Molecular / Cellular Neuroscience

Greg Atkins

– Viral Gene Therapy

• MS and tumours
• DNA / RNA virus’s – RNA are short duration
• Semliki Forest Virus – asymptomatic – manipulated to induce tumour death, and also carry MS therapies

• Verdict: Cool, but very genetics heavy, not behaviourally focused

Veronica Campbell

– toxic effects of tetrahydrocannibinol on CNS

• Canibas’s effect on neonatical cortical developmetn
• Perhaps same pathways affected in adult cognitive deficits

• Plus – neurotoxicity of proteins involved in Alzheimers

• Verdict: Cool, but too chemistry orientated

Thomas Connor

– Neuroimmunology: Brain immune system communication

• Brains own glia’s contriutio to neuro-degeneraion (inflamatory) + disease
• promoting anti-inflamatory glial phenotypes

• Plus: neuro-hormonal mechanisms of stress and MDMA related immunosuppression

• Verdict: Genetic basis of mental illness – Cool

Gavin Davey

– energy metabolism => mitocondrial role in neurodegeneration (senesence)

• Common reduction of electron transport in Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, and Huntingdons
• Attempts to manipulate pharmachologically

• Verdict: Of limited interest

Aine Kelly

-cellular mechanisms of neuronal plasticity

• biochemistry of LTP, STP etc
• neurotrophin proteins role in mechanisms of plasticity
• studies via electriophysiology, behavior analysis, and biochemistry

• Verdict: Way cool, but very chemistry oriented

Julie Kelly

-thyrotropin releasing hormone TRH’s role in CNS

• TRH is hoeostatic regulator of CNS
• potential use in injury, epilepsy, depression etc

• limited by degrading TRH-DE enzyme
  • Kelly’s research focus’s on developing TRH-DE inhibiors, to allow TRH therapies
  • & investigate biology of TRH-DE and TRH

Verdict: Sweet potential, but again very chemistry orientated

Marina Lynch

– signal transduction in synaptic plasticity

• Il-IB concentration – leading to cell death, age related hippocampal deficts, related to decreaase in anti-inflamatory cytokines

Verdict: Nope

Kingston Mills

– professor of experimental immunology, 20 scientist research group

• immunoregulatory functioning of t-cells, in relation to immune disease and neurodegenerative conditions
• interaction between pathogens (virus’s & bacteria) and immune system
• methods used by pathogens to reduce immune responce
• can trigger ME, arthritis, IBS
• identification of immunesuppressive, antiinflamatory molecules
• therapies and vaccine development (with M Lynch)

Development / Plasticity / Research

Jane Farrar

-etiology of blinding diseases

• Uses transgenic animals
• Developing therapies to repair genetic defect or modulate effects
• investigates methods of applying dsRNA to retina => viral and non-viral
• application of therapies to CNA injuries (with Julie Kelly)

Pete Humphries

-genetics of retina disease

• therapies based on genetics of retina disease

Paul Kenna

-genetics of blindess, skin disease and brittle bones

• Application of retinal therapies and electrophsyiological assessment of retinal functions
• Founded ‘Optigen Technologies’ to exploit his patents

Kevin Mitchell

-genetic basis of brain wiring in mice and human

• Genetically encoded developmetal programs – establishing inter-region cortical connections
• Identification of genes in mice and how variation between humans affects behavior
  • Gene trapping of new transmembrane proteins involved in axon guidance in developing brain
  • Identification via bio-informatics
  • Labeling wth vector which mutates and incorporates reporter genes

• Also, cellular analysis of axon growth + biochemical analysis of protein functions and interactions

• Also leads Irish synesthesia team

Verdict: Oh so very cool, genetic mapping of development

Mani Ramaswami

-molecular and classical genetics, behavior and cell biology

• function and plasticity in fruitfly
• experiece stimulated gene expression, underlying neuronal change
• group studies transcriptional, translational control mechanisms

• also mechanisms of synapse function, seizure mechanisms etc

Verdict: Genetic expression affected by experience !

Behavioral / Systems / Cognitive

Ruth Byrne

– Cognitive and neuonal processes underlying thinking

• rationality and imagination
• hypothetical reasoning
• counterfactual inference
• belief revision

• cognitive methodologies

Verdict: Interesting research program, dull methodologies

Hugh Garavan

-neuroanatomical substrates of frontal-lobe cognitive processes / affective processes (thought and emotion)

• fMRI
• variation between populations – coke addicts, adult ADHD, schizophrenics, smokers, elderly
• cognitive and working memory
• attention – item manipulation in working memory
• functonal interaction between brain regions
  • damage to this in clinical groups

• methodology: identification of event-related brain activation

Verdict: Interesting research programme, and methodology

Fional Newell

– multi-sensory integration

• synesthesia
• how sences share infomation
• visual and touch modalities
• face and object recognition
• fMRI and EEG

