UCL Neuroscience is a research domain that encompasses the breadth of
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
research activity across
University College London's (UCL) School of Life and Medical Sciences. The domain was established in January 2008, to coordinate neuroscience activity across the many UCL departments and institutes in which neuroscience research takes place. In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the UCL neuroscientist
John O'Keefe. In two consecutive years 2017 and 2018,
the Brain Prize
The Brain Prize, formerly known as The Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize, is an international scientific award honouring "one or more scientists who have distinguished themselves by an outstanding contribution to neuroscience and who are ...
, the world's most valuable prize for brain research at €1m, was awarded to UCL neuroscientists
Peter Dayan
Peter Dayan is director at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany. He is co-author of ''Theoretical Neuroscience'', an influential textbook on computational neuroscience. He is known for applying Bayesian metho ...
,
Ray Dolan,
John Hardy, and
Bart De Strooper
Bart De Strooper is a Belgian molecular biologist and professor at Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie and KU Leuven ( Leuven, Belgium) and the UK Dementia Research Institute and University College London, UK. His research interests are in Al ...
.
UCL Neuroscience comprises over 450 senior
principal investigator
In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...
s and includes 26
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
and 60
Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
It is currently ranked second in the world for neuroscience and behaviour by Thomson ISI Essential Science Indicators.
[
]
History
20th century
UCL has a long tradition in the neurosciences. Henry Dale and Otto Loewi
Otto Loewi (; 3 June 1873 – 25 December 1961) was a German-born pharmacologist and psychobiologist who discovered the role of acetylcholine as an endogenous neurotransmitter. For his discovery he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Med ...
both worked in Ernest Starling
Ernest Henry Starling (17 April 1866 – 2 May 1927) was a British physiologist who contributed many fundamental ideas to this subject. These ideas were important parts of the British contribution to physiology, which at that time led the world. ...
's laboratory in 1904 and went on to share the 1936 Nobel Prize for Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...
for their seminal investigation on the chemical transmission of nerve impulses. Starling's successor, Archibald Hill
Archibald Vivian Hill (26 September 1886 – 3 June 1977), known as A. V. Hill, was a British physiologist, one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research. He shared the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or M ...
, fostered the career of Bernard Katz
Sir Bernard Katz, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (; 26 March 1911 – 20 April 2003) was a German-born British people, British physician and biophysics, biophysicist, noted for his work on nerve physiology. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiol ...
, whose long association with UCL began in 1935. Later on in 1970, he shared the Nobel Prize with Ulf von Euler
Ulf Svante von Euler (7 February 1905 – 9 March 1983) was a Swedish physiologist and pharmacologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for his work on neurotransmitters.
Life
Ulf Svante von Euler-Chelpin was born in S ...
, who had also worked in Hill's laboratory at UCL, and Julius Axelrod, once again for work on chemical neurotransmission
Neurotransmission (Latin: ''transmissio'' "passage, crossing" from ''transmittere'' "send, let through") is the process by which signaling molecules called neurotransmitters are released by the axon terminal of a neuron (the presynaptic neuron), ...
.
Fatt and Katz Katz or KATZ may refer to:
Fiction
* Katz Kobayashi, a character in Japanese anime
* "Katz", a 1947 Nelson Algren story in '' The Neon Wilderness''
* Katz, a character in ''Courage the Cowardly Dog''
Other uses
* Katz (surname)
* Katz, British C ...
were the first to propose that neurotransmitter release at synapses was quantal in nature. They also uncovered the mechanism underlying inhibitory synaptic transmission.
In a series of seminal papers in the early 1970s, Katz Katz or KATZ may refer to:
Fiction
* Katz Kobayashi, a character in Japanese anime
* "Katz", a 1947 Nelson Algren story in '' The Neon Wilderness''
* Katz, a character in ''Courage the Cowardly Dog''
Other uses
* Katz (surname)
* Katz, British C ...
and Ricardo Miledi
Ricardo Miledi (15 September 1927 – 18 December 2017) was a Mexican neuroscientist known for his work deciphering the role of calcium in neurotransmitter release. He also helped to develop a technique for studying native receptors in frog oocyte ...
