Edward Wild, also known as Ed Wild, is a British

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

and

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

in the field of

Huntington's disease Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is mostly inherited. The earliest symptoms are often subtle problems with mood or mental abilities. A general lack of coordination and an unst ...

and an advocate for scientific outreach to the public. He co-founded the Huntington's research news platform HDBuzz in 2010. He is a professor of neurology at

UCL Institute of Neurology The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology is an institute within the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. Together with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, an ...

and is an associate director of the UCL Huntington's Disease Centre. He is also a

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

neurologist at the

National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (informally the National Hospital or Queen Square) is a neurological hospital in Queen Square, London. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It was the f ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Career

Wild studied medicine at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

. In his early career, he studied and published on the neurological phenomenon of

déjà vu ''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...

. He undertook a PhD, supervised by professor

Sarah Tabrizi Sarah Joanna Tabrizi FMedSci is a British neurology, neurologist and neuroscientist in the field of neurodegeneration, particularly Huntington's disease. She is a Professor and Joint Head of the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the UC ...

, at the

, Queen Square,

, during which he published research on

biomarker In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, ...

s for Huntington's disease using

magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio wave ...

measures of

brain atrophy Cerebral atrophy is a common feature of many of the diseases that affect the brain. Atrophy of any tissue means a decrement in the size of the cell, which can be due to progressive loss of cytoplasmic proteins. In brain tissue, atrophy describes ...

and biochemical analysis of blood. Wild and Tabrizi continue to work together at the UCL Huntington's Disease Centre. Wild and colleagues described a novel pathogenic pathway of

immune In biology, immunity is the capability of multicellular organisms to resist harmful microorganisms. Immunity involves both specific and nonspecific components. The nonspecific components act as barriers or eliminators of a wide range of pathogens ...

activation in Huntington's which later became the basis of

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

s of immune-targeted therapies. In 2015, he published the first successful detection and quantification of mutant

huntingtin Huntingtin (Htt) is the protein coded for in humans by the ''HTT'' gene, also known as the ''IT15'' ("interesting transcript 15") gene. Mutated ''HTT'' is the cause of Huntington's disease (HD), and has been investigated for this role and also for ...

protein (the known cause of Huntington's) in human

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the bra ...

, using a novel 'single-molecule counting'

immunoassay An immunoassay (IA) is a biochemical test that measures the presence or concentration of a macromolecule or a small molecule in a solution through the use of an antibody (usually) or an antigen (sometimes). The molecule detected by the immunoass ...

. This finding was noted as a 'research highlight' by

Nature Reviews Neurology ''Nature Reviews Neurology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 2005 as ''Nature Clinical Practice Neurology'', but was renamed in April 2009. It covers research developments and cli ...

and won Wild the Huntington Study group 'Insight of the Year' award in 2015. He has also published novel genetic causes of 'phenocopy' syndromes that mimic Huntington's disease. Wild's research since 2017 has focused on the potential of neurofilament light and mutant huntingtin protein as biomarkers for Huntington's disease onset and progression. His work has shown that NFL has better prognostic value in Huntington's disease, but that mutant huntingtin might be a valuable marker for early and sensitive detection of change in clinical huntingtin-lowering trials. He was a senior investigator in the clinical programme studying the

antisense oligonucleotide Oligonucleotides are short DNA or RNA molecules, oligomers, that have a wide range of applications in genetic testing, research, and forensics. Commonly made in the laboratory by solid-phase chemical synthesis, these small bits of nucleic acids c ...

tominersen to lower mutant huntingtin production in HD, and gave the first dose of the drug to a patient in 2015. He serves on the Medical Advisory Panel of the UK

Huntington's Disease Association The Huntington's Disease Association (HDA) is a charity that supports people in England and Wales affected by the genetic neurodegenerative brain condition Huntington's disease (HD). The HDA was founded in 1986 and is based in Liverpool. It sup ...

, the Editorial Board of the

Journal of Huntington's Disease The ''Journal of Huntingtons Disease'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal in neuroscience that covers all aspects of Huntington's disease and related disorders. It was established in 2012 and is published by IOS Press. The editors-in ...