Verdict: Pretty cool

Shane O’Mara

-brain systems underlying memory, damage to same -how to analyise patterns of neuronal firing

• phsyiological / pharmachological output of hyppocampus
• recording singal neuron activity in free moving animal
• neurophysiology / pharmachology / endricrinology methodologies + behavioural task
• neurotrophins and protaglandins in synaptic pasticity / learning / memory

• hippocampus – cortex interaction
  • role of subiculum -> influence on behaviour

• interferon alpha side effects (ahedonia. memory, executive processes)

=> ameliorative use of fluoxitine to repair LTP => implications for synaptics plasticity

• hippocampal formation function

– human behavioral tasks (n-back) and fMRI – seem to repress functioning – potential new paradigm – deficits in memory and language in surgical hippocampal lesion patients

John Foxe

-electropysiological and imagine measures of sensory and cognitive functioning

• communtes between Dublin and NY

• directs cognitive neurophsyiology lab in St. Vincents (schizophrenic population)
• evoked potentials method => recording simultaneously with fMRI

• Sensory-percetopion and attention in cortex and deficits in schizophrenia

• neural mechanism of multisensory integration

• attempting to develop test for electrophysiological endophenotypes of genotyped schizophrenia

• find patients before results manifest

• in same dept as shane

Translational / Clinical

James Gibney

– how hormones affect cognitive functions

• clinical endrocrinologist

• clinical studies of hormone manipulations in normal / endocrine disorder subjects
  • subjects with excessive / deficit hormones compared to normal

• With Shane – hormone effects on cognitive function and brain metabolism
  • hyperthyriod, hypercalcaemia, type 2 diabetes

 

Michael Gill

– genetics of mental illness

• Schizophrenia, bipolar, ADHD, depression, autism, alzhiemers

• team of psychologists, psychiatrists, biologists, nurses and statisticians

• phenotype clinical samples
  • identify genetic variations underlying disorder susceptibility

• phenotypic information collected
  • neuropsychological measures, neuroimaging information, DNA samples
  • genes identified with positional cloning

• linkage analysis done using family samples and association using population samples

Brian Lawlor

-assessment of cognition, behaviour and functioning in clinical populaions

• Populations: Elderly vs Elderly downs syndrome, depression

• Psychiatrists, geriatricians, psychologists
• Developinig mars to allow detection of cognitive decline
  • Clinical, biological, genetic, imaging and neuropsychological

• Also work to develop new clinical assessment techniques, and cognitive functioning preservation techniques

• Memory defictis in Alzheimers

Pat McKeon & Deirdre McMackin

– neuropsychology / neuropsychiatry of affective disorders

• McKeon – genetics, pharmacotherapy and clincal interventions of affective disorder
• McMackin – epilepsy, neuropsychology, neurorehabilitation and neuroimagin

• multidisciplinary memory clinic & neuropsychology clinic

• identification of genes behind bipolar disorder

• neurpsychological and cortisol changes following CBT (therapy)

• relationship between functional changes and memory rehabilitation after unilater hippocampectomy
• CBT intervension in conversion disorders
• MRI as predictor of early onset dimentia

Des O’Neill

– stroke / dimensia

• assesment of prism adapatation on postural stability
• robotic devices in rehabilitation
• adaption after stroke – higher order functioning (e.g.: driving)
• modelling behavioural and neurocognitive substrate of preserved driving abilities in degenerative disease

Ian Robertson

– head of psychology dept

• Neurorehabilitation, brain plasticity and cognitive neurogenomics

• Refining clinical diagnosis – link cognitive process to underlying genotypes
• Develop cognitive enrichment and rehabiliation tailored to geonotypic subtypes
  • In schizophrenia, ADD, Autism, stroke, Alzheimers Disease, Traumatic Brain Injury, Taupathies, Limb Amputation and Temporal Lobectomy
• Changing in normal ageing – attentional systems of frontal and parietal corticies accross clinical conditions
• fMRI, Electrophysiology (EEG), experimental and clinical neuropsychological techniques
• Develop combined behavioral and pharmacological interventions

MRI Research

Christian Kerskens

– head of NMR imaging lab – theoretical and experimental medial diagnosis of NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging)

• Developed methods for quantification of blood flow
• Analysis / investigation of noise in fMRI
• Direct detection of cell activation with NMR

Andrew Fagan

– imaging phsysicist

• worked in solid state physics – spintronics and nanomagnetics
• developed new MRI, designed and built from first principles to image solids – e.g: bone and teeth
• Direct detection of neuronal actival with NMR
• Instrument development

Maria Fitzgibbon

– management and infrastructure of INS

• strategic direction
• background in clinical biochemistry, laboratory science, hospital and accademic management
• co-manages neuroscience PhD
• interests – brain injury and neuroendrocrinology (glands and hormones of brain)
• hypothalamic control of bone remodelling
• hormone abnormalities and cognitive development