Professor Stuart Allan is at the forefront of stroke recovery research and is leading a team of researchers working on the next generation of clot-busting medication. Find out more in this episode of the Recovery After Stroke podcast.

“The POBIG study is a team effort, working alongside neurosurgeons, oncologists, nurses, radiologists, physicists, and pathologists, and importantly patient support groups like the Brainstrust. Besides the novelty of irradiating the tumour before surgery, other innovative aspects are that we base the diagnosis on imaging so as not to delay the treatment. Crucially we don’t irradiate the whole tumour, only the part where the neurosurgeon believes the remnants will be left behind. This prevents interference with the standard clinical pathway of looking into specific tumour characteristics and offers unique opportunities to develop more personalised treatment strategies against this life-limiting disease. We are very pleased with how Joel has responded to this treatment and the result so far is very encouraging. We are hopeful this technique could improve outcomes for all patients like Joel in the future.”

A major research project to help improve treatments for Parkinson’s disease will take place at Manchester Metropolitan University, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) and the Walton Centre (NHS Trust Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery) in Liverpool. The project will be led by, investigator in our centre’s Parkinson’s theme, Professor Nicola Ray, Manchester Metropolitan’s Department of Psychology and her Co-Investigators at the NCA, Walton Centre and The University of Manchester. Professor Ray developed the ideas for the project from work she and the team have undertaken with funding from Health Innovation Manchester.

Post-stroke cognitive decline is one of the most distressing complications in stroke survivors, occurring in up to a third of those affected by stroke within five years. Laura Parkes, Craig Smith and Stuart Allan have been awarded funding to track changes in the brain over months and years in people who have suffered a stroke. The Imaging Hub will be based in Manchester, with $780k funding for research scans and an imaging scientist to work with Dr Parkes and her team.

The Research Excellence Framework is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, including research impact, the research environment, research publications and other outputs. One of the high-scoring impact case studies was led by Prof Audrey Bowen, who leads the Centre’s research theme – Rehabilitation and Living with Disability.