Center of Advanced Translational Stroke Science (CATSS)

Principal Investigators

  • Ann Stowe, PhD, FAHA, Associate Professor, Neurology

  • Keith Pennypacker, PhD, Professor, Neurology

  • Justin Fraser, MD, FAANS, FAHA, Associate Professor, Neurological Surgery
     

Research Priority Area

  • Neuroscience
     

How to Join

Contact Dr. Ann Stowe
 

Meeting Times

First Tuesday of the month, 3 p.m. EST
 

Summary

The Center of Advanced Translational Stroke Science (CATSS) was launched in 2014 and now has a refocused scientific goal to study acute and long-term biomarkers for stroke-induced cognitive decline in our patient population. The CATSS is a scientific working space that pulls together clinicians and basic scientists to collaborate and advance the field of stroke research in translational and innovative ways. As a team, we have published 15 peer-reviewed publications, and presented over 50 abstracts at national and international meetings. This includes publishing with over 16 trainees (residents; graduate, medical, and undergraduate students), with all publications including junior faculty authors.

The goal for CATSS over the last 3 years has been to provide an externally funded, multidisciplinary, translational, and interactive environment for the exploration of mechanisms, diagnostics and therapeutics for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. To accomplish this, we extensively use our prospectively enrolling tissue bank, the Blood and Clot Thrombectomy Registry and Collaboration (BACTRAC; NCT03153683). With this procedure, we collect the thrombi during mechanical thrombectomy (MT) along with systemic (i.e. carotid artery) and intracranial (i.e. cannula placement prior to reopening of the vessel) arterial blood samples, proximal and distal to the thrombus, respectively. This was the first tissue bank of its kind in the world, and we were the first to identify intracranial blood injury mechanisms localized to the area of infarction. BACTRAC also records relevant clinical and radiographic data with a neuroradiologist performing radiographic assessments. With our newly focused goal, we are also adding long-term cognitive assessments. Our ultimate goal is to create a database that incorporates both clinical patient data with biological biomarker data identified in the patients’ intracranial and systemic blood and as a recruitment tool for rehabilitative studies, as stroke is a global leading cause of long-term adult disability.

This Clinical Stroke Consortium is designed to support the scientific and professional development of junior faculty. Dr. Glueck will focus on virtual reality (VR) as a rehabilitation paradigm for BACTRAC stroke patients at 1 year or longer following thrombectomy, with 149 patients currently available to contact for recruitment. This team approach will include long-term cognitive assessments (Harp), and biomarker analyses in blood draws (Trout), with final critical statistical analyses to identify biomarkers of injury, or potentially positive responses to rehabilitation (McLouth) in these patients. These data will also be foundational as preliminary data for several external grant applications outlined below. With the successful Alliance support, we have also recruited other junior faculty to collaborate and promote networking within the UK research community, as well as individual professional development.

 

Alliance Members (in addition to the PIs listed above)

  • Dr. Amanda Glueck, Assistant Professor, Neurology
  • Dr. Jordan Harp, Assistant Professor, Neurology
  • Dr. Justin Huber, Assistant Professor, Rehabilitation Medicine
  • Dr. Chris McLouth, Assistant Professor, Biostatistics and Neurology
  • Dr. Jill Roberts, Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery
  • Dr. Amanda Trout, Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery