Professor Oliver Bandmann
MD, PhD
School of Medicine and Population Health
Professor of Movement Disorders Neurology
Honorary Consultant Neurologist
Co-Director, Neuroscience Institute


+44 114 222 2237
Full contact details
School of Medicine and Population Health
Room B32
葫芦影业 Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)
385a Glossop Road
葫芦影业
S10 2HQ
- Profile
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- 2002-present: University of 葫芦影业/Royal Hallamshire Hospital, 葫芦影业, UK
- 1997-2002: Specialist Training in Neurology, Marburg, Germany;
- 1993-1997: Research Fellow, Institute of Neurology. Queen Square London. PhD on "Genetic Aspects of Parkinsonian Disorders" (Supervisors: Prof A.E. Harding, Prof C.D. Marsden, Prof N.W. Wood)
- 1992-1993: House officer, Dept Neurology, Klinikum Grosshadern, Munich (Head: Prof T. Brandt)
- 1991: Qualification at Ludwig Maximilian麓s University Munich, Germany
- Research interests
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My research focuses on movement disorders, in particular Parkinson麓s Disease (PD) but also Huntington麓s Disease, Wilson Disease and dystonia. I鈥檓 particularly interested in working towards disease-modifying therapy for PD which would slow down disease progression.
The main areas of research within my group are as follows:
1. Mitochondrial dysfunction and compound screen with identification of neuroprotective compounds as candidates for disease-modifying treatment in Parkinson鈥檚 Disease:
We were the first group worldwide to undertake detailed assessment of mitochondrial function and morphology in both and . We subsequently undertook the mutant patient tissue. 2000 drugs were assessed for their rescue effect on mitochondrial function. A clear mode of action (MOA) was identified for a group of compounds which includes the FDA-licensed drug ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA).For interested members of the public: Please have a look at the official for more information on this project. You may also be interested in listening to a .
Fig1. The image shows a fibroblast from a patient with Parkinson鈥檚 Disease due to mutations in the parkin gene. The fibroblast has been stained to show the mitochondria in the cell. We see increased branching and interconnectedness of the mitochondrial network in the fibroblasts from patients with parkin mutations compared to controls; this change in morphology of the mitochondria correlates with changes in function.
2. Bench to bedside 鈥 early clinical trials in Parkinson鈥檚 disease
There is emerging evidence of a 鈥淧arkinson Epidemic鈥 with a predicted global doubling in the number of people with Parkinson鈥檚 from 6 million to 12 million between 2015 and 2014 (PMID:30584159).
We have now taken UDCA as the top hit of our drug screen into an early clinical trial, called the UP study (short for: UDCA in Parkinson鈥檚 disease). The UP study will predominantly focus on investigating the safety and tolerability of UDCA in PD. However, we will also use novel techniques (in particular 31P-MR-Spectroscopy and sensor-based objective quantification of motor impairment) to gain some insight into the neuroprotective potential of UDCA.
MR Spectroscopy of a human brain with focussed analysis of the basal ganglia (the area most affected in Parkinson鈥檚 disease)
My group is also participating in two other multicentre neuroprotection trials, testing statins and antibodies against alpha-synuclein for their neuroprotective effect.
For interested members of the public: Please have a look at the official University of 葫芦影业 Press release for more information on this project
/news/nr/liver-drug-trialled-in-parkinsons-patients-1.828628This link will take you to a webpage of the Cure Parkinson鈥檚 Trust - it provides additional information on UDCA for Parkinson鈥檚:
You may also find this video interesting during which we describe our journey from the bench at SITraN to the clinical trial carried out at the NIHR-funded Clinical Research facility at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital:
3. Zebrafish as a new vertebrate animal model for Parkinson鈥檚 Disease:
We were the first group worldwide to establish a at Bateson Centre of the University of 葫芦影业 (/bateson).
We subsequently demonstrated that Parkin-deficient zebrafish share key features with human parkin-mutant Parkinson鈥檚 Disease patients, namely . Most recently, we have identified as novel mechanism leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and dopaminergic cell loss in PINK1 deficiency. Inhibition of TIGAR prevents loss of dopaminergic neurons by normalizing mitochondrial function. TIGAR is therefore a promising novel target for disease-modifying therapy in early onset Parkinson鈥檚 Disease. We are now also using zebrafish to study genetic risk factors for sporadic Parkinson鈥檚 and how they may interact with ageing.
