The Liverpool Neuroscience Centre (LINC) has announced the first recipients of its LINC Synapse Award, an interdisciplinary pump-priming grant designed to spark new collaborations across neuroscience. This first award brings together researchers from neuro-infection and inflammation, and neuro-oncology and surgery.
Funding was awarded to early career researchers Dr Claire Hetherington (Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology) and Ali Bakhsh (PhD Student in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Neurosurgery resident at The Walton Centre) for their project: ‘How do signals from brain tumour disrupt brain activity?’
Meningiomas are the most common brain tumour, with more than 4,000 new diagnoses each year in the UK. They predominantly affect adults, with women three times more likely to develop the condition than men.
Seizures are a devastating symptom of meningioma, affecting up to half of patients. They can severely restrict independence, preventing individuals from driving, working, or enjoying hobbies. One patient described their seizures as “far greater trouble than the brain tumour ever was.”
Despite their impact, the underlying causes of seizures in meningioma remain poorly understood, and current anti-seizure medications do not address the disease process itself.
The project will investigate whether activation of the NF-κB inflammatory pathway in meningioma increases cortical excitability, and whether this process can be reversed. By reproducing this model in human cells in the laboratory, the researchers aim to uncover how tumour-related inflammation disrupts brain activity and explore potential strategies for drug treatment to prevent seizures.
This pump-priming award marks the first step towards a long-term ambition: developing treatments that target the root cause of seizures in meningioma, rather than simply managing symptoms.
LINC Synapse Awards are designed to bring together neuroscience researchers from different disciplines who have not previously collaborated. By providing seed funding for pilot or proof-of-principle studies, the awards aim to generate data that can underpin competitive grant and fellowship applications.
LINC workshops
The Centre is holding a series of dedicated workshops to drive collaboration across the full spectrum of neuroscience research areas. Each half-day event focuses on a single theme, showcasing current research and identifying opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. The first workshop, on Neuro-infection and Inflammation, included contributions from third sector organisations to highlight patient and public perspectives.
Accompanying each workshop is a call for pump priming funds from the LINC Synapse Awards. Congratulations to Claire and Ali on receiving the first award, and on their ambitious project to better understand and ultimately treat the causes of seizures in meningioma.
The next LINC workshop will take place on 18 December 2025, focusing on Epilepsy. Details of this and other forthcoming events are available on the LINC website.