cataract extraction is the most common surgical procedure with approximately 400,000 performed every year within the UK. The Human Myopia Laboratory (H. Buckhurst, P. Buckhurst, Oehring, Szostek) is furthering our understanding of the mechanism by which human myopia develops to inform improved methods of screening individuals at risk of myopia and improving the strategies for controlling it.