Maura Malpetti and Alicia Wilcox have started their PhD studies in our group in October 2017.

Date: Friday 29^th September, 2017

Location: 33 Queen Square, London, UK

Organizers: Dr Jonathan Rohrer (University College London), Professor James B. Rowe (University of Cambridge) and Professor Stuart Pickering-Brown (University of Manchester).

Link to event

Tweets

An interview with Professor James B. Rowe for the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).

Publication: 28th September 2017

Link to interview

Patricia Vazquez Rodriguez is a PhD student working on Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) in our group. PSP is a terrible neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure.

As research is really expensive, she decided to run a half marathon in order to raise money for the PSP Association on 14 October 2017. 

She will appreciate any donation possible.

Norwich University of the Arts was presenting the final exhibition and work by postgraduate students at Norwich University of the Arts in MA Degree Show. Emily Fisher created a short animated movie "Misplaced in Space" featuring an individual’s experience of Alzheimer’s disease in order to present scientific research findings in a way that mediates understanding of the illness.​

Have a look at the movie here.

Most recent publications from our group

• Bevan-Jones, W. R., Cope, T. E., Jones, P. S., Passamonti, L., Hong, Y. T., Fryer, T. D., Arnold, R., Allinson, K. S. J., Coles, J. P., Aigbirhio, F. I., Patterson, K., O'Brien, J. T., & Rowe, J. B. (2017). [18F]AV-1451 binding in vivo mirrors the expected distribution of TDP-43 pathology in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. doi:10.1136/jnnp-2017-316402 PMID: 28912300
• Cope, T. E., Wilson, B., Robson, H., Drinkall, R., Dean, L., Grube, M., Jones, P. S., Patterson, K., Griffiths, T. D., Rowe, J. B., & Petkov, C. I. (2017). Artificial grammar learning in vascular and progressive non-fluent aphasias. Neuropsychologia, 104, 201-213. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.08.022 PMID: 28843341
• Passamonti, L., Vazquez Rodriguez, P., Hong, Y. T., Allinson, K. S., Williamson, D., Borchert, R. J., Sami, S., Cope, T. E., Bevan-Jones, W. R., Jones, P. S., Arnold, R., Surendranathan, A., Mak, E., Su, L., Fryer, T. D., Aigbirhio, F. I., O'Brien, J. T., & Rowe, J. B. (2017). 18F-AV-1451 positron emission tomography in Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. Brain, 140(3), 781-791. doi:10.1093/brain/aww340
• Lansdall, C. J., Coyle-Gilchrist, I. T. S., Jones, P. S., Vazquez Rodriguez, P., Wilcox, A., Wehmann, E., Dick, K. M., Robbins, T. W., & Rowe, J. B. (2017). Apathy and impulsivity in frontotemporal lobar degeneration syndromes. Brain, 140(6), 1792-1807. doi:10.1093/brain/awx101
• Bevan-Jones, W. R., Surendranathan, A., Passamonti, L., Vazquez Rodriguez, P., Arnold, R., Mak, E., Su, L., Coles, J. P., Fryer, T. D., Hong, Y. T., Williams, G., Aigbirhio, F., Rowe, J. B., & O'Brien, J. T. (2017). Neuroimaging of Inflammation in Memory and Related Other Disorders (NIMROD) study protocol: a deep phenotyping cohort study of the role of brain inflammation in dementia, depression and other neurological illnesses. BMJ Open, 7(1), e013187. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013187

The FTD Carers' Meeting took place on September 13th, 2017 at the Herschel Smith Building.

Anjela Jones informed about claiming benefits, Professor James B. Rowe presented current research updates, and a carer gave an informal talk about their experience of caring for someone with frontotemporal dementia. The organizers also invited carers to exchange ideas and ask questions.

Reference:

Lansdall, C. J., Coyle-Gilchrist, I. T., Jones, P. S., Vázquez Rodríguez, P., Wilcox, A., Wehmann, E., ... & Rowe, J. B. (2017). Apathy and impulsivity in frontotemporal lobar degeneration syndromes. Brain, 140(6), 1792-1807.

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr0Qn8V1S84

https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/140/6/1792/3806842/Apathy-and-impulsivity-in-frontotemporal-lobar

Thomas E. Cope has been awarded the second prize in the 2017 Mansell Prize competition of the Medical Society, London.  

When: June 2017

Our research team will present several posters at the 6th Cambridge Neuroscience Biennial Symposium. It is a two-day international special symposium focusing on "Neural Networks in Health and Disease"

When: 7^th-8^th September 2017

Where: West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge and Trinity College.   

Some members of our group will present their research at the Annual Study Day of the PSP Association in Milton Keynes.

