2025 Mary Pickford Lecture + Alison Douglas prize giving (CDBS best PhD thesis)

This year’s Mary Pickford lecture + Alison Douglas prize giving (best CDBS PhD thesis) will took place at QMRI - Wellcome Auditorium on Thursday 13^th November

Prof Stephanie Schorge, Head of Research Department, Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL delivered this year’s Mary Pickford lecture:

Brain Hacking with Viruses: Moving Gene Therapy for Epilepsy out of Science Fiction and into Clinical Trials 

Stephanie, along with Prof Tara Spires-Jones also presented the Alison Douglas prizes for the best CDBS PhD thesis 24/25.

Winner - Dr Ian Hawes (Nolan lab) with his thesis entitled:

Mechanisms Underlying Spatial Navigation

Joint Highly Commended: Dr Katerina Hristova (Gonzalez-Sulser lab) with her thesis entitled:

Sleep and Epilepsy Phenotypes in Rodent Models of Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Joint Highly Commended: Dr Robert McGeachan (Spires-Jones lab) with his thesis entitled:

Investigating the Mechanisms of Synapse Loss and Tau Propagation in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Early career researchers from across INCR also delivered short talks of their research: 

Grant Marshall: Developing Allele-Specific ASO Therapies for EEF1A2-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder - (Cathy Abbott lab)

Sophie Thomson: Development of a Functional TSC2 Minigene for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Gene Therapy- (Stuart Cobb lab)

Katerina Hristova: Absence seizures and abnormal sleep in a rat model of GRIN2B neurodevelopmental disorder - (Alfredo Gonzalez Sulser lab) 

Simon Brown: Advanced RNA Therapeutics for Improved Outcomes Following Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery - (Andy Baker lab)

Marie Pronot: Pathophysiological consequences of middle domain DNM1 mutations - (Mike Cousin lab)

Huge congratulations to all and thanks to all across INCR for attending the event!