Future Science Group

In this edition of NCTalks, Lauren Pulling (Editor, NC) chats with Rachelle Doody, Global Head of Neurodegeneration at Roche. Rachelle tells us about her varied career so far, moving from academia to industry, and discusses challenges in the neurodegenerative field, as well as the current pipeline treatments and diagnostics at Roche. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across neurology and neuroscience, at www.neuro-central.com.

At the ESMO World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2017 (Barcelona, Spain, 28 June–1 July) we had the pleasure of speaking with Vincenzo Valentini from Gemelli ART (Rome, Italy). Listen to the interview now, to find out about the importance of knowledge based oncology and integrating radiotherapy with other treatment modalities such as surgery.

Brain banks are an essential tool for neuropathological studies, allowing us to answer pressing research questions and test new theories. Recent advances in molecular technologies have further expanded the utility of brain banks, while an aging population is increasing interest in dementia and neurodegenerative disorders. But what are the challenges in maintaining, funding and accessing brain banks? How can these be addressed? Listen our recent panel discussion, held in collaboration with The Drake Foundation, to hear from researchers at Queen Square Brain Bank (London, UK), plus experts from Alzheimer’s Research UK and Alzheimer’s Association, as they discuss the current issues surrounding brain banking. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across neurology and neuroscience, at www.neuro-central.com.

Whilst at the European Neuro Convention (London, UK, 7–8 June 2017), we caught up with Jean-Pierre Lin, a consultant oediatric neurologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (London, UK), and President of the British Paediatric Neurology Association. In this NCTalks podcast, Jean-Pierre tells us about his clinical and research work, which focuses on movement disorders and neuromodulation in children. He also expands on current developments in the field of pediatric neurolomodulation, and the challenges that come with treating children with deep brain stimulation. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across neurology and neuroscience, at www.neuro-central.com.

In this IDHTalks podcast we speak to Mahmoud Ghannoum about the importance of fungi, his work in identifying mycobiome and its implications in health and disease.

At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC; London, UK, 16–20 July 2017), we sat down with Megan Zuelsdorff, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (WI, USA), to hear more about her work on lifetime stress experiences, racial disparities and cognitive health. Part of the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP) Study, Megan and colleagues examined the impact of lifetime stressful experiences on cognition. They found that a greater number of stressful events was associated with poorer late-life cognitive function for all study participants. In addition, African Americans experienced over 60% more stressful events than non-Hispanic White participants during their lifetimes, and these experiences were linked to poorer memory and thinking skills in older age. The researchers determined that, in African Americans, each stressful experience was equivalent to approximately 4 years of cognitive aging. In this interview, we hear more about the study and its implic

Whilst at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London (AAIC; UK, 16–20 July 2017), Lauren Pulling (Editor, Neuro Central) sat down with Kim Mueller, a researcher from the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute (University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA), whose abstract had been highlighted by the Association as one of note. The work presented at AAIC investigated whether early memory decline correlates with changes in everyday speech. The results showed that subtle changes in speech – e.g., the use of short sentences, more pronouns, more frequent pauses and filler words – increased in line with development of early mild cognitive impairment, and therefore, further down the line, could be used as a marker for Alzheimer’s disease. In this podcast, Kim discusses the study and its implications, including how these findings could one day be translated into new – potentially mobile – technology for at-home screening and disease monitoring. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and intervie

Listen to this interview with Philip A Philip from the Karmanos Cancer Center (MI, USA) to discover new strategies and agents for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across oncology at www.oncology-central.com

The plenary sessions at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC; London, UK, 16–20 July 2017) have featured fantastic talks from leading experts in the field, so far addressing topics including biomarkers, targeting beta-amyloid, genetics, big data and the neurotoxicity of tau. While at the conference, Lauren Pulling (Editor, Neuro Central) sat down with Julie Williams, Professor of Neuropsychological Genetics at Cardiff University (UK) and the Chief Scientific Advisor of the Welsh Government, to hear more about her work on susceptibility genes in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across neurology and neuroscience, at www.neuro-central.com.

As part of the Neuro Central Spotlight of neuromodulation, we spoke to Jerrold Vitek, Professor of Neurology and a prominent voice in this ever-expanding field. Dr Vitek is currently the Head of the Neurology Department and Director of the Neuromodulation Research Program at the University of Minnesota (MN, USA), and is the PI for a number of non-human primate and human clinical studies on the neurophysiology of movement disorders and neuromodulation mechanisms. In this interview, Dr Vitek tells us more about the work of the Neuromodulation Research Center, shares his perspective on how the field of neuromodulation has progressed in recent years, and discusses the challenges associated with refining and developing new neuromodulation therapies for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across neurology and neuroscience, at www.neuro-central.com.

