On March 2nd, 2020, David Lyons gave his inaugural lecture as Professor of Neurobiology, titled “Brainworks: how are brains formed and how should we treat them”.
The human brain represents the most complex organisation of matter in our known universe. Therefore, understanding how it is formed, how it functions, and how we might treat it remain enormous challenges for the global research community. Given the burden to our society of neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and mental health disorders, these challenges need to be addressed.
In his inaugural lecture Professor David Lyons discussed how understanding the fundamental dynamic biological mechanisms and principles that underpin brain formation, function and adaptation provide insights that help us understand its malformation, dysfunction and disease. Professor Lyons showed that it is now possible to directly observe the brain in both health and disease using simple laboratory models. Professor Lyons also explained why his laboratory uses the small transparent zebrafish as a model, and how their work aims to help find treatments for conditions of the nervous system, including multiple sclerosis (MS).