Largest ever UK grant for Parkinson's awarded to Institute of Neurology

06 November 2009

One of three bold new research programmes focusing on devastating neurodegenerative diseases has been won by a team from the Institute.

£5.3m funding from the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council has been awarded to a research team that brings together leading experts in brain disease from UCL’s Institute of Neurology and the Royal Free Hospital, as well as involving groups from University of Dundee and University of Sheffield.

It is the largest grant ever awarded for research into Parkinson’s in the UK.

Professor Alan Thompson, Director of the Institute of Neurology and Vice-Dean, UCL Faculty of Biomedicine said: "This award provides a major impetus to our research into neurodegenerative disorders which is a key element to the research strategy of the Institute of Neurology and UCL Neuroscience"

Principal investigators are: Professors Nicholas Wood, John Hardy (both IoN Department of Molecular Neuroscience) and Anthony Schapira (IoN Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Hampstead Campus)

Professor Nicholas Wood said: "This is a wonderful opportunity for researchers from UCLH, UCL and the Royal Free to work collaboratively to find out more about this debilitating condition. It's the first time that a research project has been designed to systematically use basic science to investigate people at risk of developing Parkinson's Disease. It is hoped that by addressing the earliest phase of the disease, opportunities for disease modification will be greatest."

The Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council (MRC) announced today three awards totaling £17 million for UK Neurodegenerative Disease Research. The multi-disciplinary collaborations aim to provide a better understanding of the causes of these diseases in a bid to improve early diagnosis and develop more effective therapies.

"These are teams of outstanding researchers with a clear vision and innovative approach to understanding these conditions and towards developing novel interventions," says Lord Sutherland of Houndwood, Chair of the Neurodegenerative Diseases Initiative Funding Committee. "The scientific challenges are considerable and these benefits will not materialise overnight, but these major awards will change the research landscape in which these disorders are being addressed."

Source: Institute of Neurology