Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi  MB ChB PhD FRCP DipStat
Professor of Neurology and Complex Disease Genetics
Honorary Consultant Neurologist, King's College Hospital

Director, King's MND Care and Research Centre

Instructor in Genetics of Complex Human Diseases, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY

biography

Ammar Al-Chalabi graduated from Leicester University Medical School in 1989, achieving two distinctions, merit, and three prizes. He came to King’s in 1994 as a clinician scientist working with Professor Leigh, studying genetic risk factors in motor neuron disease. He was awarded an MRC Clinical Training Fellowship in 1995. He obtained his PhD in 1999 and won a prestigious international award for outstanding research in the field of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (motor neuron disease), The Charcot Young Investigator Prize. In 2000 he was awarded an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship. He became Professor of Neurology and Complex Disease Genetics in 2008 and is now Director of the King’s MND Care and Research Centre.

activities and interests

Motor Neuron Disease/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis as a Complex Genetic Disease

TEAM: Alexey Shatunov: Post-doctoral Scientist, Ashley Jones: MRC PhD Student, Farzana Shah: Laboratory Technician, Kirsten Scott: F2A Fellow, Ricardo Rojas: Visiting Clinical Fellow, Bunmi Abel: Computer Scientist

Our group uses various methods to study the genetics of motor neuron disease/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We aim to find genes that make people susceptible to motor neuron disease, as well as genes that might affect age of onset or how aggressive the disease is.

Clinical Trials in ALS/MND

TEAM: Carlos Guevara: Clinical researcher, Marie Thornhill: Trials administrator, Andrew Dougherty, DeNDRoN Nurse

Motor Neuron Disease/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Epidemiology and Clinical Features

TEAM: Sarah Chapman: MND Specialist Nurse, Catherine Knights: Motor Nerve Clinic Coordinator, Kirsten Scott: Clinical researcher, Will Scotton: Clinical researcher

We have maintained a clinical database of patients attending the King’s Motor Nerve Clinic since 1994, and a population register of ALS for patients in the Lambeth-Southwark-Lewisham (LSL) catchment area for which we now have nine years of data. We run the South East ALS Register (SEALS Register). Our group is part of the EURALS ALS epidemiology consortium (Europe) and the ACES epidemiology conosrtium (USA).

UK Motor Neuron Disease DNA Bank (Sponsored by MNDA and Wellcome Trust)

TEAM (KCL): Barbara Coote, DNA Bank Nurse.
The MNDA DNA Bank is a national project aiming to collect DNA and clinical data from people with ALS/MND and unaffected controls over an eight year period. Samples and data are available to the research community through a Management Committee.

UK MNDA Epidemiology Study

ROLE: Lead Investigator.
This study is a case-control questionnaire to identify lifestyle risk factors that contribute to the development of motor neuron disease.

Natural History and Neuroprotection in Parkinson’s Plus Syndromes (NNIPPS) Study

ROLE: Genetics Technical Committee Member

Research into the genetics of Parkinson’s Plus Syndromes.

Bioinformatics

TEAM: John Powell: Co-investigator, Olubunmi Abel: Computer Scientist

Development of bioinformatics tools for genetic analysis including those at CoGeNT.

The ALS Online Database (ALSoD)

Go to ALSoD now!

Collaborations

We have collaborations with colleagues in the UK (Guthrie Lab - KCL, Martin Lab - UCL, Fisher Lab - UCL, Garson Lab - UCL, Tobin Lab - Leicester, Shaw Lab - Sheffield, Morrison Lab - Birmingham) and internationally (Silani Lab - Milan, Robberecht Lab - Leuven, van den Berg Lab - Utrecht, Bensimon Lab - Paris, Brown Lab - Boston)

teaching activities

MRC Masterclass - Frontiers in Neurodegeneration Research

Role: Course organiser

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Course in Complex Disease Genetics

Programme Leader and Course Instructor

European ALS Young Investigator Meeting, London 2010

Role: Organiser

Wellcome Trust Masterclass - Controversies in motor neuron disease research and practice

Course organiser

Medical Student Teaching

Outpatient and ward-based teaching.

MSc Clinical Neuroscience

Module Leader, Module 1. Chair of Examination Board.

PhD in Clinical Neuroscience

Supervisor. Please note, PhD studentships depend on successful funding.

publications

last updated: Wednesday, April 07, 2010