Professor of Neuroscience & Departmental Director of Research, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge

Professor Robin Franklin’s research focuses predominantly on the biological mechanisms of CNS regeneration and in particular on myelin repair (remyelination), a process in which new myelin sheaths are restored to demyelinated axons.

Recently, his lab has focused on the possibility of enhancing remyelination through stimulating endogenous population of adult stem cells. Over the last few years he has been at the forefront of studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms of remyelination and describing the mechanisms by which adult stem cells are recruited to areas of demyelination and the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that regulate their differentiation into remyelinating oligodendrocytes.

He is currently Director of the UK MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair, a consortium of Cambridge-based scientists and clinicians who are collectively working towards stem cell-based therapies for myelin repair and axon protection in myelin disorders, and Director of the Neural Stem Cell Programme within the SCI.