When: 18th October 2017

Dr Kamen Tsvetanov has been awarded with the prestigious British Academy Fellowship for his work on 'multi-level integrative network dynamics', to examine why some people age successfully and other experience a decline in cognitive function.

Reference:

Hughes, L. E., Rittman, T., Regenthal, R., Robbins, T. W., & Rowe, J. B. (2015). Improving response inhibition systems in frontotemporal dementia with citalopram. Brain, 138(7), 1961-1975.

Links:

• https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/138/7/1961/254706/Improving-response-inhibition-systems-in
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCqxOFLuMbk

Together with Richard E. Passingham, Professor James Rowe has published a book with the title "A short guide to brain imaging" in October 2015. 

ISBN: 0198709137

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford

On October 14th, 2017, Patricia Vazquez Rodriguez finished her first half-marathon in Thessaloniki, Greece to raise money and awareness for patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and the PSP Association. She managed to raise £2000.33!

Three new publications are currently in press.

• Murley, A., Rowe, J. B. (in press). Neurotransmitter deficits from frontotemporal lobar degeneration: a critical review. Brain.
• Cope, T. E., Rittman, T., Borchert, R., Jones, P. S., Vatansever, D., Allinson, K., Passamonti, L., Vazquez Rodriguez, P., Bevan-Jones, W. R., O’Brien, J. T., Rowe, J. B. (in press). Tau burden and the functional connectome in Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. Brain.
• Cope, T. E., Sohoglu, E., Sedley, W., Patterson, K., Jones, P. S., Wiggins, J., . . . Rowe, J. B. (in press). Evidence for causal top-down frontal contributions to predictive processes in speech perception. Nature Communications.

Claire Lansdall has successfully submitted and defended her dissertation on "Apathy and Impulsivity in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Syndromes" and been awarded with her doctorate.

Congratulations!

• Cash, D. M., Bocchetta, M., Thomas, D. L., Dick, K. M., van Swieten, J. C., Borroni, B., Galimberti, D., Masellis, M., Tartaglia, M. C., Rowe, J. B., Graff, C., Tagliavini, F., Frisoni, G. B., Laforce, R., Jr., Finger, E., de Mendonca, A., Sorbi, S., Rossor, M. N., Ourselin, S., Rohrer, J. D., & Genetic Ftd Initiative, G. (2017). Patterns of gray matter atrophy in genetic frontotemporal dementia: results from the GENFI study. Neurobiol Aging, 62, 191-196. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.10.008 PMID: 29172163
• Su, L., Hayes, L., Soteriades, S., Williams, G., Brain, S. A. E., Firbank, M. J., Longoni, G., Arnold, R. J., Rowe, J. B., & O'Brien, J. T. (2017). Hippocampal Stratum Radiatum, Lacunosum, and Moleculare Sparing in Mild Cognitive Impairment. J Alzheimers Dis. doi:10.3233/JAD-170344 PMID: 29171994

New publication out in Nature Communications.

A study on patients with non-fluent primary progressive aphasia shows that fronto-temporal interactions determine predictive processes in speech.

• Cope, T. E., Sohoglu, E., Sedley, W., Patterson, K., Jones, P. S., Wiggins, J., Dawson, C., Grube, M., Carlyon, R. P., Griffiths, T. D., Davis, M. H., & Rowe, J. B. (2017). Evidence for causal top-down frontal contributions to predictive processes in speech perception. Nat Commun, 8. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01958-7 PMID: 

The Cambridge Centre for Frontotemporal Dementia and related Disorders would like to welcome three new team members:

1) Dr Timothy Rittman is back in the lab as Clinical Research Associate

2) Juliette Lanskey has started as a Research Assistant

3) Matthew Rouse has started as a Research Assistant

WELCOME!

New publication in Current Opinion on Behavioural Sciences:

Passamonti, L., Lansdall, C. J., & Rowe, J. B. (2018). The neuroanatomical and neurochemical basis of apathy and impulsivity in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Current Opinion on Behavioural Sciences, 22, 14-20. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.12.015

Link to the article

A new article by Thomas Cope and colleagues has been published in Brain:

• Cope, T. E., Rittman, T., Borchert, R. J., Jones, P. S., Vatansever, D., Allinson, K., Passamonti, L., Vazquez Rodriguez, P., Bevan-Jones, W. R., O’Brien, J. T., & Rowe, J. B. (2018). Tau burden and the functional connectome in Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. Brain.  doi:10.1093/brain/awx347

Link to article

The new publication by Thomas Cope et al., has resulted in some media attention.

