Dr Laurence Knowles

I am a Clinical Research Fellow with the Neurodegeneration Imaging Group in Exeter. I work across the portfolio of NIG studies covering a range of neurodegenerative diseases, but have a particular interest in cognition in Parkinson's Disease and related disorders and the relationship between this and sleep impairment. My current work focuses on the role played by the "glymphatic system", a recently described CSF mediated system of waste clearance from the brain parenchyma which is active during slow-wave sleep, using genetic, fluid and imaging biomarkers alongside clinical assessments. 

I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge and completed my clinical training at Barts and the London Medical school in 2017. I gained full membership of the Royal College of Physicians in 2022 followed by an NIHR funded Academic Clinical Fellowship in Neurology the same year. I am currently "Out of Programme" from my clinical neurology training to allow a period of dedicated research time with the NIG. 

I am also interested in visual neuroscience and have previously carried out psychophysical work as well as work on "Acquired Aphantasia", a disorder of voluntary visual imagery.