Brain-related illnesses affect more than two billion people worldwide, costing over $2.2 trillion annually, yet drug development has stalled against a "wall of complexity" where new treatments carry intolerable side effects. This Centre for Doctoral Training will train a new generation of researchers who combine neuroscience expertise with engineering skills—a blend that industry partners say is currently unavailable and limiting their ability to develop solutions. The problem is urgent: dementia and other age-linked disorders are rising as the UK population ages, and purely pharmaceutical approaches are no longer delivering. Instead of screening thousands of drug candidates, these researchers will build devices and technologies that directly interface with the nervous system—what one industry partner calls shifting from "high throughput" to "high content." If successful, the centre will create a permanent pipeline of PhD graduates who can turn neuroscience insights into working technologies. This could accelerate treatments for Parkinson’s, dementia, and other brain disorders, reducing the economic burden on the NHS and improving quality of life. The centre does not promise a specific device or drug; it addresses the skills shortage that currently blocks progress across the entire field.
View original technical description
Neurotechnology is the use of insights and tools from mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and engineering to investigate neural function and treat dysfunction; and additionally, the development of novel technology inspired by neuroscience. Brain-related illnesses affect more than two billion people worldwide, and add an annual burden which has been estimated to exceed $US 2.2 trillion. This is exacerbated by the aging societal demographic in most industrialized nations, including the UK: many brain disorders, such as dementia, are closely linked to age. There is a real need to solve this problem before it becomes an impossible burden for the economy to carry. The Centre for Doctoral Training in Neurotechnology for Life and Health will train a unique cadre of multidisciplinary researchers, who will combine an understanding of their neuroscience problem with skills in technology development, to make groundbreaking advances in our ability to treat brain disorders and to improve the quality of life and health in the UK. There is a strong need for such a pool of researchers in the UK now. Advances in treatments for brain disorders have to date relied largely upon a purely pharmaceutical approach, however the development of completely new drugs has slowed to a trickle as we have run into the "wall of complexity" where the cost of finding new drugs which do not have intolerable side effects becomes insurmountable. "High throughput" approaches have only pushed this wall back a year or two - as Peter Mueller of Vertex commented to us, "we need to shift our thinking from high throughput to high content". Our industry partners have emphasized to us that a new, engineering-driven approach is needed, to develop new solutions for uncovering that content. A key driver behind the development of this CDT bid has been the need for PhD level graduates with a multidisciplinary training, who bring with them both a detailed understanding of a translational neuroscience question, and the strong background in technology development needed to develop solutions. Our industry partners have all emphasized that the lack of availability of such researchers is currently a major limiting factor in their development prospects. By addressing this skills shortage, the CDT will have a major long-term impact on our ability to intervene in brain disorders, enhancing both academic and industrial research efforts to find solutions. "There is an unmet requirement for PhD graduates with a combined expertise in engineering and neuroscience and the proposed CDT in Neurotechnology will help to address this shortage" Jonas Gårding, Research & Physics Director Neuroscience, Elekta Instrument AB "The program that you propose to develop at the interface of neuroscience and engineering will produce PhD graduates with the potential to make major contributions to our research objectives" Kris Famm, PhD, VP Bioelectronics R&D, GlaxoSmithKline "We believe that the research conducted at the centre will have the potential to have a significant impact on the Parkinson's research field and ultimately on the lives of Parkinson's patients" Dr Kieran Breen, Director of Research and Innovation, Parkinson's UK.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know