Here are a few related web links:

• (5^th January 2018). Recent advances in brain imaging have enabled scientists to show for the first time that a key protein which causes nerve cell death spreads throughout the brain in Alzheimer’s disease – and hence that blocking its spread may prevent the disease from taking hold. Cambridge University.
• (5^th January 2018). Alzheimer’s breakthrough? Scientists show how toxic protein rips through the brain. By Giles Sheldrick. Express – online.
• (5^th January 2018). How Alzheimer’s disease spreads throughout the brain – new study. The Conversation.
• (5^th January 2018). Alzheimer’s protein may spread like an infection, human brain scans suggest. By Meredith Wadman. Science Magazine www.sciencemag.org

ITV Anglia interviewed Thomas Cope about his new publication on Brain.

Date: January 2018

New review article published in Brain by Alexander Murley and James Rowe.

• Murley, A., & Rowe, J. B. (2018). Neurotransmitter deficits from frontotemporal lobar degeneration: a critical review. Brain. doi: 10.1093/brain/awx327

Post Doctoral & Brain Entry Fellowships

Brain fellowships 2018: OPEN

 The Guarantors of Brain offer four types of Brain fellowships.

• “Entry” clinical fellowships up to 12months, to provide clinicians transitional funding prior to starting a higher degree.
• Post-doctoral clinical fellowships up to 12 months, for clinicians undertaking research after their PhD; and
• New non-clinical post-doctoral fellowships up to 36 months, for basic scientists embedded in clinical research teams.
• Clinical Research Fellowships, administered in partnership with the Association of British Neurologists. The 2017/18 fellowships are under review, with interviews expected March 2018. See the ABN website for details.

Applications for the 2018 Entry and Post Doctoral fellowships will opened 1st February (closing 16th March 2018). 

Link for more information:

https://guarantorsofbrain.org/grants/post-doc-brain-entry-fellowships/

New article is published:

Lansdall, C. J., Coyle-Gilchrist, I. T. S., Jones, P. S., Vazquez Rodriguez, P., Wilcox, A., Wehmann, E., Dick, K. M., Robbins, T. W., & Rowe, J. B. (2018). White matter change with apathy and impulsivity in frontotemporal lobar degeneration syndromes. Neurology. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000005175 PMID: 29453244

Pint of Science is a non-profit organisation that brings some of the most brilliant scientists to your local pub to discuss their latest research and findings with you.

14th-16th May 2018 in Cambridge (and other locations)

You don't need any prior knowledge, and this is your chance to meet the people responsible for the future of science (and have a pint with them). 

Several members from the Cambridge Centre for Frontotemporal Dementia participate in this event:

• Dr Claire Lansdall: Organisation       
• Dr Timothy Rittman will speak on 14^th May(along with Paul Fletcher, +1)
• Dr Luca Passamonti will speak on 16^th May (along with Roger Barker, +1)
• Dr Dennis Chan will speak on the 15^th May

Further details to be determined. Stay tuned.

Dr Sanne Kaalund was awarded with a competitive grant extension from the Lundbeck Foundation to the project: "Measuring microscpic changes at the macroscopic level in frontotemporal dementia".

For this deadline and funding scheme the Foundation received 36 applications for a total of DKK 57m. A total amount of DKK 12m was granted to 11 of these projects.

Dr Thomas Cope successfully passed his PhD viva on Thursday 29th March 2018. Congratulations!

Recently we have published new articles from our lab and with collaborators:

• Devenney, E. M., Swinn, T., Mioshi, E., Hornberger, M., Dawson, K. E., Mead, S., Rowe, J. B., Hodges, J. R. (2018). The behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia phenocopy syndrome - longitudinal follow-up and the C9orf72 expansion. BMC Neurology, 18:56. doi:10.1186/s12883-018-1060-1
• Passamonti, L., Rodriguez, P. V., Hong, Y. T., Allinson, K. S. J., Bevan-Jones, W. R., Williamson, D., Jones, P. S., Arnold, R., Borchert, R. J., Surendranathan, A., Mak, E., Su, L., Fryer, T. D., Aigbirhio, F. I., O'Brien, J. T., & Rowe, J. B. (2018). [(11)C]PK11195 binding in Alzheimer disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. Neurology. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000005610 PMID: 29703774
• Minett, T., Su, L., Mak, E., Williams, G., Firbank, M., Lawson, R. A., Yarnall, A. J., Duncan, G. W., Owen, A. M., Khoo, T. K., Brooks, D. J., Rowe, J. B., Barker, R. A., Burn, D., & O'Brien, J. T. (2018). Longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging changes in early Parkinson's disease: ICICLE-PD study. J Neurol. doi:10.1007/s00415-018-8873-0 PMID: 29696499
• Bonham, L. W., Karch, C. M., Fan, C. C., Tan, C., Geier, E. G., Wang, Y., Wen, N., Broce, I. J., Li, Y., Barkovich, M. J., Ferrari, R., Hardy, J., Momeni, P., Hoglinger, G., Muller, U., Hess, C. P., Sugrue, L. P., Dillon, W. P., Schellenberg, G. D., Miller, B. L., Andreassen, O. A., Dale, A. M., Barkovich, A. J., Yokoyama, J. S., Desikan, R. S., International, F. T. D. G. C., International Parkinson's Disease Genetics, C., & International Genomics of Alzheimer's, P. (2018). CXCR4 involvement in neurodegenerative diseases. Transl Psychiatry, 8(1), 73. doi:10.1038/s41398-017-0049-7 PMID: 29636460 PMC5893558

James Rowe has been awarded with the Sissons Fellowship at Darwin College, Cambridge.

In memory of Professor Sir Patrick Sissons MD, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci. (1945-2016) who was the leader of the University of Cambridge’s Clinical School as Regius Professor of Physic (2005–2012) following his service as Head of the Department of Medicine (1993-2005).

This is especially significant for the new Cambridge Centre for Parkinson-Plus, as Professor Sissons, the former Regius, was affected by a Parkinson-Plus disorder.   

We are delighted that Kamen Tsvetanov has been awarded a prestigious 3-year Guarantors of Brain post doctoral fellowship. He brings advanced multivariate image analysis experience to the Cambridge Centre for FTD, to  study the subtle brain changes that occur in the years leading up to symptoms. 

Dr Negin Holland will undertake her PhD here thanks to a 3 year fellowship from the Guarantors of Brain. With an academic clinical fellowship in Neurology, she has already made a substantial contribution to research at the Center for Frontotemporal Dementia, but moves to the Foundational Clinical Research program at the Cambridge Centre for Parkinson Plus, to study the impact of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal degeneration on synapses. using a new PET ligand, she will show how PSP and CBS reduce synaptic density, even very early in the disease, and how this leads to symptoms. Synaptic density, and synaptic plasticity, are potentially reversible parts of the pathology of neurodegenerative disease, giving new hop for treatments in the future. 

Please look at the following link for funding available through the Department of Clinical Neurosciences: https://www-neurosciences.medschl.cam.ac.uk/workandstudy/postgraduate-training/research-projects/ 

Here are the projects available for supervision in our lab:

• Progression in Neurodegenerative Tauopathies: neuroimaging biomarkers and disease models (Co-supervised by Dr Timothy Rittman)

One of the challenges in understanding neurodegenerative disorders is to relate the effect of genetic and molecular changes associated with disease to the level of the whole brain. Increasing evidence points towards the vulnerability of macro-scale brain networks in the progression of neurodegeneration. In order to investigate disease progression in brain networks, this project in the Cambridge Centre for Parkinson plus will examine changes in structural networks in tau associated neurodegenerative diseases. These scans are drawn from a cohort study of people with the primary tauopathies of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Corticobasal Degeneration and Frontotemporal Dementia. Imaging data will be enriched with information available from post-mortem tissue to anchor the models in neuropathological changes, and with clinical cognitive data to gauge the influence of structural changes on clinical syndromes. There may be opportunities to extend this work with multimodal imaging techniques such as functional MRI. The successful candidate will use structural imaging techniques such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging and cortical thickness analysis (freesurfer) to understand the progression of tau associated neurodegenerative pathology through the brain. The candidate will build computational models that can be used to test hypotheses of tau spread and regional susceptibility. A familiarity with coding languages is essential and some experience of neuroimaging analysis is highly desirable.

The project will be co-supervised by Dr Timothy Rittman, a clinician scientist with extensive experience in neuroimaging applied to neurodegenerative diseases and genetics. This project supports the wider work of the Cambridge Centre for Parkinson’s Plus (https://ccpp.cam.ac.uk/)

• Bridging the gap in frontotemporal dementia: from cell to cognition.

Your PhD will work across models of brain disease and human brain imaging (MEG), to understand the mechanisms of action of candidate drug treatments for frontotemporal dementia. You will validate these models of human brain function with spectrocscopy, neuropathological data or PET measurements of synapse density.

One of the major challenges in dementia research is how to harness rapid advances in cell and molecular knowledge of disease to understand the human patient syndrome, and to treat it better. Frontotemporal dementia is a common young-onset dementia, with dramatic changes in behaviour and language.  It is strongly genetic, and has focal changes in frontal and temporal cortex, which can be described will molecular and cellular precision. Our group at the Centre for Frontotemporal Dementia (ftd.neurology.cam.ac.uk) has developed detailed models of cortical microcircuits, that can generate evoked electromagnetic responses that match magnetoencephalographic recordings. Our senior post doctoral team and world-class facilities for brain imaging and informatics will ensure the success of an innovative and impactful PhD in translational neuroscience.