, described a statistical analysis of fluctuations they observed in the membrane potential at the frog neuromuscular junction, which were induced by acetylcholine
Acetylcholine (ACh) is an organic chemical that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals (including humans) as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Part ...
. This approach, which became known as ‘noise analysis’, allowed the first measurement of the conductance and lifetime of single ACh receptor channels.
Katz's work had a strong influence on another future Nobel Prize winner, Bert Sakmann
Bert Sakmann (; born 12 June 1942) is a German cell physiologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Erwin Neher in 1991 for their work on "the function of single ion channels in cells," and the invention of the patch cla ...
. He spent two years at UCL in Katz's biophysics laboratory and it was here that he developed his interest in the molecular aspects of synaptic transmission.
He went on to directly measure singe ion channel
Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Their functions include establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other electrical signals by gating the flow of io ...
currents by developing the now ubiquitously used patch-clamp
The patch clamp technique is a laboratory technique in electrophysiology used to study ionic currents in individual isolated living cells, tissue sections, or patches of cell membrane. The technique is especially useful in the study of excitab ...
technique with Erwin Neher
Erwin Neher (; ; born 20 March 1944) is a German biophysicist, specializing in the field of cell physiology. For significant contribution in the field, in 1991 he was awarded, along with Bert Sakmann, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for ...
. They shared the 1991 Prize in recognition of their work on the function of single ion channels
Neuroscience at UCL has long been a major cross-disciplinary endeavour. Indeed, JZ Young, Professor of Anatomy, 1945–74, discovered and was the first to investigate the squid giant axon
The squid giant axon is the very large (up to 1.5 mm in diameter; typically around 0.5 mm) axon that controls part of the water jet propulsion system in squid. It was first described by L. W. Williams in 1909, but this discovery was for ...
. Young's work on squid giant axons was utilized by Andrew Huxley
Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley (22 November 191730 May 2012) was an English physiologist and biophysicist. He was born into the prominent Huxley family. After leaving Westminster School in central London, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge on ...
and Alan Hodgkin
Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (5 February 1914 – 20 December 1998) was an English physiologist and biophysicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley and John Eccles.
Early life and education
Hodgkin was b ...
who in 1963 received the Nobel Prize for their work on the conduction of action potentials along nerve fibres. To achieve this, they developed a voltage-clamp technique to demonstrate that impulse transmission relied upon the selective permeability of the nerve fibre membrane to particular ions. This ground-breaking advance laid the foundations for much of modern-day electrophysiology
Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" etymology of "electron"">Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , '' -logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of b ...
.
21st century
In June 2004, a team of researchers from the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience at UCL published research in ''Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' describing how the human brain subconsciously remembers the details of past dangers. In December 2004, researchers from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience published research identifying the part of the human brain where unconscious fluid movements are stored. In 2005, Tania Singer
Tania Singer (born 1969) is a German psychologist and social neuroscientist and the scientific director of the Max Planck Society's Social Neuroscience Lab in Berlin, Germany. Between 2007 and 2010, she became the inaugural chair of social neuros ...
and Professor Christopher Donald Frith of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Functional Imaging Laboratory published the results of a study using transcranial magnetic stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive form of brain stimulation in which a changing magnetic field is used to induce an electric current at a specific area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. An electric pulse gener ...
which showed for the first time the role of sensorimotor components in empathy for pain in other people. In February 2006, a team from UCL led by Dr Leun Otten published research showing that it may be possible to predict how well the human brain will remember something before the event has even taken place.
In April 2006, a team from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience published research showing that individuals with a skill for learning other languages could have more " white brain matter" in a part of the brain which processes sound. In August 2006, a team led by Dr Emrah Duzel of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience published research showing that exposure to new experiences can boost the memory of the human brain. In January 2007 Professor van der Lely of the UCL Centre for Developmental Language Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience published details of a 10-minute screening test capable of identifying pre-school children who might be dyslexic
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
.
