Grays Inn Road: A new home for neuroscience

The National Brain Appeal has committed to raise £7million towards the creation of UCL's new, state-of-the-art neuroscience hub on Grays Inn Road. Please join us in raising £250,000 on JustGiving towards our target.

Bringing together research scientists, clinicians and patients, the centre will house a world leading facility for dementia and neurological disease research, with more than 500 neurological research scientists from UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI).

Prof Alan Thompson, UCL Faculty Dean and National Brain Appeal trustee says, "Bringing these powerhouses together under one roof will create the leading translational research centre in the world, delivering innovative new discoveries and translating these into treatments that improve the health of patients suffering with dementia and other neurological diseases. "

Our commitment will fund three key facilities/services:

1. A pioneering stem-cell facility that will enable researchers to study diseases in a petri dish using stem cells taken from skin biopsies. The cells can then be used to test treatments more rapidly and develop new therapies for patients. The facility will be co-led by Professor Rickie Patani who specialises in motor neurone disease research, and works within the motor neurone disease clinic at the National Hospital.

2. A facility that will promote patient-oriented research from first appointment onwards, staffed by dedicated ambassadors who will answer questions on trials and encourage enrolment in projects in a welcoming and informative setting

3. The purchase of two of the MRI scanners, part of a suite of scanners forming a new research focused neuroradiology scanning facility.

The centre will be instrumental in allowing clinicians and researchers to investigate the global health challenges of disabling neurological conditions such as dementia, stroke, neuromuscular diseases, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, along with many others. These diseases currently account for 13% of global disease prevalence more than cardiovascular disease and cancer combined.

A range of core facilities including stem cell, genetics, gene therapy and imaging will be available to be shared by researchers across disciplines. This will enable neuroscience teams to collaborate, improving diagnostic and therapeutic advances and translating science to clinical practice directly benefitting patients. A truly bench-to-bedside approach.

It will also be an inspiring environment in which to train the next generation of translational neuroscientists and will maximise critical partnerships with industry and philanthropists.

The centre will be key to fulfilling the Queen Square 20-year clinical vision and strategy: to establish a research hospital that is pre-eminent in clinical care, research and teaching, and aims to improve the clinical outcomes and quality of life for every individual with a neurological disorder.