News

New paper characterising human nerve degeneration

This study reveals new information about the cellular and molecular features of human nerves following injury. Published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications (Open Access), this collaborative work analysed nerve tissue from patients undergoing repair surgery. Since the patients had surgery at various different times after the original injury, it was possible to build up an understanding of how nerve tissues change over days, months and years following damage.

Using immunohistochemistry and Real-Time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), the expression of SOX10, c-Jun, p75NTR and EGR2 was assessed in denervated samples and compared to healthy nerve. The patterns of changes seen in the human samples were similar to those reported previously in rodent models, with Schwann cells adopting a repair phenotype in acutely injured nerves, which then fades during chronic denervation. Understanding the timing of these changes in human nerve tissue following injury should help to inform the development of better therapeutic interventions.

More information about the study is provided in this UCL News Item and the paper can be accessed via this link. The project involved Matthew Wilcox, Simao Laranjeira, Tuula Eriksson, Kristjan Jessen, Rhona Mirsky, Tom Quick and James Phillips and was a multidisciplinary collaboration within the UCL Centre for Nerve Engineering.

Cordwainers Prize Awarded for Best MBPhD Thesis

Congratulations to Richard Bartlett for being awarded the prestigious Cordwainers Prize for his PhD thesis Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to repair the spinal cord. The prize is awarded for the best PhD thesis presented by an MBPhD student each year.

Nerve repair project awarded prestigious UCL Rosetrees Stoneygate Prize

We are delighted to announce our team was awarded the 2018 UCL Rosetrees Stoneygate Prize for research into improving nerve grafting using biomaterials. This cross-faculty research team led by James Phillips includes Rebecca Shipley, (UCL Mechanical Engineering, UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering), Ashleigh Boyd (UCL Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, UCL Institute of Immunity & Transplantation), Victoria Roberton (UCL School of Pharmacy) and Gareth Williams (UCL School of Pharmacy). The project will run for 3 years from April 2019 and will use a multi-disciplinary approach to develop alternatives to nerve autografts.

Naked Scientists Podcast

Listen to James and Becky talking about nerve injury and repair in this Naked Scientists Podcast.