The first BRIDGE pre-graduate scholarship is granted for Cahtrine C. H. Laursen, af 25 year old medical student from Aarhus. Cathrine will explore the effects of microglial TNRF2 after a stroke.
Read Cathrine's description of the project here:
We know from previous research that the receptor TNFR2 on specific cells in the brain play a role during a stroke. The goal of my project is to investigate if TNFR2 promotes less inflammation in the brain after a stroke.
The research project will be based on animal studies, where a group of mice with the receptor will be compared to a group of mice without the receptor. They will all be surgically subjected to a stroke, and the effects of the stroke will be investigated, such as functional outcome, changes in the inflammatory state of the cells in the brain and the amount of affected cells in the brain.
In cooperation with the Department of Neurology at Odense University Hospital, blood samples from stroke patients will be collected, and their levels of TNFR2 in the blood will be measured and correlated to the patient’s fuctional outcome, three months after their stroke. In addition we will be collaborating with the Department of Pathology, University of Southern Denmark, where we will be looking at brain tissue from stroke patients to investigate the location of TNFR2 in the brain. Understanding the role of receptor TNFR2 may open doors to new treatment opportunities in stroke patients, as the treatment available at the moment is sparse and time-sensitive.
Personally, I find the field of molecular brain research quite fasinating, and as a medical student I have been looking forward to the opportunity to use my knowledge obtained so far and dig into the field of research.
If you have any questions for Cathrine regarding this project, please contact her by email here.