In this podcast, Jade Parker, Editor of Oncology Central speaks to Dirk Arnold. Dirk Arnold is Director of the Dept. Medical Oncology at Klinik für Tumorbiologie, Freiburg, Germany. Before taking this position, he was 2010 appointed as Director of the University Cancer Centre in Hamburg (UCCH) and held positions at the University Departments for Oncology and Haematology in Halle-Wittenberg and Berlin. His major field of scientific interest are gastrointestinal cancers, and here specifically modern therapeutic approaches in biomarker-driven decision processes and multimodal treatment strategies. In this interview find out about the main treatment options for oligometastic rectal cancer and how we can define a treatment strategy for this disease. Prof Arnold also tells us how he hopes to see the field progress in the next 5-10 years. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across oncology at www.oncology-central.com.

In this NCTalks podcast, Lauren Pulling, Editor of Neuro Central, is joined by Claude Wischik. Prof Wischik is board-certified in psychiatry and a professor of Old Age Psychiatry at the University of Aberdeen (UK). A pioneer in tau research, he discovered the tau protein compositional structure of Alzheimer’s tangles and established that it was possible to dissolve these tangles with pharmaceutically viable compounds that act as Tau Aggregation Inhibitors. Prof Wischik is also co-founder, chairman and chief executive of TauRx Therapeutics, which aims to develop new treatments for a range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. In this interview, Prof Wischik discusses his 30 years’ experience in the field, the latest developments at TauRx, and what we can expect from tau research the next 10 years. You can view more podcasts, plus the latest news and interviews with experts across neurology and neuroscience, at www.neuro-central.com.

How can we bring Parkinson’s disease into the age of personalized medicine? One such approach recently described by Alberto Espay (University of Cincinnati, OH, USA) is to subtype the disease according to the presence of certain biomarkers. This is an approach that he says could “up the ante in our ability to modify the disease”, moving us away from purely dopaminergic strategies that address only the ‘common denominator’ of the disease. We caught up with Dr Espay at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting (Boston, MA, USA, 22–28 April), where he told us more about his call for a biomarker-driven approach to subtyping Parkinson’s, and how this could change the way we both research and treat the disease. You can find more podcasts, as well as the latest news and expert opinions across neuroscience and neurology, at www.neuro-central.com

Whilst at the AAN Annual Meeting (Boston, MA, USA, 22–28 April) last month, we caught up with Regina Katzenschlager, Medical University Vienna and Danube Hospital (both Vienna, Austria), whose research into the use of apomorphine for Parkinson’s disease was highlighted at the conference as one to watch. In this interview, Regina tells us more about the recent Phase III trial, which provided evidence that the drug apomorphine, first produced in 1865, could be effective in the management of advanced Parkinson’s disease. Study data demonstrated that patients given apomorhpine infusion had a significantly greater reduction in ‘off’ time compared with those who were given a placebo infusion. Regina also discusses how she anticipates these recent findings could change the way clinicians prescribe apomorphine to patients. You can find more podcasts, as well as the latest news across neurology and neuroscience, at www.neuro-central.com

Helen McShane discusses her work leading the TB vaccine research program at Oxford University, and shares her thoughts on the challenges facing vaccine development and eradication of this disease.

Listen to this interview with Peter Stern (University of Manchester, UK) to discover more about chemotherapy resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and novel strategies to overcome it.

While at the AAN Annual Meeting (Boston, MA, USA, 22–28 April 2017), we spoke with Dr Michael Alosco, a fellow at Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease and CTE Center(MA, USA), who is currently working on multiple projects looking at chronic traumatic encephalopthy (CTE)in both living and deceased patients. Michael discussed his work, progress towards diagnosis of CTE in life and his thoughts on the latest in CTE research. You can find more NCTalks podcasts, as well as the latest news, journal articles and interviews with experts across neuroscience and neurology at www.neuro-central.com

Reporting from ECCMID17, we spoke to William Irving about his current work on hepatitis C and his thoughts on the future of this field.

Whilst at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting (Boston, MA, USA, 22–28 April 2017), we sat down with Michael Pender (University of Queensland, Australia), who was presenting promising interim findings from a Phase 1 study investigating a novel treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) at the meeting. In this interview, Dr Pender discusses the relationship between MS and the Epstain-Barr virus; a link that has been observed in recent studies, and which forms the basis of this most recent clinical trial. In the Phase I study, researchers removed the T cells from six patients with progressive MS, stimulated the T cells to increase their ability to recognize and destroy Epstein-Barr virus-infected B cells, and the injected these T cells in infusions every 2 weeks over a 6-week period. At this interim point, three participants have showed improvement, with one showing “striking improvement”. In the interview, Dr Pender, lead researcher of the trial, discusses the key findings of the trial, and the next

In this interview, Joop Arends discusses his thoughts on the future of diagnosis and management of hepatitis C, and also gives us his highlights from ECCMID.