a newsletter for members of the BNA - British Neuroscience ...

REPORTS MEETING REPORTS
2nd Annual Meeting of
Southampton Neurosciences
Group: SoNG
September 23rd, 2004, University of Southampton
As a follow-up to the last issue of the BNA Bulletin (issue 49) that gave a
fascinating insight into neuroscience in Southampton, Lindy Holden-Dye
and Hugh Perry describe their September annual meeting of SoNG. It
brought together members with diverse but overlapping interests for a
lively day of debate, sharing ideas and socialising. There were over one
hundred delegates with contributions from the School of Medicine,
Psychology, Biological Sciences, Nursing and Midwifery and Health
Professions and Rehabilitation Services. The talks centred on the theme
of cross-cutting research activities, from basic to clinical neuroscience.
Some of the highlights are described below.
Dr Colm Cunningham, from Professor
Hugh Perry's group in the School of
Biological Sciences, described progress
they have made in understanding the link
between systemic infection and cognitive
status. Their interest focuses on
intriguing evidence from their animal
model of neurodegeneration, the prion
infected mouse, that systemic infection
may exacerbate the process, and
ultimately behavioural consequences, of
degeneration in the brain (Perry, V.H.,
2004, Brain Behav Immun. 18:407-13).
Recently this group has received further
funding from the BBSRC's Integrative
Analysis of Brain and Behaviour Initiative
to support a collaborative project with
the Schools of Psychology and Medicine
to define the molecular basis of this in the
animal model, and to relate this to
humans.
James Nicoll, Professor of Neuropathology
in the School of Medicine,
continued the theme of neurodegeneration
by presenting his group's
data on their post-mortem analysis of the
brains of patients from the Elan
Pharmaceuticals b-amyloid vaccination
trial for Alzheimer's disease (Nicoll, J.A.
et al., 2003. Nature Medicine 9, 448-452).
The paucity of plaques in the brains of
patients who received the vaccine is truly
remarkable although the consequence of
this for the progression of the disease is
still unclear. In collaboration with Dr Clive
Holmes, Professor Nicoll reported that
funding has been received from the
Alzheimer's Disease Trust to follow up
the patients involved in the vaccination
trial, both in terms of cognitive function
and neuropathology, to try to provide
answers to some of the outstanding
questions.
Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke then
presented the work of the Developmental
Brain and Behaviour Unit which is broadranging
and aims to study the
relationship between neural processes,
psychological function and atypical
development and to translate this
research into clinical practise. In
particular, he described the work of this
group on gene-environment interactions
in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder. He also described a very
interesting project (in collaboration with
Professor Sir Michael Rutter) which is
following English-Romanian Adoptees to
assess the impact of early institutionbased
deprivation on long term outcome.
Professor Ann Ashburn of the School of
Health Professions and Rehabilitation
Services followed with a very thoughtprovoking
presentation that illustrated
how important basic neuroscience can
be in optimizing strategies for the
rehabilitation of patients who have
suffered a stroke. For example, what is
the optimum timing for treatment? This
requires information on the temporal and
dynamic aspects of neuronal plasticity
that underpin recovery. This dovetailed
exceptionally well with the closing
lecture, 'Promoting axon regeneration
and plasticity in the damaged nervous
system', given by the invited lecturer
Professor James Fawcett from the MRC
Brain Repair Unit, Cambridge. This
provided an excellent overview of the
factors that may limit neuronal repair, but
described how even a small level of
regeneration could perhaps lead to a
marked improvement in the quality of life
for the patient. Professor Fawcett
focused on the role of proteoglycans
which are expressed in response to
neuronal injury, forming a perineuronal
net that is implicated in the inhibition of
brain repair.
The poster session that accompanied the
meeting was well-supported with more
than forty contributions covering topics
from invertebrate neuroscience, to animal
models of brain trauma and studies on
stroke in children with sickle cell
anaemia. Thanks to the generous
support of the British Neuroscience
Association and the Society for
Experimental Biology, the SoNG
committee were able to award two cash
prizes for the best posters. The winner in
the BNA category was Sarah Bayless, a
post-graduate student in the School of
Psychology with Professor Jim
Stevenson, for her poster on 'Executive
Functions and Behaviour in School-age
Children Born Prematurely'. In the SEB
category, the winner was Sarah Young in
the School of Biological Sciences with Dr
Philip Newland and Dr David Shepherd
for her poster 'Does Larval Diet Influence
Adult Food Choice? Gustatory
Learning and Memory in Drosophila
melanogaster'.
Overall, the most exciting aspect of this
meeting was the enthusiastic discussion
between neurosurgeons, neuropathologists,
clinical psychologists, those
working in rehabilitation services, and
basic cellular and molecular
neuroscientists. This provides a great
forum for the two-way discussion that is
required if clinically important problems
are to be tackled by lab research, and if
lab research is to be translated into
clinical practise. It is therefore very
satisfying to see that the annual SoNG
meeting is now well established in the
calendar at Southampton.
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