Clinical Neuroscience

As life expectancy increases and more people are living longer, so neurodegenerative diseases are becoming more and more common. However, there is currently a lack of effective treatments to deal with this.

Clinical Neuroscience research at Southampton spans numerous areas that affect the central nervous, visual and auditory systems and aims to gain a greater understanding of the role of the nervous system in health and disease.

Our innovative work covers the study of clinical, psychological, genetic and environmental factors that impair ocular and brain function and impact on long-term ophthalmic and neurological diseases, and also focuses on the pathology, prevention and repair strategies for damaged neural and ocular tissue.

Neurodegeneration can be initiated at all stages of life, including before and around the time of birth, in midlife and in old age. It can be triggered by a sudden event such as a stroke, or occur over a long period of time such as Alzheimer’s Disease and age-related macular degeneration.

Our Research Areas include:

Ageing and Neurological Disease - understanding the role of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in relation to ageing and neurological disease. Molecular and cell biology of blood-brain interaction, in conditions such as subarachnoid haemorrhage, multiple sclerosis and dementia. Using stem cells and genomics to understand mechanisms behind age-related vision and hearing loss and the development of targeted therapies.

Mental Health - improving clinical outcomes in patients with mood, anxiety, sleep and addiction disorders, psychopharmacology.

Paediatrics - neuroplasticity, paediatric neurosciences, paediatric neurology, paediatric ophthalmology and developmental biology with a strong translational approach.