Disappearing Morals: How Genetics Shape Our Minds

What would you do if your brain could no longer tell right from wrong? Imagine not understanding the consequences of your actions. For some people living with frontotemporal dementia this is reality and they behave in a way they wouldn’t have previously dreamt of. This talk will explain why these changes occur and how individuals try to cope with these difficult behaviours.

Imagine your parent is diagnosed with dementia where their personality and behaviour slowly deteriorate. Then you find out it runs in the family, and you have a 50% chance of the same fate. Would you want to know if you carry the faulty gene? This talk will touch on the trials and tribulations of genetic dementia and the science behind the breakthroughs.

Jon is a Professor of Neurology at the Dementia Research Centre in the Queen Square UCL Institute of Neurology and a Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. He is the principal investigator for an international multi-centre study of pre-symptomatic genetic Frontotemporal Dementia.

Liam’s work focuses on developing diffuse optical tomography methods to enable network connectivity to be studied in awake babies. Liam finished his PhD in 2021, which sought to advance methods using fNIRS & structural data to image longitudinal changes in activation in the baby brain. Outside of academia, Liam is the National Coordinator of Student for Kids International Projects (SKIP, https://www.skipkids.org.uk/), a charity run by students and young professionals which aims to improve the health, welfare and education of children through partnerships with community organisations overseas.