Lucy Wilde (pictured right), from the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders in the School of Psychology, has been awarded one of the first postdoctoral research training fellowships from the UK support group charity the Tuberous Sclerosis Association. The research, which will be based at the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, is led by Professor Chris Oliver and is in collaboration with Dr Joe McCleery from the University of Birmingham and Professor Petrus de Vries from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Tuberous Sclerosis Complex is a complex genetic condition which causes growths in various organs of the body. Other conditions associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex include epilepsy, intellectual disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Lucy Wilde receiving fellowship award

The £80,000 award will fund a research project titled ‘Challenging behaviour and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex’. These new fellowships have been developed as opportunities to train the next generation of researchers in the field of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. The research will employ innovative methods of assessing challenging behaviour and early indicators of autism in children with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.