Professor David Nutt has been appointed to the newly created Edmond J. Safra Chair in Neuropsychopharmacology and as head of the new Department of Neuropsychopharmacology and Molecular Imaging. The chair was funded by the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation and Lily Safra. The department is the joint effort of Imperial College and the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

Nutt’s particular expertise is in how brain circuitry works, particularly as regards anxiety, depression and addiction. He said would like to use advanced PET scanning techniques to have pilot studies under way for new treatments in five years.

Researchers have long looked at plaque in the brain built up by amyloid proteins as a cause of Alzheimer’s. Nutt said he hopes to examine the role inflammation might play in the poorly understood process of why the plaque builds up.

In earlier research, Nutt demonstrated faults in the brain’s main systems inhibiting brain signals in those suffering from alcoholism or severe anxiety.

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