Staff Profile

Motor neurone disease/frontotemporal dementia are characterized by the accumulation of a protein, abbreviated to TDP-43, in brain cells. Exactly how increased levels of TDP-43 cause neurodegeneration and cell death is still unclear. Furthermore, there are no effective treatments. At Newcastle University I am trying to establish a new experimental brain tissue platform for assessing the early pathological changes occurring in brain cells caused by TDP-43. Procedures: In addition to using brain tissue from mice I also use human cortical tissue from patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures to remove a deep brain tumor. The overlying cortical tissue is often healthy but is removed to gain access to the tumor and is usually destroyed. However, with the patient’s full consent, I can collect this healthy tissue, cut it into thin slices to keep alive in the lab (called a slice culture) and then induce over-expression of TDP-43 to model the early disease processes. Possible benefits to patients now and in the future: The process from bench-to-bedside is intolerably slow. Establishing a brain slice culture system using brain tissue from mouse-to-man will highlight where species differences may occur and will, in the future allow effective testing of novel therapeutic interventions and increase efficacy when translated into human clinical trials.