Imperial College Neuromodulation Group (ICNG)

Drs. P Bain, Reader in Neurology and N Pavese & S Molloy Consultant Neurologists, Imperial College London
Mr. D Nandi, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Imperial College London
Dr. X Liu, Consultant Surgical Neurophysiologist, Imperial College London
Dr. D Murphy, Consultant Neuropsychologist, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Dr. N Yousif, Post-doctoral Scientist, Imperial College London
Mr. M J Naushahi, Clinical Research Fellow in Functional Neurosurgery, Imperial College London
J Watson, Administrator, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (Tel: +44 (0) 20 3311 1182)

Research

The Group’s clinical and research interests lie in the classification, pathophysiology & management of patients with movement disorders, and in particular, the fascinating confluence of stereotactic functional neurosurgery (deep brain stimulation, DBS), the neurophysiology (local field potentials) of movement disorders (Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, MS tremor, dystonia), treatment resistant depression & chronic central pain (post-stroke pain, cluster headaches, other intractable neuropathic pain syndromes) and the electrical-brain interface generated by the DBS electrode in vivo.
Another area of clinical and research interest is the difficult field of primary malignant brain tumours. These tumours have resisted long years of extensive basic science and clinical studies aimed at improving the duration of survival and neurological functional outcome; the median survival after diagnosis of a primary high grade glial brain tumour today is about 12 - 15 months in spite of a combination of resective cranial surgery, radiotherapy and anti-neoplastic chemotherapy. The last three decades of scientific and technical sophistication have managed to enhance survival by barely 3-6 months. The Group is working on using the safer and highly accurate minimally-invasive deep intra-cerebral access provided by functional stereotactic neurosurgery, to target deep-seated brain tumours and deliver anti-neoplastic agents locally within the tumour at concentrations not possible to achieve by systemic means. The tools which are expected to come into play in the foreseeable future include individual tumour-tailored chemotherapy, multi-agent therapy, viral-vector delivery and sustained brachytherapy.

Awards & Prizes

Medical Research Council, UK (MRC) Research Grant (2008 – 2011; Mr. M J Naushahi & ICNG; Pedunculopontine Nucleus-Deep Brain Stimulation Trial)
Medtronic European Research Board Equipment Grant (2008 – 2011; Mr. M J Naushahi & ICNG; Pedunculopontine Nucleus-Deep Brain Stimulation Trial)
Società Italiana di Neurologia (SIN)-The Movement Disorder Society (MDS) Travelling Scholarship (2009; Mr. M J Naushahi; International Symposium: Levodopa, Back to the Future, Italy)
Imperial College London-The University of Hong Kong Travelling Scholarship (2009; Mr. M J Naushahi; International Research Skills Development Course, Hong Kong)
The Nuffield Foundation Science Undergraduate Research Bursary (2009; Nikhil Howai & Mr. M J Naushahi; Pedunculopontine Nucleus-Deep Brain Stimulation Trial)
Ménière’s Society (UK) Poster Presentation Prize (2009; Pei-yun Lee & Mr. M J Naushahi; The VIIth Meeting of The British Society of Neuro-Otology)

Recent Publications

Bain PG. Parkinsonism & related disorders. Tremor. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 13 Suppl 3: S369 – S374, 2007. Publisher weblink DOI
Nandi D; Jenkinson N; Stein J; Aziz T. The pedunculopontine nucleus in Parkinson's disease: primate studies. Br J Neurosurg. 22 Suppl 1: S4 – S8, 2008. Publisher weblink DOI
Liu X; Forster A. Interventional neurophysiology: a new frontier in investigation, treatment and research. Front Biosci. 13: 1691 – 1697, 2008. Publisher weblink DOI
Naushahi MJ, O’Riordan S, Bain PG, Aziz TZ, Nandi D. Actual performance of the rechargeable Medtronic implantable pulse generator (Activa-RC) for deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy in dystonia: a case report. MDS Congress, Paris 2009. [Mov Disord. 24 (1): S488 – S489, 2009]
N Yousif, R Bayford & X Liu. The influence of reactivity of the electrode-brain interface on the crossing electric current in therapeutic deep brain stimulation. Neuroscience. 156: 597 – 606, 2008. Publisher weblink DOI