A new research centre receiving up to £50m over 14 years will develop brain stimulation devices to treat Parkinson’s, dementia, stroke and childhood epilepsy.
The Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Restorative Neural Dynamics will explore how patterns of brain activity relate to behaviour and contribute to neurological disorders.
Researchers aim to use this knowledge to create new interventions, including brain implants and wearable devices, to support brain and body function.
The project will be led by Cardiff University, the University of Oxford, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Imperial College London and Newcastle University.
Professor Penny Lewis from Cardiff University said: “Our team of researchers will investigate neural dynamics – the patterns of activity across networks of nerve cells in the brain that underlie behaviour – to understand how neural dynamics arise in brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and childhood epilepsy.
“We will apply this knowledge to develop new interventions and technology, including brain implants and wearable devices, that could improve how the brain and body functions.”
Neural dynamics refers to the electrical activity within networks of brain cells that control functions such as movement and memory.
Disruption of these patterns can cause neurological symptoms.
Professor Peter Magill, director of the new MRC CoRE at the University of Oxford, said current brain stimulation devices have not yet reached their full therapeutic potential.
He said: “Medical devices delivering brain stimulation can target disturbed neural dynamics with high precision and accuracy.
“But their advantages for therapy have not been fully realised because the link between neural dynamics and the clinical use of devices is often weak or missing.
“We can achieve the step change needed by seizing untapped opportunities to exploit dynamics with next-generation devices so that healthy neural dynamics are restored for improved therapeutic outcomes.
“Gaining a better understanding of how neural circuits work from moment to moment, and how this goes wrong in brain disorders, is key to this.”
Initial work will focus on developing device-based approaches that harness neural dynamics to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life for people with conditions affecting movement, sleep and memory.
In the longer term, the centre aims to reorganise brain circuits through stimulation and potentially slow the progression of some conditions.
The team will work with clinical partners, research charities, regulators and neurotechnology companies, including UK-based Amber Therapeutics.
The centre also aims to progress from discovery research to experimental medicine and first-in-human trials, paving the way for commercialisation and wider healthcare system adoption of new therapies.