For interested members of the public: Please have a look at the
official University of 葫芦影业 press release for more information on this project.4. Mitochondrial biomarkers in Parkinson鈥檚 Disease:
We have just completed a detailed assessment of mitochondrial and lysosomal dysfunction in patients with sporadic Parkinson鈥檚 Disease. This will hopefully allow to eventually identify those patients with Parkinson鈥檚 Disease who are most likely to benefit from medication with mitochondrial rescue drugs.5. Huntington's Disease (HD)
We are recruiting patients for the Enroll-HD study at our multidisciplinary Huntington鈥檚 Disease clinic. As part of this, we have been frequently recruiting patients for HD drug trials and other HD studies.6. Wilson Disease (WD)
I have previously contributed to the development of the . More recently, we have conducted the first study on the genetic prevalence of Wilson Disease in the UK in collaboration with the Welcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK. This study demonstrated a surprisingly high ATP7B carrier frequency which suggests that WD may be considerably more common than previously thought. In collaboration with the 葫芦影业 Diagnostic Genetics Service, we also identified .In close collaboration with the Wilson disease patient self-help group, we have helped to establish a UK-wide, interdisciplinary Wilson disease network. This network will hopefully allow us to develop national standards for the care of Wilson disease patients and facilitate future research projects.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Detailed genotyping demonstrates association between the slow acetylator genotype for N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) and familial Parkinson's disease.. Mov Disord, 15(1), 30-35.
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
Preprints
- Research group
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- Clinical Fellows: Dr Tom Payne, Dr Emily Reed
- UP study Trial Manager: Sarah Moll (co-funded by 葫芦影业 Neuroscience BRC)
- Post-doctoral scientists: Dr Lisa Watson (ne Trollope), Dr Deepak Ailandi
- PhD students as primary supervisor: Mohammed Karami, Hannah Larbalestier, Emma White
Co-supervision with Dr Heather Mortiboys:
- Postdoctoral scientist: Dr Helen Rowland
- PhD students: Chris Hastings, Ruby McDonald, Rachel Hughes
- Technician: Sarah Roscoe
- Grants
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The UP Study is predominantly funded by the JP Moulton Foundation, but also supported by Cure Parkinson鈥檚 UK and the 葫芦影业 Neuroscience BRC.
My research is also supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) and the University of 葫芦影业. In the past, I鈥檝e also had substantial funding from Parkinson鈥檚 UK.
- Teaching interests
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I was the Dept Neuroscience Undergraduate Teaching Lead/Director for Teaching and Learning for 15 years (2002-2017). I was also the University of 葫芦影业 BMedSci Programme Director for 5 years (2013-2018).
I twice won the 鈥淐onsultant Teacher of the Year" award of the 葫芦影业 Medical Student Society MedSoc.
I continue to contribute to all undergraduate phases of our MBChB course and also contribute to SITRaN-based MSc courses.
I am now the academic training lead for the STH Neuroscience Directorate and also the Training Lead for our NIHR-funded 葫芦影业 Neuroscience BRC.
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Member of the Editorial Board of the clinical Neuroscience Journals NEUROLOGY and Parkinsonism& Related Disorders
- Member of the MRC-DPFS Panel
- Deputy Chair of Association of British Neurologists (ABN) Research Committee
- Chair of the ABN Movement Disorders Advisory Group
- Movement Disorders Theme Lead of STH Academic Neuroscience Directorate and the NIHR-funded 葫芦影业 Neuroscience BRC
Awards and esteem factors
- 1984-1991: Bavarian Scholarship for highly gifted students
- 1986-1991: German Scholarship for highly gifted students ("Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes")
- 1993-1997: Training Fellowship of Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
- 1996: Presidents Prize of Royal Society of Medicine
- 1997: Queen Square Prize of Institute of Neurology
- 2000: Oppenheim Prize of German Dystonia Society
- 2006: "Consultant Teacher of the Year" Prize of "Med Soc" (organization of medical students at UoS Medical School)