Alastair Buchan is Professor of Stroke Medicine at the University of Oxford and is collaborating with the Center for Stroke Research at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin. The stroke expert's group researches novel neuroprotective therapies and develop treatment strategies and drugs to prevent the death of additional nerve cells when blood flow is restricted in the brain. The most tried and tested method when this occurs is hypothermia, which involves artificially lowering body temperature. Alastair Buchan and his colleagues based at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin investigate which molecular mechanisms play a role in hypothermic neuroprotection during stroke treatment, and how this is related to glucose metabolism in the brain.
In his second funding period, he will be working with his hosts at the Center for Stroke Research – Chief Executive Director Andreas Meisel and Einstein Junior Fellow Philipp Mergenthaler – to research the molecular mechanisms that regulate glucose metabolism and mitochondria in brain cells. Using this research, they aim to identify potential new treatment approaches to preserve cells following a stroke. They will be focusing on the effect that the circadian rhythm – fluctuations in bodily functions in response to day and night cycles, for instance – has on cell metabolism. The researchers have established that strokes that occur in the active circadian phase during the daytime have less serious consequences than those that occur during the inactive phase late in the evening or at night.
To further aid their research, the team aims to strengthen the networks established between Berlin and Oxford during the first funding period and create more opportunities for early career scientists to connect and share knowledge and research insights.
