Professor Mary Collins (Chebib)

Professor Collins is the Interim Associate Dean for Research at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, and a member of the Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation. Her project aims to better understand how genetic changes in important brain proteins contribute to conditions like autism and other developmental disorders. By using advanced lab tests and growing 3D brain cell models, the team hopes to uncover how these changes affect brain development, helping to connect lab research with real-world clinical care.

Dr Carol Dobson-Stone

Dr Dobson-Stone is the Co-Founder of the Social Functioning Modelling research team, as well as a member of the Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation. Her project aims to improve diagnosis and understanding of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) by integrating genomic, lipidomic, and neuroimaging data from the FRONTIER research clinic cohort to identify biomarkers linked to genetic mutations and white matter degeneration. It also investigates the genetic overlap between atypical behavioral variant FTD and autism spectrum disorder to distinguish between these conditions and explore shared biological mechanisms.

Dr Sicong Tu

Dr Tu is a Lenity Senior Research Fellow and the Co-Founder of the Neurotherapeutic Innovations research team. His project aims to better understand why brain cells become overactive in motor neuron disease (MND), a serious condition that affects movement and leads to progressive paralysis. Researchers will use lab-grown brain cell models (cortical organoids) to study how a key disease protein, TDP-43, affects the balance between brain signals that activate or calm down nerve cells. By combining advanced imaging and electrical recording techniques, the team hopes to uncover how this imbalance develops over time, which could lead to better ways to detect and treat MND in the future.