In June 2008, a team led by Professor Maria Fitzgerald of UCL Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology published research showing that infants may be experiencing discomfort when their body movements, blood pressure and facial expressions show them to be pain free.
In March 2009 a team led by Professor Eleanor Maguire
Eleanor Anne Maguire (born 27 March 1970) is an Irish neuroscientist. Since 2007, she has been Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London where she is also a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow.
Early life and educat ...
of UCL published a study showing that it is possible read a person's spatial memories by using a brain scanner to monitor the electrical activity of the brain. In December 2009, Professor Sophie Scott of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience conducted research into how the human voice works and interacts with the brain as part of 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' ...
's Vox Project.
In March 2010, Stephanie Burnett of UCL published a study of attitudes to risk which showed that adolescents
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
are more excited when they have lucky escapes when playing video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s than other age groups. In June 2010, academics from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience published research suggesting that humans have a distorted "mental map" of their hands, which stretches them in one direction and squashes them in the other. In September 2010 academics from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Pompeu Fabra University
Pompeu Fabra University ( ca, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF, ; es, link=no, Universidad Pompeu Fabra) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. The university was created by the Autonomous Government of Catalo ...
, ICREA ICREA, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, is a foundation jointly promoted by the Catalan Government through its Department of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise, and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI) ...
and the University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...
published research identifying an area of the human brain which constructs a 'map' of the human body in space using a combination of tactile information from the skin and proprioceptive
Proprioception ( ), also referred to as kinaesthesia (or kinesthesia), is the sense of self-movement, force, and body position. It is sometimes described as the "sixth sense".
Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, mechanosensory neurons ...
information about the position of the hands relative to the rest of the body.
Organisation
UCL Neuroscience is organised thematically across faculties at UCL but is principally associated with the four faculties of Brain Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences and Population Health Sciences.
There are many inter-departmental and cross-faculty research groups and centres associated with UCL Neuroscience and PIs are also based in numerous other departments across UCL.
Research
UCL Neuroscience is ranked second in the world (and first in Europe) for neuroscience and behaviour by Thomson ISI Essential Science Indicators, with more than twice as many publications and citations as any other European institution. UCL Neuroscience generates over 30% of the UK's contribution to the most highly cited publications in neuroscience, more than twice as much as any other university.[ In ]neuroimaging
Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incre ...
and clinical neurology
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 ...
, UCL produces 65% and 44% respectively of the UK's contribution to the world's most highly cited papers.[ UCL Neuroscience raised over £312 million in research funding over the period 2005 to 2010.][
Neuroscience-related departments outside the life and biomedical sciences faculties include:]
*UCL Chemistry
*UCL Computer Science
*UCL Mathematics
*UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering
*UCL Philosophy
Cross-cutting neuroscience centres:
* UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging
* Centre for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
* Centre for Educational Neuroscience
* UCL Centre for Human Communication
* UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC)
* Deafness Cognition And Language Research Centre (DCAL)
* UCL Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience
* UCL Institute of Movement Neuroscience
* London Centre for Nanotechnology
The London Centre for Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary research centre in physical and biomedical nanotechnology in London, United Kingdom. It brings together three institutions that are world leaders in nanotechnology, University College ...
Many UCL Neuroscience researchers are also involved in the translational research at the three biomedical research centres at UCL and its associated hospitals:
*UCLH/UCL Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre
The UCLH/UCL Biomedical Research Centre (officially the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London) is a biomedical research centre based in London. It is a partnershi ...
*ICH/GOSH Specialist Biomedical Research Centre
*IOO/Moorfieids Specialist Biomedical Research Centre
See also
*UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences
The UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences is one of the 11 constituent faculties of University College London (UCL). The Faculty, the UCL Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the UCL Faculty of the Built Envirornment (The Bartlett) ...
*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 ...
* UCL Partners
*Francis Crick Institute
The Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) is a biomedical research centre in London, which was established in 2010 and opened in 2016. The institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Impe ...
References
External links
UCL Neuroscience
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ucl Neuroscience
Departments of University College London
Neuroscience organizations
Wellcome Trust
2008 establishments in England