Why do our brains work the way they do? How are they built from cells as we develop? What happens to them as we age? How could neuroscience help with diseases such as dementia and conditions like chronic pain?
There are over 100 neuroscience labs at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, and these are just a handful of the questions they are trying to answer. In this podcast series, we sit down with researchers to discuss their latest research, from work on OCD to sleep in children.
Join us and learn a little bit more about how your brain works.
Publisher
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
Anaemia affects up to 37% of pregnant women worldwide,and efforts to reduce these numbers have stagnated. But how does anaemia in pregnancy impact the developing baby? And what can be done to help?
Jessica Ringshaw, Research Fellow in PaediatricNeuroimaging, speaks to Dr Francesca Greenstreet about her latest research into the effect of anaemia around the time of pregnancy on the size of different parts of babies’ brains. She speaks about why pregnant women are particularly atrisk of anaemia and what can be done to help.
During her PhD at the University of Cape Town, Jessicafollowed babies and their mothers up to a year after birth, taking brain scans to see how the babies’ brains developed. She also used a special type of scanner that makes reaching communities most effected by anaemia easier.
Through a Wellcome Trust International Training Fellowship, she had opportunity to collaborate with Professor Steve Williams at King’s College London. She also received a Wellcome Trust Research Enrichment Grant, which sheused to fund public engagement work in the community.
Her research has been featured by The Guardian and BBCWorld Service. More information about the study and her public engagement projects can be found here:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/anaemia-in-pregnancy-linked-to-differences-in-babies-brain-development-study-finds (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/anaemia-in-pregnancy-linked-to-differences-in-babies-brain-development-study-finds)
29 Jul 2026
How to build a virtual reality for fish
Looking at how neurons change during development is one thing, but how can we know if these changes affect behaviour?
To answer this, Dr Phoebe Reynolds (former PhD student at King’s), built a virtual reality setup for zebrafish, letting her see if the changes she measured in neurons influenced how the fish behave.
In this episode of Inside Neuroscience, Dr Phoebe Reynolds joins Dr Francesca Greenstreet to talk about what exactly a virtual reality for fish looks like, and the collaboration this project sparked between King’s College London and the University of Konstanz.
To hear more about the study mentioned in the episode, check out the previous episode with Professor Robert Hindges, or read about it here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/virtual-reality-study-with-zebrafish-shows-surroundings-influence-developing-biology-of-the-eye (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/virtual-reality-study-with-zebrafish-shows-surroundings-influence-developing-biology-of-the-eye)
23 Jun 2026
How do early experiences shape how the eye develops?
Does what the eye sees in the first few days of life influence how it processes information later on? A new study from Reynolds et al., reveals that in developing zebrafish, growing up in horizontal or vertical stripey ‘worlds’ can drastically affect how neurons in the eye function and even change the shape of neurons in the retina.
Professor Robert Hindges, senior author on the study, discusses the results of the study with Dr Francesca Greenstreet, and what these findings may mean for our understanding of brain development.
Notes: In this episode Professor Hindges mentions the Müller Lyer illusion, an optical illusion where lines of the same length appear to many to be of different length.
More information about the study, alongside a video showing images from the virtual reality can be found at www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/news
19 Mar 2026
How is compulsivity related to uncertainty?
Compulsive traits are tendencies to repeat patterned behaviours. They are often seen in psychiatric conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), addiction and eating disorders. But what drives compulsive traits?
In this episode, Dr Toby Wise, Senior Research Fellow in Neuroscience at King's College London, talks about a new study which used an online video game played by 2,000 people to examine the relationship between compulsive traits and different types of decision making.
Dr Wise talks to School Communications Manager Dr Francesca Greenstreet about how he used the video game, combined with some complex maths, to tease apart habitual strategies from more goal-oriented ones and what this means for our understanding of compulsivity.
Read more about the study: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/compulsive-traits-linked-to-uncertainty-over-future-plans
Learn more about the School of Neuroscience at King's College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/neuroscience
12 Mar 2026
Can apps help children with epilepsy sleep?
Sleep problems affect more than 80% of children with neurodevelopmental disorders including epilepsy. Children who sleep poorly can have problems with learning and behaviour. It can also have a knock-on effect on the whole family’s sleep.
Professor Deb Pal, Professor of Paediatric Epilepsy at King’sCollege London, recently published the results of the CASTLEOnline Sleep Intervention study.
In the trial they investigated whether a web app could guide parents and children through a series of behavioural sleeptechniques, much like a specialist would in a clinic.
In this episode, Professor Pal sits down with School Communications Manager Dr Francesca Greenstreet to talk about what worked, what could be improved and why this type of research is so important.
More information about the results of the study: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/self-guided-behavioural-app-helps-children-with-epilepsy-sleep-earlier (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/self-guided-behavioural-app-helps-children-with-epilepsy-sleep-earlier)
Learn more about the School of Neuroscience at King's College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/neuroscience (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/neuroscience)
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