Neurobiology of Ageing

You find us here (with some photos and maps)

If mental health fails in older age, a large number of factors may be responsible: we aim to isolate these using a variety of large and small-scale studies that use all possible methods of enquiry, from clinical interviews and medical examination to neuropsychology and brain imaging.

This outstanding proposal aims to integrate state-of-the-art brain measures .. on the newest generation of clinical use MR scanners .. with data from a very important, well published longitudinal epidemiologic study.Anon. (MRC Referee)

We have teamed up with the Whitehall Study at UCL and the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB) to examine 800 of their volunteers, who have been followed up 2-yearly for the last 25 years (see quote). Whitehall Imaging Oxford is a participant in the EU Horizon 2020 Project Lifebrain.

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We are also part of the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre and the Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Our focus of interest is on the interaction of genetic, environmental, social and psychological factors that confer risk and resilience on people as they age. We are also interested in enhancing brain plasticity and resilience by means of exercise, transcranial stimulation and pharmacology.

Our imaging, cognitive and psychiatric research aims to investigate emerging evidence of the brain architecture that enables individuals to compensate cognitively and emotionally, particularly with advancing age.

The wider Old Age Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Ageing theme is comprised of three research groups:

Neurobiology of Ageing, led by Klaus Ebmeier

Translational Neuroscience and Dementia Research, led by Noel Buckley & Sir Simon Lovestone

Translational Neuroimaging, led by Clare Mackay