Brain injury outreach

Contact us


For any enquiries related to Brain and neuroprotection, please contact

Dr Robert Dickinson
r.dickinson@imperial.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7594 7633

Part of the Anaesthesia and perioperative care clinical area. See our research publications.

Overview

We are interested in mechanisms of anaesthesia and neuroprotection (protection against brain injuries such as stroke or traumatic brain injury).  The identification of the molecular targets of certain anaesthetics such as xenon has led to the idea of using these anaesthetics as treatments to prevent brain damage in conditions such as neonatal hypoxia/ischemia and traumatic brain injury.  

We use a variety of approaches to study the molecular actions of anaesthetics and neuroprotectants, including 
patch-clamp electrophysiology and site-directed mutagenesis.  We also use a variety of in vitro and in vivo models of acquired brain injury in order to evaluate the efficacy and mechanism of novel treatments for conditions such as stroke and traumatic brain injury.


Summary of current research

  • Understanding the mechanisms of action of anaesthetics & neuroprotectants
  • Understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying different types of acquired brain injuries
  • Evaluating the efficacy of new treatments for acquired brain injury (eg carbon monoxide exposure, blunt trauma and blast-traumatic brain injury)
  • Identifying clinically relevant biomarkers for acquired brain injury

Key members within Brain and neuroprotection

Funders, collaborators and PPE

Collaborators

Imperial College: 

External: 

  • Dr Marco Gruss (Hanau)
  • Dr Konstantin Radyushkin (Mainz)
  • Dr Serge Thal (Mainz)
Funders
Patient and public engagement

We have participated in:

We also carry out outreach activities with Gillespie Primary School in north London with their innovative Lab13 Science Lab. I was Scientific Advisor to a Gillespie Lab13 research project on Manuka Honey, which was presented by the Gillespie Primary pupils at the 2015 Cheltenham Science Festival and featured in The Times and the Daily Mail.