Our aim is to improve the lives of those affected by neurological conditions - to help them live better, longer.
Since 1971, we have provided funding of more than £58 million for research into a wide range of neurological disorders.
In 2016 we identified three priority research areas on which to focus our funding: brain tumours, brain and spinal cord injury, and headache and facial pain. Each of these is an area of high patient need yet historically low research investment.
We have since provided funding of £9.6 million for research in these three areas, with funds awarded to researchers across the UK through our national project grant and fellowship schemes. Each piece of research is helping us to understand these conditions, moving us closer to effective treatments. And by targeting our funding and investing in people, we are building capacity in the field so that the pace of change increases and we can make a difference sooner for those living with neurological conditions.
This money has funded 35 research salaries, more than 80 full-time equivalent years, and 17 PhD students. This is directly helping to build and maintain a workforce in these key research areas. With your help, we are making progress.
Despite decades of progress and improved survival in many other types of cancer, little progress has been made in brain tumours. They are responsible for around 5,500 deaths every year in the UK, including more deaths in people under 40 than any other cancer.
We are funding research to improve the outlook for people with brain tumours by advancing understanding of tumour development, and helping develop better ways to diagnose and treat the tumours.
Louise knows only too well how desperately new treatments are needed. Diagnosed with a low-grade glioma in 2019 at the age of 33, she underwent surgery during which surgeons were able to remove most, but not all, of the tumour.
In 2023, following a monitoring scan, she received the news she’d been dreading – the tumour had regrown. It is not curable but the hope is that it can be kept stable with treatment.
“How can we not treat these types of brain tumours earlier to stop them progressing or get a cure? I will always have brain cancer but all I can hope for is that another person will have a better chance of a cure in the future.”
One of the most deadly brain tumours is the childhood tumour DIPG. Almost all children diagnosed with this tumour die within 18 months. Professor Chris Jones was awarded funding in 2018 for a project focused on a key genetic mutation that had previously been unveiled by research in his lab. Our funding helped the team further their research into the role of this mutation – known as ACVR1 – to determine how it can be targeted in treatment. Read about this work here
More than 350,000 people are admitted to hospital every year in the UK with a brain or spinal cord injury. Whilst the number of deaths from these injuries is going down, the population of survivors is growing ever bigger, with an estimated 2.6 million people in the UK living with long-term problems as a result of a brain or spinal cord injury.
The range of problems is huge and includes impaired movement, cognitive impairment, communication difficulties, emotional issues, fatigue, headaches and pain. We are funding research to help understand how to repair the brain and spinal cord, to improve the outlook for those affected by these kinds of injuries and enable them to make the very best recovery.
In 2005, Mike was left fighting for his life with a severe brain injury following a collision with a van whilst out on his bike.
His recovery has been nothing short of remarkable but he still feels the effects of his brain injury almost 20 years later. Read Mike’s story
Professor Sven Bestmann was awarded funding in 2018 for a project aiming to improve the use of electrical brain stimulation in patients recovering from stroke. A lack of understanding about how this technique works has meant that it has previously been inconsistently applied, and results have been mixed. The team were able to demonstrate the importance of personalising these treatments, to take into account patient-specific characteristics. This will help unlock the future potential of brain stimulation to promote recovery after stroke. Read more
Headache has been described as the most common medical complaint known to man. There are hundreds of different types of headache and facial pain disorders and, due to their prevalence, they are responsible for almost three quarters of neurological-related disability. New treatment approaches are desperately needed, but a lack of research investment has hampered progress.
We are funding research into disorders such as migraine and cluster headache to improve understanding of the underlying causes of these debilitating conditions, towards the development of better preventive and treatment approaches.
Dr Emer O’Connor was awarded a PhD studentship in 2017 for her research in cluster headache, a condition in which the intensity of the pain is often reported to give rise to suicidal thoughts. Understanding the causes of such conditions gives important clues as to the underlying disease mechanisms and potential new treatment approaches, and Emer’s research led to the identification of a number of genetic variants, subsequent analysis of which has suggested a role for neuroinflammation in cluster headache, a concept that is now gaining traction and will inform new treatment approaches. Read more
“This work is really important when you consider that up to 20 per cent of patients can be unresponsive to conventional treatments, so if we could understand what genes are involved, it would give us the knowledge to perhaps provide more targeted treatments in the future.” Dr Emer O’Connor
Our new Impact Report gives a more detailed overview of our research and the projects that have recently completed.
