News
Latest news from the group
Presentation prize
Added 10 November, 2016
PhD Student Melissa Rayner was awarded 1st Prize for her talk "Using advanced 3D engineered cell cultures to analyse the effect of drugs on peripheral nerve regeneration in vitro" at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute Research Away Day on 3rd November 2016.
UCL Special Grand Round lectures: now online
Added 1 February, 2016James Phillips joined UCL peripheral nerve surgeon Mr Tom Quick and a nerve injured patient to present a UCL Special Grand Round session in October 2015. This combination of interactive lectures and discussion entitled "Peripheral Nerve Regeneration: The science, surgery and experience of regenerative neuroscience" was open to the public and is now available to view online.
3R’s Prize for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of animal use in science
Added 3 June, 2015
MSc Clinical Neuroscience student Charlotte Lee-Reeves was awarded the prize for the most innovative research that supported the 3Rs - Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of animal use in science, at the 16th annual Queen Square Symposium.
The event saw over 60 PhD and MSc students from the UCL Institute of Neurology exhibiting posters based on their current research from a broad range of areas in neuroscience and neurological disease. Charlotte presented the preliminary findings from her project in developing an engineered neural tissue model of neurodegeneration. Her prize was awarded by guest speaker Professor Geoffrey Raisman, who gave the attendees an inspiring talk about neural regeneration and the future of nervous system repair.
New project optimising photochemical internalisation to avoid neuronal toxicity
Added 24 April, 2015Photochemical Internalisation (PCI) is a novel drug delivery technology founded upon Photodynamic Therapy (PDT). In PCI, low dose PDT can selectively rupture endo/lysosomal membranes by light activation of membrane-incorporated photosensitisers, facilitating intracellular drug release. PCI is currently being tested in patients at UCLH with advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing Bleomycin chemotherapy (more information). For PCI to be developed further, it is essential to understand whether nerve damage is an impending side effect when treating cancers within or adjacent to nervous system tissue. This study aims to investigate the effect of PCI on mammalian peripheral nerve cells using advanced cell culture models, with proven utility for translational PDT research, to identify a PCI treatment approach that minimises nerve toxicity. The project is a collaboration with Dr Josephine Woodhams (UCL Surgery) and Mr Colin Hopper (Consultant Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon) and the Research Assistant working on the project is Caitriona O'Rourke.