Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair: University of Cambridge

Counteracting the effects of damage to the brain or spinal cord represents one of the major current challenges to medical science. Success at repairing the damaged brain will require the harnessing of information gathered from a wide range of disciplines. The Brain Repair Centre (BRC) was formed to bring Cambridge scientists working across the many fields of modern neuroscience together in cross-disciplinary research efforts directed at the problems associated with preventing or repairing the effects of brain damage.

The BRC is housed in a purpose-built building on the Addenbrooke's Hospital Site. In this location, members of the Centre are well placed to take advantage of, and contribute to, the rich and lively neuroscience environment in Cambridge.

Key research areas

• Development: understanding the principles of normal development will indicate ways in which damaged circuits can be re-established and lost cells replaced in the context of disease and injury (Olivier Raineteau, S Chandran, M Caldwell)
• Degeneration: understanding the reasons why cells or functional circuits degenerate will suggest methods for cell protection (M Spillantini, A Compston, J Morton)
• Regeneration: characterising factors that promote and/or inhibit regeneration of nerve pathways in the damaged brain will suggest ways in which the potential for growth and axon guidance can be enhanced to promote recovery (J Fawcett, W Blakemore, R Franklin)
• Stem cells: optimising conditions for expansion and differentiation of rodent and human stem cells, derived from fetal and adult brain (R Barker, S Chandran)
• Implantation: optimising conditions for survival and connectivity of implanted cells and understanding their mechanisms of action in the host brain will maximise their potential for restoring structure and function (R Barker)
• Assessment: developing behavioural and imaging techniques both in human patients and in animal models of disease will allow strategies for restoring structure and function to be validated and their outcomes to be assessed (J Pickard, J-C Baron, S Chandran, A Compston)
• Application: translating the scientific strategy into those areas of clinical practice where success can realistically be expected is our ultimate goal (R Barker)

Research collaborations

An important aim of the postgraduate course is to encourage cross-disciplinary research and to ease the entry into this field of those without a neuroscience background. To this end, all students have two supervisors, normally drawn from different but overlapping disciplines, who will devise an individual programme of coursework for each student during the first year in addition to supervising their research project.

Further information:

• www.brc.cam.ac.uk