Professor Nanna MacAulay awarded Lundbeck Foundation Professorship
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences receives DKK 20 million for brain research focusing on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) surrounding the brain. The aim is to help people who suffer i.a. brain haemorrhages.
Professor Nanna MacAulay from the Department of Neuroscience at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences has received DKK 20 million from the Lundbeck Foundation neuroscience programme, LF Professorships.
She is one of three brain scientists, who have received a total of DKK 80 million for projects with the potential to “promote new and ground-breaking science and fundamental research.” The projects will run over a period of six years.
Professor Nanna MacAulay will use the grant to continue her research on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) surrounding the brain in humans and mammals.
CSF is vital to normal brain function, but in various common diseases such as brain haemorrhage and hydrocephalus, the consequent dysregulation of CSF causes increased pressure in the brain which leads to brain damage and, at worst, death.
“It is a great honour to be chosen as LF Professor. I am excited about the opportunities this grant has to offer my research group and my cooperation partners in clinical practice and basic research,” she says and adds:
“Hydrocephalus is the condition most often addressed by neurosurgeons globally, and we hope this grant will enable us to produce knowledge that will pave the way for new pharmacological measures and thus protect some hydrocephalus patients from repeated neurosurgery.”
The goal is to develop treatment
The aim of the project is to develop new pharmacological approaches to controlling the build-up of brain fluid by identifying the site of CSF production and the responsible molecular mechanisms as well as the mechanisms responsible for the build-up of brain fluid in haemorrhage-related hydrocephalus and how these may be targeted.
Today, treatment for increased intracranial pressure is limited to surgery, which may lead to serious complications.
The condition therefore represents a difficult, but common neurosurgical challenge that may be solved in part by pharmacological modulation of the release of CSF. However, lack of understanding of the mechanism behind CSF release hinders the development of such solutions.
Contact
Professor Nanna MacAulay
macaulay@sund.ku.dk
+45 35 32 75 66