The Brain Podcast

Welcome to the 36th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with senior author Dr Carsten Finke of the Brain article entitled: Brain atrophy patterns in anti-IgLON5 disease We discuss a fascinating article which examines clinical and imaging data related to anti-Iglon5 disease. This valuable contribution to our understanding of this rare disease comprises data collected across multiple sites. Results identified distinct atrophy patterns in anti-IgLON5 disease, which closely mirror sites of pathophysiologic processes, including autoantibody binding and tau deposition. Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the March 2026 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf256 This episode was co-hosted, edited and produced by Michael and Adam Handel, co-produced by Xin You Tai and Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 34th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with first author Dr Lorenzo Pini of the Brain article entitled: Brain connectivity as a new target for Alzheimer's disease therapy? We discuss a fascinating review into the literature examing brain connectivity in Alzheimer's disease as a biomarker for symptom progression, diagnosis and monitoring response to treatment. Further, they discuss whether brain stimulation to target connectivity may have therapeutic opportunities. The article also features a discussion around digital twins to facilitate Alzheimer's research - well worth a read! Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the Feb 2026 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf404 This episode was co-hosted, edited and produced by Michael and Adam Handel, co-produced by Xin You Tai and Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 32th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with first author Dr Philipp J Koch of the Brain article entitled: Neurotransmitter-informed connectivity maps and their application for outcome inference after stroke We discuss a fascinating method to map neurotransmitter-informed brain network maps. From here, the authors examine two separate stroke cohorts and examine the degree of lesion-related disruption of these neurotransmitter connectomes. Of note, disproportionately high damage to dopamine-transporter–weighted networks consistently predicted worse functional recovery. This may lead to exciting therapeutic avenues. Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the November 2025 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf185 This episode was co-hosted, edited and produced by Michael and Adam Handel, co-produced by Xin You Tai and Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 30th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with senior author Professor Gabor G Kovacs of the Brain article entitled: Midbrain cytotoxic T cells as a distinct neuropathological feature of progressive supranuclear palsy Listen to the fascinating insights exploring the autoimmune side of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) following identification of cytotoxic T cells within the mid-brain of PSP post-mortem tissue. The pattern of T cells appears to follow both temporal progression of underlying PSP and may also relate to rate of disease progression. Professor Kovacs discusses potential autoimmune treatment in a neurodegenerative disorder, such as PSP, and others. Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the August 2025 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf135 This episode was co-hosted, edited and produced by David Michael and Adam Handel, co-produced by Xin You Tai and Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 28th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with three authors of the Brain article entitled: The relationship between kidney health and neurodegenerative diseases Ms Melody Zuo, Dr Le Chang and Professor Sarah A Gagliano Taliun grace the Brain podcast with an insightful discussion into their recent review examining the connection between kidney disease and neurogeneration. They describe the critical microvascular connection as well as the role of uraemia and small molecules like erythropoetin. Additonally, methodological issues around survival bias, the use of mendelian randomisation and the importance of metadata in the growing age of large available datasets. Check out the full article on the Brain website and will be part of the August 2025 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf113 This episode was co-hosted, edited and produced by Chaitra Sathyaprakash and Andreas Thermistocleous, edited and produced by Chaitra and Xin You Tai, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 26th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with first author Dr Marios Kritsilis and senior author Associate Professor Iben Lundgaard of the Brain article entitled: Loss of glymphatic homeostasis in heart failure This academic duo from Lund University discuss their fascinating findings exploring glymphatic homeostasis in a mouse model of heart failure. Counter-intuitively, there may be more influx but not efflux associated with reduced ejection fraction. This has interesting implications on heart failure associated cognitive changes and risk of developing dementia. Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the March 2025 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae411 This episode was co-hosted, edited and produced by Xin You Tai and Roberto Bellanti, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the first episode of 2025 for The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with senior author Dr Frank Porreca of the Brain article entitled: Nociceptors are functionally male or female: from mouse to monkey to man? Dr Porreca discusses important findings into the sexual dimorphic nature of nociception and how it could and indeed should affect clinical trial participant design, precision medicine and need for more sex specific studies to unravel the regulation of pain nociception in male and female individuals. Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the December 2024 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae179 This episode was co-hosted by Chaitra Sathyaprakash and Andreas Thermistocleous, edited and produced by Chaitra and Xin You Tai, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 22nd episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with senior author Dr Torsten Baldeweg of the Brain article entitled: Long-term neuropsychological trajectories in children with epilepsy: does surgery halt decline? Dr Baldeweg discusses fascinating insight into the long term cognitive outcomes from an impressively large cohort of 500 children who had undergone epilepsy surgery and neuropsychological assessment at Great Ormond Street Hospital (1990–2018). Their findings suggest that there are long term cognitive benefits from epilepsy surgery by preventing firther seizures. This has important clinical implications on the importance of achieving seizure freedom for our patients and the role of surgery in this regard. The Brain podcast team is very happy to introduce a new co-host Dr Roberto Bellanti in this episode and to the team! Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the August 2024 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae121 This episode was co-hosted by Michael David and Roberto Bellanti, edited and produced by Chaitra and Xin You Tai, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 20th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with the final author Dr Jun Li of the Brain article entitled: PAK2 is necessary for myelination in the peripheral nervous system How are peripheral nerve cells myelinated and what proteins are invoved? Is there a difference between PAK1 and PAK2? Listen for this and more in this exciting episode. Check out the full article on the Brain website: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awad413 This episode was co-hosted by Andreas Thermistocleous and David Michael, edited and produced by David and Xin You Tai, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 17th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. This episode features a discussion with senior author Dr Bénédicte Ballanger of the Brain article entitled: Noradrenergic alterations in Parkinson's disease: a combined 11C-yohimbine PET/neuromelanin MRI study Can this multi-modal study examining the role of Noradrenaline in Parkinson's disease offer insight into important neurotrasmitter pathophysiology and provide the basis for a non-dopamine therapeutic strategy? Check out the full article on the Brain website: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awad338 This episode was co-hosted by Andreas Themistocleous and Michael David, edited and produced by Michael David and Xin You Tai, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 15th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. We are very excited to feature our first article from Brain Communications, where we speak with first author Dr Kiel Telesford of the article entitled: Neuron-binding antibody responses are associated with Black ethnicity in multiple sclerosis during natalizumab treatment This episode discussed racial differences in antibody response to natalizumab treatment for individuals of black ethnicity with multiple sclerosis. Further, they consider potential mechanisms which may underly differences and the implications on treatment. Check out the full article on the Brain Communications website: https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcad218 This episode was co-hosted by Andreas Themistocleous and Debra Ehrlich, edited and produced by Michael David and Xin You Tai, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 13th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. In this episode we speak with Josef Parvizi, senior author of the article entitled: Multisite thalamic recordings to characterize seizure propagation in the human brain This article explores the role of the thalamus in seizure propagation and how multi-site intracranial electrode recordings identify new and unexpected findings regarding which thalamic nuclei may have the earliest involvement in seizure propagation. Check out the full article on the Brain website: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awad121 This episode was co-hosted by Debra Ehrlich and Andreas Thermistocleous, edited and produced by Xin You Tai and David Michael, co-produced by Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.

Welcome to the 11th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications. In this episode we speak with Ted Price, senior author of the article entitled: RNA profiling of human dorsal root ganglia (DRG) reveals sex differences in mechanisms promoting neuropathic pain This article explores exciting findings around differences in the DRG transcriptome which were only apparent when stratifying participants by sex and how these differences may inform mechanistic targets for neuropathic pain. Check out the full article on the Brain website: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awac266 This episode was co-hosted by Andreas Thermistocleous and Debra Ehrlich, edited and produced by Xin You Tai; co-produced by Antonia Johnston and David Michael; original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.