New publication alert!

The lab has a new paper punished today. Motivated by our observation that Lewy body abundance can vary widely between individuals with similar trajectories of cognitive decline, we sought to quantify whether the density of Lewy bodies in the brain is associated with loss of brain cells or synapses, the junctions between brain cells. Although Lewy bodies are widely thought to damage and kill brain cells and synapses, we found that there was no association whatsoever between the number of Lewy bodies and loss of brain cells or synapses, challenging the idea that Lewy bodies cause LBD.

For many in the lab, this was their first publication. It is a testament to their hard work that this study has been published, especially Jade and Eddie, who did most of the analysis.

A link to the manuscript, which is open access, can be found here: Lewy Bodies Are Not Associated With Neuronal or Synaptic Loss in Dementia With Lewy Bodies - Hawksworth - 2026 - Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology - Wiley Online Library

Last modified: Thu, 11 Jun 2026 16:40:25 BST