Neuroscience

This Theme’s Focus

To develop personalised treatments for patients with brain diseases to reduce disability and prolong a healthy life
We focus on rare inherited brain and muscle disorders, brain inflammation including multiple sclerosis, and traumatic brain injury

Neurological disorders affect one in six in the UK and are complex and highly variable, with limited treatment opportunities.

Stroke and dementia account for less than 15% of neurological disorders. Rare neurological disorders affect around one in 1,000, conditions of brain inflammation, including multiple sclerosis (MS) and autoimmune encephalitis (AE) affect around four in 1,000; whereas traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death in young adults and a major cause of disability affecting 50 million people every year worldwide.

NHS hospitals have seen more than a 20% increase in neurological admissions since 2016, which reflects advances in the management of acute neurological trauma and an ageing population. This leaves many patients with life-long disability, has substantial negative impact on quality of life, and costs the NHS over £4.4billion a year.

To address this, we want to use technological advances in genomics, metabolomics (the study of small molecules in the body, known as metabolites) and imaging to help us develop personalised medicine in rare neurological disorders, brain inflammation and traumatic brain injury.

We have established a region-wide hub for precision experimental medicine and early phase interventions in neurological diseases, recruiting participants across the East of England and nationally, reaching deep into deprived rural and coastal areas.

And our dedicated Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) panel helps us by providing detailed input into grant applications and shaping our research priorities. We have hosted visits from patients, friends and relatives, alongside traditional PPI outreach events. All of our clinical study groups include one or more PPI representatives.

Theme Lead

Professor Alasdair Coles

Medical adviser to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of the UK, and advises several pharmaceutical companies.
Email: ajc1020@medschl.cam.ac.uk

Meet our researchers

Here are some of the conditions we are researching:

Brain inflammation

Brain inflammation includes multiple sclerosis (MS) and encephalitis.

MS has many treatments but we don’t know much about their effectiveness outside short clinical trials, and there are no treatments that promote remyelination, which can prevent long-term neurodegeneration in MS.

Encephalitis can be viral or autoimmune. Treatments of these are different but diagnostic confirmation takes time, especially for autoimmune encephalitis (AE).

We aim to optimise treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) and optimise how we detect and stratify (group) both viral and autoimmune encephalitis.

Rare inherited neurological diseases

A genetic diagnosis is not possible for around 40% of families with suspected neurogenetic disorders, even after whole genome sequencing. By providing a molecular diagnosis, we can then enable accurate genetic counselling, prenatal diagnosis and the diagnosis of unrecognised treatable disorders.

We also want to develop new treatments for inherited neurological disorders. The majority of neurogenetic disorders have no treatment, causing progressive disability and early death. Capitalising on our international leadership in mitochondrial biology, we will focus on mitochondrial disorders which affect one in 5,000 people.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Traumatic brain injury is responsible for many of the 11,000 trauma deaths per day globally. We have developed innovative therapies and identified novel monitoring tools to target the management of intracranial pressure, breaking the vicious cycle of brain swelling. Our work has contributed to reducing the likelihood of dying from brain injury. Specifically, decompressive craniectomy is now used routinely in the UK and has saved 22 additional lives out of 100, with 60% of survivors independent at home.

However, current treatment paradigms are generic and provide no framework for developing and using personalised medicine approaches (particularly in patients with mild injury). They also take no account of the growing evidence that TBI can trigger neurodegeneration. We aim to develop personalised medicine in TBI, and develop and evaluate novel experimental therapies for specific patients groups, to further reduce mortality and disability in survivors.

Latest News

Prestigious lectureship award for NIHR Cambridge BRC stroke researcher

March 21, 2024

Congratulations to Dr Nicholas Evans, who has been awarded…

Professor Peter Hutchinson (right) receiving the medal from Professor Tor Ingebrigtsen

Top research award for Neuroscience Theme co-lead Prof Hutchinson

November 8, 2023

Congratulations to our Neuroscience theme TBI (Traumatic Brain…

Surgery at CUH - Image from Cambridge University Health Partners

New study recommends replacing skull section after brain bleed treatment

May 10, 2023

A new trial has found - where possible - surgeons should replace the removed section of the skull following surgery to treat a form of brain bleed. Researchers say the approach will save patients undergoing skull reconstruction further down the line.

