UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology

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UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
NHNN and ION.jpg
UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (left) and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (right) in Queen Square, London
Established1950 [1]
Director Michael G. Hanna [2]
Administrative staff
Around 800 [3]
StudentsAround 500 graduate students [3]
Location
Website www.ucl.ac.uk/ion OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology is an institute within the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. [1] Together with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, an adjacent facility with which it cooperates closely, the institute forms a major centre for teaching, training and research in neurology and allied clinical and basic neurosciences. [4] [5]

Contents

The institute has a staff of around 710 and 500 graduate students, an annual turnover of £81million and occupies around 12,000 sq m of laboratory and office space. [3] Four of the 12 most highly cited authors in neuroscience and behaviour in the world are currently based at the institute. [3] The institute conducts research into a wide range of neurological diseases, including movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, brain cancer, stroke and brain injury, muscle and nerve disorders, cognitive dysfunction and dementia. [6] It forms a key part of UCL Neuroscience. [3]

History

The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery NationalNeurologyHospital.jpg
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

The Institute of Neurology was established in 1950. [1] It merged with UCL in 1997, becoming the UCL Institute of Neurology. [1] [7] The institute is centred at Queen Square House, a concrete tower in the north-east corner of Queen Square, London that opened in 1971. [8] Due to expansion, some of the institute's departments and activities are now based in numerous locations in Queen Square and surrounding parts of Bloomsbury. [3] The UCL Institute of Neurology was rebranded to UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in September, 2018. [9]

In 2019, project manager Arcadis and contractor ISG Ltd began work to expand the footprint of the Eastman Dental Hospital site on Gray's Inn Road to enable construction of a new building for the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and a hub for the UK Dementia Research Institute. Completion was scheduled for late 2023, for occupation in 2024. [10]

Departments

The institute currently holds 578 active research projects, totalling £262m. Annual turnover is £80million. [3] In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise almost 100 staff were submitted for evaluation and 70% of research was deemed to be internationally competitive or world leading. [3] Submitted papers received an average citation rate of 40 per paper. [3]

The most recent research assessment exercise, REF2014, showed that the institute, as part of the Faculty of Brain Sciences, is the first rated UK institution for neuroscience research output [3]

The institute is home to the following research departments and centres [11]

The institute also has active collaborative research programmes with the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre and the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour.[ citation needed ]

Notable research findings

In November 2002, a team of researchers at the institute led by Professor John Collinge published the results of a study which showed that the number of cases of CJD caused by the consumption of BSE-infected beef may have been higher than previously calculated and that BSE, in addition to causing variant CJD (vCJD), may also have caused some cases of "sporadic" CJD. [12]

In February 2004, a team of researchers at the institute led by Tania Singer published research showing that it is possible for one human to feel another's pain and that the same regions of the brain are activated in the empathizer and the empathisee. [13] In July 2005, a team of researchers at the institute led by Davina Bristow published the results of research funded by the Wellcome Trust in Current Biology which demonstrated that parts of the human brain are temporarily "switched off" when blinking. [14]

In September 2005, a team of researchers at the institute led by Victor Tybulewicz at the National Institute for Medical Research and Professor Elizabeth Fisher from the institute published the results of a study in which they had been able to introduce most of a human chromosome into mice, producing the most successful recreation of Down's syndrome to date. [15]

In August 2007, a team of researchers at the institute led by Henrik Ehrsson published research in Science which was the first to describe how it is possible to use cameras to trick the human brain into thinking that a person is elsewhere in a room than they really are. [16] [17]

In February 2011, a team of researchers at the institute led by Nick Wood published the results of a genetic study which had identified five new genes linked to Parkinson's disease. [18]

In September 2015, Prof Sarah Tabrizi began the first human trial of a 'gene silencing' antisense oligonucleotide drug, IONIS-HTTRx, for the neurodegenerative disease Huntington's disease at the institute's Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre. [19]

Notable researchers

Prof John Rothwell FMedSci JohnRothwell.jpg
Prof John Rothwell FMedSci
Prof Sarah Tabrizi FMedSci Prof Sarah Tabrizi.jpg
Prof Sarah Tabrizi FMedSci

Nobel Laureates

Fellows of the Royal Society

Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences

Members of Academia Europaea

Other notable researchers

Library

The institute operates a joint library with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, which is located at the institute. [31] The library is the recognised Library for Neurology within the University of London and contains an important collection of specialist neurology, neurosurgery and neuroscience books and journals, together with general medical and biomedical literature. [31] Holders of identity cards for the institute, UCL, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery or University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust may become registered users. [31]

Archives

The archives hold numerous collections including:

In addition, the library has an extensive rare book collection held in the Louise Shepherd Room [36] and holds many medical images and drawings, especially of those done by Carswell and Bell, as well as the Sheridan Russell's register of paintings at the NHNN. [37]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Josemir W. Sander, also known as Ley Sander, is a Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epilepsy, and the head of Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy, at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. He is also a Professor of Neurology at West China Hospital, Sichaun University in Chengdu, China.

John S. Duncan is a British neurologist specialising in epilepsy. He is Professor of Clinical Neurology at University College London Institute of Neurology and Clinical Director of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Queen Square, London.

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Gillian Patricia Bates FMedSci FRS is a British biologist. She is distinguished for her research into the molecular basis of Huntington's disease and in 1998 was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline Prize as a co-discoverer of the cause of this disease. As of 2016, she is Professor of Neurogenetics at UCL Institute of Neurology and the co-director of UCL Huntington's Disease Centre.

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Andrew John Lees FRCP FRCP(G) FMedSci is Professor of Neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London and University College London. In 2011 he was named as the world's most highly cited Parkinson's disease researcher.

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Hugo Critchley is a British professor of psychiatry at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, a partnership of the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex.

Sonia Gandhi is a British physician and neuroscientist who leads the Francis Crick Institute neurodegeneration laboratory. She holds a joint position at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Her research investigates the molecular mechanisms that give rise to Parkinson's disease. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gandhi was involved with the epidemiological investigations and testing efforts at the Francis Crick Institute.

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References

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  2. "Officers". UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "About the Institute". UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  4. "Britain's best hospitals: A patients' guide". The Independent. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  5. "World-class research". The Brain Research Trust. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
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  7. "The merger and the man". The Guardian. 22 October 2002. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  8. "Queen Square Archive:Photographs: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the formal opening ceremony of Queen Square House".
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  10. "ISG wins £281m UCL neurology centre". The Construction Index. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
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  13. "Love means that you really do feel each other's pain". The Times. 20 February 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  14. "Blink and you really do 'miss it'". BBC News. 25 July 2005. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
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  33. "Queen Square Archive - NHNN/RES/2 - Gowers, William Richard: postgraduate lectures". www.queensquare.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  34. "Queen Square Archives - Hughlings Jackson's unpublished papers". www.queensquare.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
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  37. "Queen Square Archives - Artwork". www.queensquare.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2019.