Staff Profile

I am a Clinical Academic Neurologist at Newcastle University and an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust subspecialising in neuroimmunology. My research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms of autoantibody-driven diseases affecting the brain and spinal cord.

The discovery of autoantibodies that bind to exposed epitopes of cell surface antigens in the CNS has revolutionized neurological practice: they define disease entities and inform effective treatment options for disabling, and sometimes life-threatening disorders. For some autoantibodies, mainly those which target neuronal surface proteins, there is now strong evidence for a pivotal role in disease pathogenesis. However, clinicians face significant challenges in diagnosing and treating patients when an autoantibody is detected but the causal relationship to disease is unclear, or when an antibody-driven neurological disease is suspected but current tests for autoantibodies are negative.

In my postdoctoral work I have investigated the roles of antibodies which target glycine receptors and DPPX (a protein associated with potassium channels) in causing severe neurological syndromes. My research group is continuing to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms of autoantibody mediated neurological disease, with a particular focus on the largely uninvestigated mechanisms of autoantibodies which target oligodendrocytes. Oligodendrocytes are abundant in the CNS and are responsible for myelinating axons. In contrast to the advances made in understanding the mechanisms of neurological diseases associated with over 15 different neuronal surface autoantibodies, only one antigenic target has been described on oligodendrocytes (MOG), and little progress has been made in understanding disease mechanisms because we have lacked appropriate experimental models. I have developed new methods which now permit a careful and comprehensive evaluation of the pathogenicity of oligodendrocyte-targeted autoantibodies for the first time, as well as opportunities for the discovery of other oligodendrocyte surface autoantigens.

• Article

  • Greenland JC, Dresser K, Cutting E, Donegan R, Bond S, Crisp SJ, Scott KM, Voysey ZJ, Holbrook J, Kahanawita L, Pal R, Camacho M, Peattie ARD, Spindler LRB, Hong YT, Fryer TD, Williams-Gray CH. Azathioprine for the treatment of early Parkinson's disease (AZA-PD): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept, phase 2 trial. The Lancet Neurology 2026, 25(1), 39-49.

• Letter

  • Ahmed A, Kok ZQ, Coles A, Scoffings DJ, Crisp SJ. Susac’s syndrome as an autoimmune complication of alemtuzumab-associated immune reconstitution. Journal of Neurology 2022, 269, 1695-1697.