Research Areas

Medical Sciences Division Themes

• Neuroscience

Group Members

• Dr Mara Almeida, Postdoctoral Researcher
• Dr Zameel Cader, Postdoctoral Researcher
• Dr Dirk Baumer, Graduate Student
• William Motley, Graduate Student
• Jennifer Schymick, Graduate Student
• Alice Kwok, Graduate Student

Collaborators

• Professor Kay Davies, MRC FGU
• Professor David Stammers, Wellcome Trust Centre for Genetics, Oxford
• Dr Tony Antonellis, National Institutes of Health
• Professor Kurt Fishbeck, National Institutes of Health
• Dr Bryan Traynor, National Institutes of Health
• Dr Tom Gillingwater, University of Edinburgh
• Professor Elizabeth Fisher, University College London

Kevin Talbot qualified in Medicine from Imperial College in London in 1990 and trained as a clinical neurologist in London and Oxford. As an MRC Clinical Training Fellow, he gained a DPhil in the Department of Biochemistry in Oxford working on the molecular genetics of Spinal Muscular Atrophy under the supervision of Professor Kay Davies. Subsequently he became Clinical Lecturer in Clinical Neurology. He joined the Anatomy Department in 2001 and established a group studying the molecular basis of motor neuron degeneration. He is a Consultant Neurologist in the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, and Senior Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Clinical Neurology  and Director of the Oxford Motor Neuron Disease Care and Research Centre (http://plone3.medsci.ox.ac.uk/mndcentre). He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, sits on the Editorial Board of the journal Neuropatholgy and Applied Neurobiology,  is a member of the Research Advisory Panel of the Motor Neuron Disease Association and Honorary Research Director of the Jennifer Trust for SMA.

His research interests focus on the molecular basis of motor neuron survival. Patients with mutations in a number of different genes can suffer from progressive motor neuron degeneration leading to weakness and wasting of voluntary muscle. The commonest and most debilitating of these diseases is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is relentlessly progressive and fatal on average 3 years after onset. The key question for our research is why mutations in genes which are expressed in every cell in the body result in specific and selective degeneration of motor neurons. Using primary neuronal cell culture systems his group has explored the effect of mutant small heat shock protein on axonal function. Mutations in the gene for glycyl tRNA synthetase lead to another form of lower motor neuron degeneration. He is using a combination of structural, biochemical and cellular studies to understand why mutations in a ‘house-keeping’ gene expressed in all cells lead to specific neuronal degeneration. The aim of this work is to identify targets for drug therapy in neurodegenerative diseases which are currently untreatable.