Cambridge researcher wins prestigious award for rare eye disease gene replacement therapy research

April 20, 2023

Neuroscience researcher Professor Patrick Yu-Wai-Man has won…

Patient in hospital bed - Parentingupstream from Pixabay

Cognitive impairment from severe COVID-19 equivalent to 20 years of ageing, research finds

May 3, 2022

Researchers suggest cognitive impairment as a result of severe COVID-19 is similar to that sustained between 50 and 70 years of age and is the equivalent to losing 10 IQ points.

AI generated brain image - David_SMC from Pixabay

Study suggests lithium may decrease risk of developing dementia

March 18, 2022

Researchers have identified a link which suggests that lithium could decrease the risk of developing dementia, which affects nearly one million people in the UK.

Photo of eye: Image by Cindy Parks from Pixabay.

Researchers eye up new gene therapy trial that could reverse hereditary blindness

September 1, 2021

Restoration of sight from a rare genetic mutation may now become a reality thanks to a prestigious award from the NIHR and Moorfields Eye Charity.

Link between amino acid and a range of common diseases could help predict personal risk

August 24, 2021

Researchers have identified associations between mitochondrial DNA variants and an amino acid, and effects on the risk of developing a range of common, late-onset illnesses.

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Neuroscience Case Studies

2 people. 1 conducting an eye exam on the other using machinery

Gene therapy for inherited blindness

October 16, 2024

Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a rare inherited…

One person holding a thumb to the other persons head

Brain repair in multiple sclerosis

October 16, 2024

Over 100,000 people in the UK have multiple sclerosis (MS).…

Improving the outcome from head injury

October 16, 2024

Head injury is the commonest cause of death in young adults.…

Tablets - Image from Cambridge University Health Partners

Alemtuzumab in Multiple Sclerosis

October 16, 2024

Cambridge BRC researchers were the first to use alemtuzumab…

Link between amino acid and a range of common diseases could help predict personal risk

October 16, 2024

Damage or disruption to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) – the…

Previous Next

Neuroscience Publications

Integrated omics reveals disease-associated radial glia-like cells with epigenetically dysregulated interferon response in multiple sclerosis

October 10, 2025

Quantitative susceptibility mapping at 7 T in COVID-19: brainstem effects and outcome associations

October 9, 2024

Decompressive Craniectomy versus Craniotomy for Acute Subdural Hematoma

May 10, 2023

Brain injury in COVID-19 is associated with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses

September 6, 2022

Socio-economic disadvantage is associated with alterations in brain wiring economy

June 16, 2022

The NIHR Cambridge BRC is part of the NIHR and hosted by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with the University of Cambridge. We are at the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Europe’s largest health research area.

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Contact Us

Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre
Box 277
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Tel: 01223 348490

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3 Feb

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8 Jan

The Cambridge-led IVORY trial has shown that targeting the immune system, by giving a low-dose of aldesleukin, could prevent future heart attacks by nearly 8%.

Learn more about the study >>https://bit.ly/4aLzW6Q

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6 Jan

📣 The Milner Consortium Call returns with its sixth call for research proposals. Academic researchers – join our Q&A webinar to learn more and ask questions about the Call!

🗓️ 22 Jan ⏰ 10am 📍 Online

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🔗 More info: http://www.milner.cam.ac.uk/consortiumcall/

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5 Jan

👉 Want to help shape a future trial focused on preventing falls in older people?
👉 Are you an older adult and/or family member/carer? 👉 Free on Wed 21st Jan 2026 at 13.30 for an online group?
👉 Contact James Piercy - james@brainhrc.org
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Neuroscience

This Theme’s Focus

Theme Lead

Professor Alasdair Coles

Here are some of the conditions we are researching:

Brain inflammation

Rare inherited neurological diseases

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Latest News

Neuroscience Case Studies

Neuroscience Publications

Contact Us

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