Funding
David Lester
Academic visitor
Biography
I qualified in medicine with distinction from Imperial College London in 2015, joined the Oxford neurology registrar training programme in 2020, and completed an MRC-MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Fellowship DPhil under the supervision of Alex Thompson, Prof. Martin Turner and Avi Taylor in 2026.
Research
Motor neuron disease (MND, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS) affects people young and old, with stark differences in prognoses, cognitive changes, and patterns of weakness. I am interested in using survival analysis, joint modelling and machine learning on big data from patient samples and other sources to explore the biology behind these differences.
Recent publications
Circulating protein profiling identifies prognostic biomarkers in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Preprint
Klimovski H. et al, (2026)
A proteomic signature for prognostic stratification in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Preprint
Lester DG. et al, (2026)
Progression and life expectancy in primary lateral sclerosis
Journal article
Lester DG. et al, (2025), Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 96, 1008 - 1011
A Validated Model to Predict Severe Weight Loss in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Journal article
Lester DG. et al, (2025), Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, 12, 1907 - 1912
Reduced beta bursting underpins loss of corticomuscular coherence in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Journal article
Yoganathan K. et al, (2025), Brain Communications, 7
Elevated Cerebrospinal Fluid Ubiquitin Carboxyl‐Terminal Hydrolase Isozyme L1 in Asymptomatic C9orf72 Hexanucleotide Repeat Expansion Carriers
Journal article
Dellar ER. et al, (2025), Annals of Neurology, 97, 449 - 459