A Letter in Mind 2017

Please share your Sense of Place with us!
The National Brain Appeal’s fundraising art exhibition, A Letter in Mind, returns for the fourth year. Whether you’re an artist, illustrator, designer or just love being creative, we’d love have you on board. Using the starting point of a simple envelope, our theme this year is ‘A Sense of Place’ and as ever, we are extremely excited to see your visual responses. The exhibition will be held at gallery@oxo from 28 September to 1 Oct 2017.

"We're delighted that Grayson Perry is supporting our fundraising art exhibition for the fourth year"
Eva Tait, curator, A Letter In Mind

Artworks will be on sale anonymously at the exhibition for £85 each – and artists’ names will be revealed once the piece has sold. To take part and see your work on display at Oxo Tower Wharf, you simply need to register (see below) by 30 June 2017.

A new approach?

A study is about to start in Queen Square that will look at the effect of gut bacteria on neurodegenerative diseases. A team from The Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre, run jointly by The National Hospital and The Institute of Neurology, are hoping this could lead to a new era in the treatment of many neurological conditions.

Using the latest imaging methods the research will assess whether these changes in gut bacteria can influence the 'microglia' cells in the brain that control inflammation and appear to be central in MND and other diseases like Alzheimer’s. The team believes the microglia may be able to protect the motor neurones early in MND and thereby slow its progression.

Lead researcher, Dr Sharma, says: “It's remarkable that there is a two-way conversation between gut flora and cells in the brain. We will examine whether changing the gut flora could slow progression in patients. This could fundamentally change our approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases.”