Professor Adina Michael-Titus is the Programme Director and module convenor for Fundamentals of Drug Discovery and Development. She is also the Centre Lead for the Centre for Neuroscience, Surgery and Trauma at the Blizard Institute. Her research interests include neuroprotection, neurorepair, spinal cord injury, brain injury and biomarkers of injury. Her recent and ongoing research projects include development of fatty acid emulsions for use in acute neuroprotection in spinal cord injury, investigation of specialised medical multi-nutrients in neurotrauma, new biomarkers of injury in the immature and adult brain, white matter ageing, and traumatic brain injury and senescence. She is an inventor on several patents, a member of several scientific and professional societies and regularly acts as a reviewer for the UK research councils.
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Professor Gavin Giovannoni is a Professor of Neurology and teaches clinical neurology and neuro-immunology. His clinical interests are multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system. He is particularly interested in clinical issues related to optimising MS disease modifying therapies. His current research is focused on the Epstein Barr virus as a possible cause of multiple sclerosis, defining the “multiple sclerosis endophenotype”, multiple sclerosis-related neurodegeneration, biomarker discovery and validation, and multiple sclerosis clinical outcomes. His team focus on translational research and have an active clinical trial programme. He has recently become the co-director of the Preventive Neurology Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, part of Queen Mary University of London's Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.
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Professor David Baker is an internationally recognised neuroimmunologist and has identified novel treatment strategies for experimental neuroimmunological conditions. His research interests include multiple sclerosis research, experimental models of multiple sclerosis, immunosuppression, neuroprotection, repair, symptom control, and cannabinoids. He and his colleagues undertake research on basic science aspects of multiple sclerosis and this links to the clinical science aspects of multiple sclerosis run by Professor Gavin Giovannoni. During the early 2000, he began pioneering work on the symptomatic control of spasticity with cannabinoids, which underpinned the perception that cannabis could be used to treat symptoms of multiple sclerosis. A number of his ideas, such as autoimmune tolerance, use of certain cytostatic agents and cannabinoids have been translated into the clinic. He has filed a number of patents and founded a University Spin-Out Company that developed a treatment to Phase II in humans.
Professor Andrea Malaspina is a Professor of Neurology and an Honorary Consultant Neurologist. He is the Co-organiser of the Neurodegeneration module. His teaching revolves around the principle that medical and postgraduate students should be exposed to basic and translational science and around the critical evaluation of the impact that his research has in clinical neuroscience. He leads a multidisciplinary research group working on biomarkers discovery and on their clinical pre-validation. He has also established a large bio-banking project for neurodegenerative disorders.
Professor Qasim Aziz is a Professor of Neurogastroenterology and Deputy Lead for the Centre for Neuroscience, Surgery and Trauma. He is also the Director of the Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology. His research is aimed at understanding the neurophysiological basis of human brain-gut communication. He has obtained national and international awards for his research such as the British Society of Gastroenterology Research Gold Medal and the American Gastroenterology Association Janssen Award for Basic and Clinical Research. He has held the position of Chairman of the Neurogastroenterology and Motility Section of the British Society of Gastroenterology, member of the United European Gastroenterology Federation Education Committee and is the current President of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility.
Professor Denise Sheer is a Professor of Human Genetics. Her research is currently focused on the molecular pathology of brain tumours and protein aggregation in neurodegeneration. She has particular expertise in higher order chromatin architecture, nuclear organisation, cell and molecular biology, cancer genetics and epigenetics, and molecular pathology of paediatric brain tumours. Her recent and ongoing research projects include the molecular pathology of brain tumours, and protein aggregation in neurodegeneration. She received the Jeremy Jass Prize for Excellence in Pathology 2009 for the discovery of RAF gene fusions in children’s brain tumours.
Professor Gareth Sanger is a Professor of Neuropharmacology. He is a Fellow of the British Pharmacology Society and undertook drug discovery and gastrointestinal research at GlaxoSmithKline. He uses pharmacology to solve physiological problems and has experience in all phases of drug discovery, placing seven novel compounds into development, including granisetron (now an anti-emetic drug). He received the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America Discoverer's Award and the Sir James Black Award for Contributions to Drug Discovery. His laboratory uses human gastrointestinal tissues to conduct functional, structural and molecular studies into dysregulated movements of the stomach during nausea and in neurodegenerative changes during constipation of advanced age. The laboratory was recognised by the NC3R and LUSH organizations for providing an alternative to animal use.
Professor Klaus Schmierer is a Professor of Neurology and Consultant Neurologist. His clinical and research activities have focused on multiple sclerosis. His clinical academic work includes exploring the pathological substrate of disease deterioration in people with MS using MRI and quantitative histology; and studies into the epidemiology and cause(s) of MS. He is the Lead for MS at the National Institute of Health Research North Thames Clinical Research Network and serves on the Scientific Strategy Committee of the UK MS Register. He is a member of the steering committee of MAGNIFY-MS, and the chief investigator of ChariotMS, a national UK multi-centre trial of cladribine in people with advanced MS.
Dr Patrick Pallier is a Lecturer in Neuroscience. His research is multidisciplinary and translational, and uses a wide array of in vitro and in vivo techniques. It focuses on the characterisation and development of novel therapeutic approaches to protect and repair the brain or the spinal cord after trauma, delay ageing, or prevent the occurrence of neurodegenerative conditions.
Dr Ping Yip is a Non-clinical Lecturer in Neuroscience. His research group focuses on neuroregeneration, neuroplasticity, neuroprotection, neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in neuroinjury. He has a substantially wide in vitro and in vivo technical knowledge and abilities, which enabled him to publish research articles in the field of pain, motor neurone disease, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
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