, the

Association of British Neurologists The Association of British Neurologists is a professional organisation founded in 1932 and expanded to include overseas membership in 1937. The Association produces guidelines for the treatment of neurological conditions. Members At 31 December ...

Neurogenetics Advisory Panel, and the Translational Neurology Panel of the

European Academy of Neurology The European Academy of Neurology (EAN) is a non-profit organisation that unites and supports neurologists across Europe. Currently, 47 European national neurological societies as well as 2300 individuals are registered members of EAN. Thus, EAN r ...

. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Huntington's Disease Network and Co-lead facilitator of the Network’s Biomarkers Working Group. He is a founder member of the advisory panel to the UK

All-Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

on Huntington's disease. He was promoted to professor of neurology in October 2020, in the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences. As of September 2022, Wild has authored 7 book chapters and 150 peer-reviewed publications with over 12,000 citations.

Public engagement work

In 2010, with

Jeff Carroll Jeffrey Bryan Carroll is an American scientific researcher in the field of Huntington's disease (HD). As a carrier of the abnormal gene that causes HD, he is also a public advocate for families affected by the disease, and co-founder of the HD re ...

, Wild founded HDBuzz, an online source of accessible news about Huntington's disease research, that has received awards from patient advocacy groups. He said he helped establish HDBuzz to provide tempered research news to counter the hype of medical press releases about HD. He has commented that common online opinions that people with Huntington's disease should not be allowed to have children "borders on historical eugenics-type thinking". He has described Huntington's as "the most curable incurable brain disorder" because of the possibility of targeting treatments to its known genetic cause. Wild appeared in the documentary feature film The Inheritance and was a judge for the 2015

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Europe PubMed Central Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) is an open-access repository which contains millions of biomedical research works. It was known as UK PubMed Central until 1 November 2012. Service Europe PMC provides free access to more than 3.7 million full-te ...

'Access to Understanding' contest for science writers. He has appeared on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

Naked Scientists ''The Naked Scientists'' is a one-hour audience-interactive science radio talk show broadcast live by the BBC in the East of England, nationally by BBC Radio 5 Live and internationally on Radio National, ABC Radio National, Australia; it is also ...

programme. In July 2016, he appeared on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

programme talking about Huntington's disease with

Jenni Murray Dame Jennifer Susan Murray, (''née'' Bailey; born 12 May 1950) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's ''Woman's Hour'' from 1987 to 2020. Early life Murray was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorks ...

. In December 2017, he appeared on RTE Radio 1 talking about Huntington's disease treatments. In 2020, he appeared in the Ken Burns PBS documentary The Gene: An Intimate History. In 2021, he wrote the afterword of Patient 1, a book by

Charlotte Raven Charlotte Raven (born 1969) is a British author and journalist. She studied English at the University of Manchester. As a Labour Club activist there in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was part of a successful campaign to oust then student uni ...

about her experiences with Huntington's disease, including her participation on the trial of the experimental drug tominersen. Wild is Raven's doctor and injected her with the first dose of tominersen on the Gen-Peak trial.

Personal life

Wild lives in East London with his partner Joel. They have a cat and a chihuahua, Riley.

Awards and honours

* 2012 Huntington Society of Canada Community Leadership Award * 2014

Huntington's Disease Society of America The Huntington's Disease Society of America is a US non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by Huntington's disease, an incurable, genetically transmitted degenerative disease of the nervous system that affect ...

Researcher of the Year Award. * 2015 Huntington Study Group Insight of the Year (for his CSF mutant huntingtin research). * 2017 Huntington Study Group Insight of the Year (for the finding that neurofilament light in blood can predict onset and progression of HD). * 2018 Elected Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

References

External links

*
HDBuzz, Wild's Huntington's disease research news site

Edward Wild Consultant profile at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Edward Wild IRIS academic profile at UCL

Google Scholar Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild, Edward British neurologists British neuroscientists Huntington's disease Alumni of University College London University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Academics of University College London Living people 1978 births Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge