ABN news

![Graphic][1]</img> “This is an exciting era for young neurologists” ABN Fellow Thomas Coysh talks to Biba Stanton on research in neurology training ![Graphic][2]</img> Thomas Coysh Dr. Tom Coysh, a clinical research training fellow at UCL Institute of Prion Diseases and the National Prion Clinic, supported by the Association of British Neurologists (ABN) Fellowship Scheme, talks about his research and the value of undertaking a research fellowship as part of neurology training. Q: Could you tell us about your area of research? A: My research is in prion diseases, which although rare, are universally fatal and responsible for the deaths of 1 in 5000 people in the UK. Studying prion diseases — archetypal protein misfolding disorders — has helped shed light on mechanisms underpinning more common neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease and has led to the development of extremely sensitive and specific biomarkers of underlying pathology, like the RT-QuIC, which is now being applied to other neurodegenerative diseases. My project aims to bridge the gap between mouse models of prion disease (in which multiple effective treatments exist) and human prion disease (in which no effective treatments exist) by developing an optimal system for testing treatments in a mouse model, at the clinically relevant symptomatic stage, with behavioural and blood biomarker readouts. I have also examined blood biomarkers in our patients to help improve diagnostics. For instance, we’ve found that the most promising Alzheimer’s disease blood biomarker, phospho-tau217, is also abnormal in prion diseases, which is relevant to future application of … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif [2]: /embed/inline-graphic-2.gif