The Medical Research Council have awarded a grant of £527,000 to Professor Stephen Jackson (University of Nottingham School of Psychology), Professor Georgina Jackson (Institute of Mental Health/University of Nottingham School of Medicine), and Matthew Brookes, Penny Gowland, and Richard Bowtell (all University of Nottingham School of Physics and Astronomy) to develop novel neuroimaging approaches to investigate the functional anatomy and physical processes that contribute to the urge to tic in Tourette Syndrome.

Tourette Syndrome is a neurological condition characterised by motor and vocal tics. Over 90% of people who are living with Tourette describe that their tics are preceded by 'premonitory sensory or urge phenomena'. These are described as uncomfortable bodily sensations that precede the execution of a tic and are experienced as a strong urge-to-tic. Importantly, individuals who experience these premonitory urges often report that they would not exhibit tics if they did not first experience the urges. For this reason, it has been proposed that the premonitory urges are the driving force behind the occurrence of tics.

The new MRC-funded project will investigate a more accurate and reliable way to identify functional brain activity that is associated with the occurrence of premonitory urges in circumstances where tics are effectively suppressed (i.e. there is no tic to use as an external timing event).

The research team will incorporate new approaches in neuroimaging scanning by utilising the wearable MEG (Magnetoencephalography) technology developed at the Sir Peter Mansfield Neuroimaging Centre at the University of Nottingham. Using wearable technology will increase the amount of data the team are able to collect from participants who are experiencing unwanted movements and tics while being scanned.

A key focus of the study will be to investigate the relationship between the parts of the brain that generate the urge-for-action, with those involved in initiating action.

Professor Georgina Jackson explained how this project will be unique:

 “We are very excited by this project as it allows us for the first time to investigate in detail how the communication between different brain areas leads to the occurrence of tics in Tourette syndrome. In addition, the novel technology developed at Nottingham by our colleagues in Physics will also allow us to study individuals who, because of their severe movement disorder, would be ‘unscannable’ using conventional brain scanning approaches”

The work leading up to this project was part of the “Neuromodulation and Neuroimaging’ programme which was funded by the mental health theme of the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre. The study will commence post Covid-19, access to laboratories and conducting face to face research with research volunteers can resume.