Edinburgh Neuroscience

01/04/2026

Breaking new ground in this landmark, staggering work of discovery science, the Spires-Jones lab have today published this seminal work on one the greatest mysteries of their scientific careers:

Spires-Jones and Tulloch conducted an experiment studying teaspoon pilfering from their departmental common room. They observed 66% of teaspoons disappeare

28/03/2026

🌟 Training the next generation of MND researchers 🌟
Over the past week, we have followed four Euan MacDonald Centre funded PhD students at different stages.

In this final article in the series, we look back and reflect on their journeys 👇
https://www.euanmacdonaldcentre.org/about/news/training-next-generation-mnd-researchers-reflections-funded-phd-journey
Edinburgh Neuroscience The University of Edinburgh University of St Andrews

26/03/2026

It's Purple Day! Discussing ion channels, the menstrual cycle, sleep, and genetic epilepsies, Lucy, Daniel, Tina and Jessica give us a glimpse of the diversity and complexities of this wide-ranging, multi-faceted disorder as well as approaches to treatment.

https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/edneuro/2026/03/26/purple-day-2026-highlighting-some-of-the-many-aspects-of-epilepsy-research-taking-place-at-edinburgh/

24/03/2026

Why do some people stay cognitively sharp in later life while others decline? Come and hear Simon Cox deliver his inaugural lecture where he will explore this very question. Free and open to the public. 1 April 2026 👇🏼

Fool’s Gold, Marginal Gains, and Magic Bullets (in neurocognitive ageing research)

20/03/2026

Saving the best Brain Awareness Week (BAW) post for last!! Martyna Stasiak made a successful proposal to official Brain Awareness Week funders which was awarded by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).

Her workshop was called, ‘Brains in the Making: Shaping How We See Epilepsy’. Combing art and neuroscience, the pupils made their own brains out of Play-Doh plasticine. Whilst formulating the brain stem all the way through the subcortical regions into the main lobes, they learned about how the brain works and how it relates to epilepsy.

In total, 6 classes of S1 pupils (approx. 180 12 year-olds) at Castlebrae Community Campus, Edinburgh, took part in this workshop. We are told it quickly became the talk of the school corridors!! Everyone wanted to go 😁 🧠 🏆 👩‍🏫 🙌

Martyna didn’t do this on her own of course. She was supported by a fanastic troop of helpers: Lucy Pritchard, Niamh McLaughlin, Melody Noella Sequeira, Rita Dargham, Nikoo Moradi, Lachin Balaneji and Lily Wang. Thanks to everyone who took part. 😍

18/03/2026

It’s BrainAwarenessWeek! Edinburgh Neuroscience was actually a trail blazer in championing brain awareness and public engagement with research. For many years our BAW events revolved around the theme, getBRAINY. That is, ‘get Busy Running Activities Inspiring Neuroscience in the Young’! 😍 It was a collection of workshops designed for school children. They explored, memory, emotions, balance, synapses & chemical communications, and protecting your noggin’. 🧠

Nowadays, promoting awareness is very much a core part of funded research activity. As one of the largest groupings of Neuroscientists in Europe, Edinburgh has a lot of brainy people working on outreach and engagement. And Edinburgh Neuroscience still boasts an excellent bank of resources for colleagues to borrow 😁

11/03/2026

Aiden's story brings to fore the cutting-edge research taking place on living human brain tissue in Edinburgh. The generosity of patients facing stark and often terrifying diagnoses is hard to overstate. This clip from CNN follows Aiden as he undergoes surgery for a brain tumour and donates excess brain tissue to a lab (a brief walk away) who are searching for a cure for Alzheimer's.

If this interests you, find out more by viewing the 2025 Edinburgh Neuroscience Christmas lecture where Paul Brennan and Claire Durrant (the Consultant Neurosurgeon and Researcher in the CNN video) discuss their collaboration in more depth as well as other disorders and diseases research benefiting from living human brain samples. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMRj6gJkbGU&t=12s

For the first time, researchers have been able to study how a living brain interacts with Alzheimer’s proteins in real time – and how parts of the brain are ...

10/03/2026

05/03/2026

Job alert!

📢We are recruiting! We’re looking for a recent graduate to join the team as a Research Practitioner based at the Anne Rowling Clinic.

This is a fantastic two-year role supporting clinical research into neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease Parkinson’s and dementias.

ℹ️Starting in August 2026, this position offers hands-on experience in patient recruitment, data management and clinical research governance, and is an ideal springboard for anyone aspiring to build a career in research, trial management or further study.
📝Apply via the University of Edinburgh job vacancies (ref 13755): https://edin.ac/46GCReh

Edinburgh Neuroscience

03/03/2026

🗣️Many parents struggle to communicate effectively with their child's school - whether it's writing emails, preparing for meetings, sharing issues at home or raising concerns without damaging relationships.

🚸The infographic below sums up what it means to be working in partnership with schools.

✅The focus is on what to say, how to say it, and how to stay focused on your child's needs, even in challenging situations such as masking at school, afterschool meltdowns, and school attendance anxiety.

If you would like to download this infographic, please follow the link here and scroll to the bottom of the page: https://epicthinklearn.com/resources-optin/

🌐Our next webinar is on the topic of Emotionally Based School Avoidance and will be hosted by expert Colette Longden on Monday 23rd March at 7.30pm.

🎟️If you would like to join in this webinar, please follow the link below to join our membership for the very reasonable price of £24.00/quarter: https://epicthinklearn.com/parents-join-epic/

03/03/2026

Breaking news from MND clinical trials 👇🏼

📢 MND-SMART has shared the stage 2 interim analysis results for amantadine.

Amantadine has NOT been shown to slow MND; we continue forward with determination and hope.

Read our full news article here 👉https://www.euanmacdonaldcentre.org/about/news/mnd-smart-amantadine-stage-2-interim-analysis-results

Edinburgh Neuroscience
University of Edinburgh