British Neuroscience Research Articles

Obituary. Tipu Zahed Aziz, 1956-2024

The extraordinary life of Tipu Aziz is described through anecdotes told to his former residents and fellows. A giant of functional neurosurgery, his primate experiments first demonstrated the subthalamic nucleus and pedunculopontine nucleus as targets for surgery for Parkinson's disease and he pioneered deep brain stimulation for pain including of the anterior cingulate cortex. Despite various career cul-de-sacs he climbed the ziggurat to the pinnacles of British neurosurgery and neuroscience. A pinball wizard of functional neurosurgery, he was mentored by a bygone Madmen era of gentlemen: chain-smoking, heavy-drinking workaholics whose nonchalant bravado, ‘can-do’ attitude, love of mischief, merriment and well-placed profanity he exemplified. Sometimes sharing a cigarette with a patient before surgery, we will not see his like again.

Reflecting on 50 years of long-term potentiation: Insights from the Royal Society's LTP50 conference.

On November 20-21 2023, the Royal Society in London hosted a landmark scientific meeting led by Professor Wickliffe C Abraham, Professor Timothy VP Bliss, Professor Graham L Collingridge, and Professor Richard GM Morris. The conference, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Long-Term Potentiation, focused on discussing the latest research and developments in the field of synaptic plasticity. We have invited former presidents of the British Neuroscience Association, Professor Graham Collingridge CBE FRS and Professor Richard Morris CBE FRS, for interviews.

Wired-up in white organdie: framing women's scientific labour at the Burden Neurological Institute.

The Burden Neurological Institute (BNI) is widely considered one of the central sites in the history of British neuroscience. Founded in 1939 to investigate the anatomy, functions, and disorders of the human brain, the BNI rapidly established a reputation as a world-leading centre of research and expertise. Due to the rich insights offered by the BNI Papers, held in the archives of the Science Museum, London, the work of the BNI has become a popular topic among historians of science and technology. However, one key omission in both the archival record and in subsequent historical accounts has been the BNI's prominent employment of women as researchers, technicians and laboratory assistants. To address this absence, this article examines the comparatively underutilised photographic collections of the BNI Papers, in which women feature more prominently. However, rather than providing an unproblematic 'window' onto the experiences of these scientific workers, this article contends that the photographs in question 'frame' women's labour in particular ways so as to devalue, obscure and erase their contributions to the BNI's much-lauded achievements. The article considers three such frames: the objectification of women as the subjects, rather than the practitioners, of neuroscientific research; the elision of women's scientific, domestic, and familial roles; and the visual equation of women's labour with that of the machine. The article concludes by considering some of the ways in which critiques of visual framing might be integrated into both future historical accounts and museum display practices.

Climate crisis and ecological emergency: Why they concern (neuro)scientists, and what we can do.

Our planet is experiencing severe and accelerating climate and ecological breakdown caused by human activity. As professional scientists, we are better placed than most to understand the data that evidence this fact. However, like most other people, we ignore this inconvenient truth and lead our daily lives, at home and at work, as if these facts weren’t true. In particular, we overlook that our own neuroscientific research practices, from our laboratory experiments to our often global travel, help drive climate change and ecosystem damage. We also hold privileged positions of authority in our societies but rarely speak out. Here, we argue that to help society create a survivable future, we neuroscientists can and must play our part. In April 2021, we delivered a symposium at the British Neuroscience Association meeting outlining what we think neuroscientists can and should do to help stop climate breakdown. Building on our talks (Box 1), we here outline what the climate and ecological emergencies mean for us as neuroscientists. We highlight the psychological mechanisms that block us from taking action, and then outline what practical steps we can take to overcome these blocks and work towards sustainability. In particular, we review environmental issues in neuroscience research, scientific computing, and conferences. We also highlight the key advocacy roles we can all play in our institutions and in society more broadly. The need for sustainable change has never been more urgent, and we call on all (neuro)scientists to act with the utmost urgency.

A brief history of the British Neuroscience Association.

As the British Neuroscience Association commemorates 50 years of existence in 2018, this article recalls its founding as a discussion group, its establishment as the Brain Research Association, its transition to a professional society encompassing all aspects of neuroscience research, both clinical and non-clinical, and its re-branding as the British Neuroscience Association in the late 1990s. Neuroscience as a branch of life science has expanded hugely in the last 25 years and the British Neuroscience Association has adapted, frequently working with partner societies, to serve as an interdisciplinary hub for professionals working in this exciting and crucial field. The authors have attempted to highlight some key events in the Association’s history and acknowledge the contributions made by many people over half a century.

