A PROJECT to investigate an incurable neurological condition that causes painful muscle spasms has been given a £30,000 funding boost.

Dr Tom Gilbertson, a Clinical Lecturer in Neurology at the University of Dundee, has been given the money to carry out research into dystonia, which affects around 70,000 people in the UK.

Those with the condition experience difficulties with movement such as eating and talking, while everyday tasks such as writing, reading and sometimes even sitting upcan me made difficult and painful.

The grant, awarded by the Dystonia Society, will fund a behavioural and imaging study in dystonic patients. Data from this project will then be used to support further applications for larger scale grants from major funders to develop new treatment approaches.

Dr Gilbertson said, “The aim of our study is to apply recent advances in understanding the role of striatal dopamine in order to generate new insights into the basic biology of the disease.

"We will use functional magnetic resonance imaging to see what is going on in the brains of people with dystonia and detailed computational modelling of the role of dopamine in the selection of muscles for movement - a task in which the striatum has an important role.”

Dr Gilbertson’s project was one of 11 funding applications reviewed by a panel of neurologists and the Dystonia Society’s Research Committee.

Peter Meager, a Trustee of the Dystonia Society, said, “Dr Gilbertson’s project came out as the one being most likely to further the Dystonia Society’s aims of improving treatments for people with the many forms of this illness and, hopefully, leading towards an eventual cure.”