Neuroscience research in the Biomedical Research Group

The neuroscience theme embraces neurology research, across the whole translational spectrum from basic science to clinical trials and is funded by MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome, CR-UK and NIHR. Our research is disease orientated and looks at underlying mechanisms such as cell death and stem cells helping to understand the disease areas we focus on i.e. neurodegenerative diseases as well as disorders of myelinating cells, ischemia and brain tumours. Neurodegenerative diseases include Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Motorneurone and Parkinson's diseases. Our aim is to develop new treatments for these potentially devastating conditions, and test treatments in clinical trials using the best methods available. This involves developing new ways of doing clinical trials, linked to a programme of laboratory research in neurodegeneration.

Finding new drug targets and new targeted therapies through understanding the disease mechanism and then translating these new treatments into the clinic is our focus.

We have strong links with Plymouth Institute of Health and Care Research (PIHR) other research themes especially Infection, immunity and inflammation ​, Diagnostics research in the Biomedical Research Group and Cancer research in the Biomedical Research Group . We are also part of the faculty-wide research into clinical neuroscience .

Dr Ming Li

The research in my lab focuses on understanding the critical role of the tumour microenvironment (TME) in glioblastoma (GBM) immune evasion and tumour progression, with the ultimate goal of developing innovative therapies to combat this devastating disease. Using cutting-edge technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, spatial transcriptomics, and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we investigate innate immunity-associated genes that drive GBM immunosuppression and tumour growth. Employing advanced genetic models, including knockout mice and patient-derived xenografts, we aim to uncover novel molecular mechanisms of GBM immune evasion and therapeutic resistance. Our research further explores genetic and pharmacological interventions, particularly in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, to reprogram the TME and enhance anti-tumour immunity. By integrating molecular biology, immunology, and translational approaches, we seek to identify actionable targets and develop effective, durable treatment strategies for GBM patients.

Charles Affourtit

Like all living organisms, we humans need to extract energy from our environment to escape death and the cellular mechanisms by which this energy is transduced and conserved are thus critical to our survival. As the powerhouses of the cell, mitochondria play a key role in cellular bioenergetics and mitochondrial dysfunction has indeed been linked to a range of diseases. Research in the Affourtit Lab aims to establish the role of bioenergetic failure in the Metabolic Syndrome, a cluster of medical disorders that collectively increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Current projects explore how mitochondria may mediate obesity-related defects in insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells and in the insulin sensitivity of skeletal muscle.

Oleg Anichtchik

Understanding mechanisms of insoluble protein aggregates formation and cellular degeneration in the human brain is one of the most pressing questions of clinical neurobiology. We are trying to understand the process of alpha-synuclein aggregation in the development of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. In particular, we are looking for the reasons of a selective vulnerability of neurons to the toxic insult caused by aggregating proteins and whether dis-aggregating strategies could be beneficial in these conditions. To address this, classical neuromorphology, biochemistry and cell biology techniques are used in a range of in vitro and in vivo models, including human post-mortem studies, animal models of neurodegeneration and cell culture assays.

Claudia Barros

The controlled generation of new neurons and glia cells in the brain from Neural Stem Cell (NSC) progenitors is crucial not only during embryonic development but throughout adult life. Deregulation of adult NSCs impacts on normal brain function and can lead to a variety of brain disorders. The development of NSC-based therapies, holding promise towards replacement of dying or malfunction brain cells and more effective brain tumour treatments, depend on our understanding of how NSCs are regulated. Our team research focus is to reveal and understand the signals controlling Neural Stem Cell mitotic activation, cell fate and lineage maturation in both normal and pathological conditions, such as during brain tumour formation. We take advantage of one of the best in vivo genetic models available, the Drosophila central nervous system, and translate our findings to the human brain using human brain cell cultures, tissues and tumour samples.

Understanding the workings of the human central nervous system (CNS) with its millions of neurons generating trillions of connections is a formidable challenge. Fortunately, to uncover the basic rules, we can turn to simpler organisms. I am using the simple fruit fly Drosophila to study evolutionary conserved mechanisms in CNS development and disease. Using classical genetics, molecular biology, transgenics, micromanipulation, CrispR/ Cas9 and single cell transcriptomics I study the embryonic development of the CNS to understand how damage to it can be repaired. I also investigate the transcriptional program that ensures the correct formation of neural networks controlling movement.

Oliver Hanemann

My research is on neuromuscular disease, especially motor neuron disease and neurooncology. Current work on motor neuron disease is mainly clinical and includes genotype-phenotype analysis and clinical trials. In neuro-oncology we focus on cell biology studies to find and validate new therapeutic targets as there is a great medical need to find new treatments.

I lead our brain tumour research team , who make up one of four UK Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence supported by the charity Brain Tumour Research.

Shouqing Luo

Autophagy is an intracellular bulk degradation system mediated by lysosomes, and its substrates include long-lived cytosolic proteins, intracellular pathogens and damaged organelles. Autophagy is involved in many biological processes of normal physiology, such as mitigating metabolic stress, degradation of aggregate-prone proteins (e.g. mutant huntingtin), and tissue homeostasis. Defects in autophagy process are associated with numerous pathophysiologies, including neurodegenerative diseases and tumorigenesis. The research in our lab currently focuses on autophagy regulation and its roles in neurological diseases.

David Parkinson

My research interests are in the control of myelination and repair in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) as well as drivers of cell proliferation in tumours of the nervous system. We study the biology of the Merlin tumour suppressor and how this protein regulates cell behaviour. We use several different model systems, such as transgenic mouse models and human tumour cell culture, to understand how loss of Merlin, and dysregulation of Hippo pathway signalling, regulates peripheral neve development, PNS repair and how tumours such as schwannomas and meningiomas arise and grow in the nervous system. The identification of new targets for drug treatments may be used to both improve the outcomes of PNS repair as well as novel therapies for nervous system tumours.

Eve Kelland

The focus of research within my laboratory is centered around molecules that modulate oligodendrocytes and their progenitors, OPCs, responses to injury with the goal of finding novel therapeutics that can promote neuroprotection and repair; all within the context of the disease Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis can be a debilitating disease of the central nervous system in which components of the body’s immune system specifically target oligodendrocytes within the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves of the eyes. The function of an oligodendrocyte is to make and form tight insulation wraps, called myelin, around nerve cells. This enables nerve cells to transmit fast electrical signals and it also protects the nerve cell and provides support. Following loss of myelin and the oligodendrocyte the nerve cell cannot function correctly and ultimately degenerates resulting in the accrual of disability. For my research I utilize a range of techniques and tools centered around demyelination to study how endogenous OPCs migrate and differentiate in response to injury, how Multiple Sclerosis drug therapies and novel pathways, such as the renin-angiotensin system, interact with these cells, and identify novels targets to reduce or prevent oligodendrocyte loss and promote repair.