Stroke: The past, present and future.

Since the inception of the British Neuroscience Association, there have been major advances in our knowledge of the mechanistic basis for stroke-induced brain damage. Identification of the ischaemic cascade led to the development of hundreds of new drugs, many showing efficacy in preclinical (animal-based) studies. None of these drugs has yet translated to a successful stroke treatment, current therapy being limited to thrombolysis/thrombectomy. However, this translational failure has led to significant improvements in the quality of animal-based stroke research, with the refinement of rodent models, introduction of new technologies (e.g. transgenics, in vivo brain imaging) and improvements in study design (e.g. STAIR, ARRIVE and IMPROVE guidelines). This has run in parallel with advances in clinical diagnostic imaging for detection of ischaemic versus haemorrhagic stroke, differentiating penumbra from ischaemic core, and improved clinical trial design. These preclinical and clinical advances represent the foundation for successful translation from the bench to the bedside in the near future.

The origins of the British Neuroscience Association

I describe the origins of the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) based on new documents which I have discovered. The foundation of the Brain Research Association (BRA) on February 23rd 1968 was influenced by IBRO, notably its two UK Council members, and by many UK neuroscientists, especially the London-based Black Horse Group. The BRA changed its name to the BNA in 1996. The documents are in the Wellcome Trust Archives.

9 Neurobiology of addiction

Trevor is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, being elected to the Chair of Expt. Psychology (and Head of Department) at the University of Cambridge, from October 2002. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (1990), the Academy of Medical Sciences (2000), and the Royal Society (2005). He received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award for 2011 from the American Psychological Association. He has published about 750 full papers, with an H index of about 167. He has co-edited eight books, most recently Translational Neuropsychopharmacology (Springer, 2016). Trevor directs the University of Cambridge ‘Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute’, the mission of which is to enhance translation from basic to clinical neuroscience. His interest in translation began with his co-invention of the CANTAB computerised neuropsychological battery, which is currently used in over 700 institutes and clinical centres world-wide. He stepped down as President of the British Neuroscience Association in 2011 and was made a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list of the U.K. in 2012. In 2014, he shared the ‘Brain Prize’ of the Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation, the most valuable in neuroscience, and in 2015 he received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” of the British Association for Psychopharmacology’. Much evidence, based on experimental studies of intravenous drug self-administration in experimental animals and neuroimaging studies in humans now supports the view that drug addiction results in part from aberrant learning mediated by dopamine-dependent processes of the limbic-striatal interface, including the amygdala and nucleus accumbens. The neural systems of this interface and other frontostriatal networks mediate several relevant forms of learning, including Pavlovian conditioning, goal-directed, action-outcome learning, and stimulus-response habit learning (which is not controlled by outcomes or goals). Hypothetically, drug addiction involves an imbalance between instrumental behaviour controlled by outcomes and habitual responding mediated by stimulus-response associations, corresponding hypothetically to a devolution of neurobehavioural control from (i) the prefrontal cortex to the striatum, and (ii) from the ventral to the dorsal striatum (Everitt and Robbins 2016). I will consider the experimental evidence relevant to these predictions from studies of both experimental animals and humans with substance use disorders. I will focus especially on stimulant drugs, but will consider other substance use disorders, as well the latter as part of a ‘impulse-compulsive’ spectrum of mental health disorders. For human drug abuse, it is difficult to unravel predispositions or causal neurobehavioural factors contributing to addiction, from potential neurotoxic effects of the drugs themselves. I will thus describe strategies for determining the aetiological role of these factors, based on evidence from (i) experimental animals, using several techniques and (ii) human drug abusers or vulnerable adolescents, based on functional neuroimaging methods, employing both longitudinal and endophenotype designs. I will conclude that both types of influence contribute to the drive to addiction. Finally, I will consider implications of this evidence for possible new therapeutic approaches to drug addiction, whether pharmacological or behavioural. Reference . Everitt BJ, Robbins TW. Drug addiction: updating actions to habits to compulsions ten years on. annual review of psychology2016;67:23–50.

British Neuroscience Association 2017 Festival of Neuroscience

British Neuroscience Association 2017 Festival of Neuroscience

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

A drug to treat cannabis addiction

It's considered a soft drug, but increasing numbers of people are seeking help for cannabis addiction--and there's growing interest in finding ways to treat them. Paradoxically, the most promising treatment may be an extract of cannabis. Last month, researchers at the British Neuroscience Association meeting in Edinburgh, UK, described how the compound, called cannabidiol, helped one person who was severely addicted. A clinical trial is underway. Unlike most forms of drug addiction, there are no medical treatments to help people reduce their cannabis use.

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

From Brain to Neuro: The Brain Research Association and the Making of British Neuroscience, 1965–1996

This article explores the short history of “neuroscience” as a discipline in its own right as opposed to the much longer past of the brain sciences. It focuses on one historical moment, the formation of the first British “neuroscience” society, the Brain Research Association (BRA), renamed in 1996 to the British Neuroscience Association (BNA). It outlines the new thinking brought about by this new science of brain, mind, and behavior, it sketches the beginnings of the BRA and the institutionalization of neuroscience in the British context, and it further explores the ambiguous relation the association had towards some of the ethical, social, and political implications of this new area of research.

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Neuroscience in recession?

As the global financial downturn continues, its impact on neuroscientists - both on an individual level and at the level of their research institute - becomes increasingly apparent. How is the economic crisis affecting neuroscience funding, career prospects, international collaborations and scientists' morale in different parts of the world? Nature Reviews Neuroscience gauged the opinions of a number of leading neuroscientists: the President of the Society for Neuroscience, the President Elect of the British Neuroscience Association, the former President of the Japan Neuroscience Society, the President of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and the Director of the US National Institute of Mental Health. Their responses provide interesting and important insights into the regional impact of the global financial downturn, with some causes for optimism for the future of neuroscience research.

20th National Meeting of the British Neuroscience Association

20th National Meeting of the British Neuroscience Association

The headache over warfarin in British neurosurgical intensive care units: a national survey of current practice

To ascertain current British practice regarding the emergency medical management of patients who sustain a spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) whilst receiving warfarin therapy and to compare this with established national and international guidelines. Standardised, telephone based, questionnaire survey. All 32 adult British neuroscience intensive care units (ICUs) Duty consultant of each neuroscience ICU. Response rate was 100%. The international normalised ratio (INR) would be reversed by over 90% of ICU consultants treating patients on warfarin with an ICH, except patients with mechanical heart valves (MHV), when only 59.4% would reverse. Prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) was used by 15 ICUs (46.9%); however, only six units (18.8%) apply reversal strategies with PCC and intravenous vitamin K in accordance with national guidelines. Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) continues to be used by 71.9% of the ICUs. A protocol for warfarin reversal in ICH was present in five ICUs, of which four followed national guidelines. None of the units that use FFP had a protocol. Following ICH, two-thirds of the ICUs (65.6%) would commence bridging heparinisation in the first 4 days for MHV patients and 25% would recommence warfarin before, and 64.5% after, 7 days. There is considerable variation in practice amongst clinicians who regularly manage these patients and, in most cases (81.2%), practice is not in keeping with national or international guidelines. This study has demonstrated the need amongst senior ICU clinicians for a heightened awareness of current treatment recommendations and the availability of effective haemostatic therapies.

British Neuroscience Association (BNA) and British Pain Society joint 1-day symposium

The clinical manifestations of pain affect millions of people worldwide and are therefore a huge focus of neurological research. In order to maximize the clinical effect of new pathophysiological findings, it is vital for basic science researchers to communicate closely with clinicians. This BNA and Pain Society joint symposium therefore provided an excellent forum for interesting discussions which focused on the molecular mechanisms of nociception and LTP in relation to sensory and psychological themes.

Renatus Renatus: The Cartesian Tradition in British Neuroscience and the Neurophilosophy of John Carew Eccles

J. C. Eccles (1903–1997) had a highly distinguished career in neurophysiology, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1963. This paper sets him within the Cartesian tradition of British neurophysiology initiated by Thomas Henry Huxley in the mid-19th century. It shows how the mind–brain problematique of the Cartesian tradition troubled him throughout his career, leading him finally to a solution in terms of quantum microphysics and microphysiology. This position, which has subsequently become fashionable, is discussed and shown (at least in the form Eccles espoused) to provide no solution to the problem posed by Descartes in the early 17th century.