Brain Barriers Research

Happy International Women’s Day! Today we also celebrated the end of a successful work placement by a 6^th Form student from the Belvedere Academy in Liverpool.

The Brain Barriers Research group hosted the 13^th UK & Ireland Early Career Blood-Brain Barrier Symposium at Edge Hill University on 17^th November. It was excellent to see so many brilliant ECRs from all over the UK present their latest research on CNS brain barriers and fluids. Many thanks to our keynote speakers Prof Egle Solito (Queen Mary University of London) and and Dr Reinhard Gabathuler (King’s College London) for two very exciting and insightful presentations.

The symposium was dedicated to the memory of Dr David Begley who had recently passed away. Dr Begley was one of Dr Patabendige’s PhD supervisors at King’s  College London and was an internationally renowned expert in BBB drug transport.

Thanks to the Biology Department at Edge Hill University for funding the symposium and to Pharmidex (https://www.pharmidex.com/) for sponsoring the David Begley Excellence Award for Young BBB Researchers and Animal Free Research UK (https://www.animalfreeresearchuk.org/) for sponsoring the ECR award for using non-animal methods for BBB research. Watch this space for the conference report.

All the best to Nefeli Zorpa, Professional Training Year student from Cardiff University! Nefeli has completed a full year of training with us and will return to Cardiff to complete the final year of her degree. She mastered laboratory techniques and skills to set up a BBB model to investigate drug transport across the BBB to investigate BBB dysfunction in dementia during her time with us.