Center for Advanced Translational Stroke Science
Interim Director
Research
Established in 2015, CATSS consists of faculty whose research focuses on various aspects of stroke evolution, including inflammation, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, and vascular pathology. Studies range from fundamental neuroscience research to clinical applications, with the goal to discover treatments that promote brain protection and repair to achieve improved functional outcome.
Surgery Core
The CATSS Rodent Surgery Core provides investigators a means by which to test therapeutics in a rodent model of stroke. This service is aimed at investigators both at the University of Kentucky (UK) and outside UK at other institutions or companies that are new to the stroke field or interested in testing their treatment strategies in a model outside of their field of study. This provides an opportunity to discover much needed novel therapies for stroke as well as establishing new collaborations.
Clinical Trials
Collaboration with clinicians is an integral part of our research philosophy, as they provide a patient-centered perspective as well as access to samples for analysis at the bench. For example, the Blood And Clot Thrombectomy Registry And Collaboration (BACTRAC) protocol provides researchers with blood and thrombus removed from patients undergoing a mechanical thrombectomy for stroke (Fraser et al., J NeuroIntervent Surg, 2018). This reverse translation will aid in the development of novel stroke treatments.