Bionow

Neuroscience and Mental Health

Motac Neurosciences in Manchester. This Manchester University spinout company provides highly specialised services to support the discovery and development of proprietary therapeutics and diagnostics to treat disorders of higher brain function such as movement disorders (including Parkinson's disease) and dementias (including Alzheimer's disease).

Neurosciences at the University of Manchester cover Neural Injury & Repair; Neuroimaging; Sensorimotor Neural Coding; Signalling in the Nervous System and Vision Sciences. Neurodegeneration, repair and neuronal plasticity are major interests of the University with programmes on central and peripheral nervous systems, and mechanisms of cell death and regeneration. Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell FRS leads a major research group in stroke.

The University of Manchester Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre adjacent to the Christie Hospital and the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research. This centre, the first of its kind in the world, provides imaging for cancer and neuroscience research, using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and also houses a cyclotron source with a GMP manufacturing laboratory for testing short-lived radiolabelled drugs.

The University of Liverpool Department of Neurological Sciences. The department is based in the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery. The Centre is a secondary and tertiary referral centre for people with neurological diseases.

The Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery NHS Trust. This internationally acclaimed centre provides a range of neurology, neurosurgery, pain relief and specialised diagnostic services.

The Blond McIndoe Research Laboratories at Manchester University is the most prominent UK unit working on peripheral nerve injury and regeneration, and uniquely employs side by side scientists and young surgeons, allowing this combination of different academic training to explore the scientific and clinical problems examined in various projects. The group is part of the UK Centre for Tissue Regeneration.

Mental Health

North West Universities and NHS Trusts play a leading role in mental health research and clinical trials.

UK Mental Health Research Network. Part of the UK CRC programme, the Network supports large scale clinical trials and acts as a central point of information and reference connecting industry, mental health professionals and patients. The Network is co-ordinated by the University of Manchester and supports research and innovative approaches to mental health diagnosis and treatment (such as PsyGrid).

PsyGrid Set up by the University of Manchester, PsyGrid is an e-science project facilitating clinical trials and longitudinal studies in first episode psychosis. Such a system allows the collection and sharing of large clinical, biological and demographic data sets facilitating hypothesis driven epidemiological research.