Professor William Wisden appointed Centre Director of the UK DRI at Imperial

An Imperial expert focused on how brain cells communicate and regulate sleep will head up the leading dementia research hub.

Professor William (Bill) Wisden will take up the role at the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at Imperial in January 2025. He has been Interim Director since April 2024, when he succeeded Professor Paul Matthews who moved to the Rosalind Franklin Institute.

The UK DRI at Imperial aims to understand the impact of environment and lifestyle on the risk of developing dementia, which affects over 55 million people worldwide and is the seventh leading cause of death globally. The team takes a holistic approach to understanding neurodegenerative conditions, viewing the ageing brain in the context of the ageing body. Its researchers are studying individual cells through to whole systems, to unveil a new understanding of what can go wrong in the brain and increase the risk of developing dementia.

Imperial’s Faculty of Medicine also co-hosts the UK DRI Care Research & Technology Centre via its internationally recognised Department of Brain Sciences.

Of the announcement, Professor Wisden said: "I am delighted and honoured to take over the reins of the UK DRI at Imperial. I would also like to say a big thank you to Professor Paul Matthews who founded the Centre, for his dedication in bringing it to its current position. Our Centre is focused on how the environment influences the risk of dementia onset, and our researchers are working both in the community and in basic research to understand these risk factors. I look forward to working with colleagues in the Imperial Centre, and with the many other colleagues across the Institute, to help the Institute fulfil its mission."

Professor Wisden’s current research, which is based in Imperial’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, focuses on determining the impact of sleep on dementia, and whether good sleep is protective against developing dementia. There is mounting evidence that repeated sleep disturbances in healthy people could trigger or accelerate the onset of dementia. Together with Professor Nick Franks (also at Imperial), Professor Wisden and team (Franks-Wisden lab) are investigating how this occurs, and the effects of different types of sleep on enhancing cognition and clearance of toxic proteins.

Professor Wisden has over 30 years of experience in research, having established his first research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1993. He has contributed to core knowledge of how neurons communicate, and was at the centre of studies characterising gene families for GABA and glutamate receptors.

Professor Deborah Ashby, Dean of the Imperial’s Faculty of Medicine, said: “It is fantastic to see Bill, who is based across Imperial’s Faculties of Natural Sciences and Medicine, appointed to this position. His collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to science will continue to be a huge asset to the UKDRI Centre at Imperial at it strives to address one of humanity’s greatest health challenges.”

Professor Daniel Davis, Head of the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, said: “Professor Bill Wisden is hugely respected across the world for his own research discoveries, and he will be a wonderful and inspiring leader of this centre. Understanding dementia is a vital frontier of medical science for the 21st century."

Professor Siddharthan Chandran, UK DRI Director, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Professor Wisden as the new Centre Director for the UK DRI at Imperial. His remarkable contributions to neuroscience, and innovative research on the links between sleep and dementia align closely with the focus of the centre. I look forward to working with Bill to ensure the centre continues to play a vital role in the UK DRI through pioneering discoveries that bring hope to those affected by neurodegenerative conditions.”