A huge congrats to our member Ali Aries for her NIHR Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Award! This will support her work leading a Roundtable on somatosensation post-stroke for the ISRRA and to develop a Patient and Lived Experience Advisory Team (PLEAT) in The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust!

Congratulations to our member Erminia Albanese for her recent publication on the introduction of whole genome sequencing as NHS standard of care for glioma patients in two neurosurgical oncology centres! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Introduction of whole genome sequencing as NHS standard of care for glioma patients in two neurosurgical oncology centres: West Midlands - BJC Reports

BJC Reports - Introduction of whole genome sequencing as NHS standard of care for glioma patients in two neurosurgical oncology centres: West Midlands

nature.com

A huge congratulations to our members Chris Adams, Divya Maitreyi Chari, Nikolaos Tzerakis and Melissa Bowerman for receiving funding from the North Staffordshire Medical Institute to develop their product BrainMix for disease modelling!

Congratulations to our member Erminia Albanese for her recent publication describing A Clinical Tool to Identify Incidental Meningioma for Early Outpatient Management! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41264316/!

A Clinical Tool to Identify Incidental Meningioma for Early Outpatient Management - PubMed

This cohort study found that the IMPACT tool accurately predicted the risk of incidental meningioma progression and can be used to stratify patients into early intervention, serial monitoring, or safe discharge from outpatient care.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Congratulations to our member Melissa Bowerman for her recent publication demonstration the therapeutic potential of drug repurposing and the targeting of the glucocorticoid-Klf15 pathway for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Excited to share Emma Sutton's recently published Ph.D. research! By using cells, worms and mice, we report that mifepristone, a glucocorticoid receptor anatagonist, alone and in combination with an approved SMN-dependent therapy, has the potential to improve SMA disease pathology. rdcu.be/eQpXG

Great to see our member Melissa Bowerman sharing her rare disease research and experience with public engagement and involvement with the wider scientific community!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Privileged to attend the @ukri.org MRC Biomedicine Science Conference at the QEII Conference Centre in London today where I presented our research on Acrodysostosis Type 2, heard about exciting science and discussed public partnerships!

Congratulations to our member Divya Chari who has been invited to contribute to a strategic Global Health Innovative & Advanced Treatments Workshop, organised by the @ukri.org Medical Research Council UK!

Congratulations to Eve McCallion, a Senior Research Technician in our member's Melissa Bowerman's lab, that was shortlisted as a finalist in this year's Lab Awards in the category of Lab Technician of the Year (lnkd.in/dbjKFJ5d)!

Last month, our member Claire Monroy had the fanstastic opportunity to give a talk on "Neural correlates of visual processing in deaf infants" at the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (2025.neurolang.org) meeting in Washington D.C. Well done!

a black and white drawing of an eye with a brain in the middle

ALT: a black and white drawing of an eye with a brain in the middle

media.tenor.com

Congrats to Ian Holt, a Research Associate in our member Heidi Fuller's group, who won first prize at the Neuromuscular Study Group meeting in Stresa (Italy) for his poster on Characterising PMP22 proximal partners in a Schwann cell model of CMT1A. Well done!

Congrats to our member Divya Chari who will be chairing the 2026 UK Multiple Sclerosis Society Career Development Awards round (PhD Fellowships & Early Career Fellowships)!

a drawing of a chair with a speech bubble that says " committee work "

ALT: a drawing of a chair with a speech bubble that says " committee work "

media.tenor.com

Our members Sharon Owen & Heidi Fuller were at the Neuromuscular Study Group meeting in Stresa (Italy) last week where Sharon delivered an excellent flash talk presentation on using omics to identify severity-specific differences in spinal muscular atrophy!

Great to see our member Melissa Bowerman engaging with the SMA community to share research updates and exchange important topics for individuals living with SMA and their families!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

This weekend I had the honour of attending the SMA UK's Big Weekend: Forty & Forward to update families on current pre-clinical research priorities in SMA. Clinical trials, exercise, newborn screening, access to education, sex & relationships were also discussed, showing there is still a lot to do!

Great to see another successful graduate student from our member's group Melissa Bowerman. All the best to Katie as she pursues her medical career!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

A huge congratulations to Katie, who has successfully passed her MPhil! Her research was aimed at understanding the role of authophagy in SMA and its potential as a therapeutic target. It was a real joy having her join our lab and we already miss her!

Great to see our member Melissa Bowerman share her research on biomarkers in SMA at the Ottawa International Conference on Neuromuscular Disease and Biology at the beginning of the month!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited to be presenting our research on the potential of muscle-specific extracellular vesicles as SMA biomarkers. In collaboration with Stephanie Duguez @florage.bsky.social & funded by @afm-telethon.bsky.social !

What an exciting oppotunity to join our member's (Melissa Bowerman) research group as a Research Assistant to work on spinal muscular atrophy project! ce0639li.webitrent.com/ce0639li_web...

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ce0639li.webitrent.com

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

Come work with us @keeleuniversity.bsky.social ! We are recruiting a Research Assistant to work on an exciting project aimed at defining the role of brown adipose tissues in spinal muscular atrophy! Further details can be found here: ce0639li.webitrent.com/ce0639li_web...

Well done to our member Heidi Fuller who was an invited speaker at the Ottawa NMD 2025 meeting where she presented thoughts on precision medicine for SMA.

Great to see our member Melissa Bowerman sharing her research on the rare skeletal dysplasia Acrodysostosis Type 2 at this internationally recognised meeting on bone research!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

After the Pre-Meeting, the official @asbmr.bsky.social Annual Meeting in Seattle begins! Our poster was selected for the plenary session. Come see & discuss our results showing sex-specific effects of an Acrodysostosis Type 2 causing mutation!

Well done to our member Hady Atef who has been awarded the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP) Widening Participation Award to present a poster on end-of-life care at the CSP Conference in Newport this November. We can't wait to hear how it goes!

a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon

ALT: a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon

media.tenor.com

Huge congrats to our member Hady Atef who was recently awarded a @nihr.bsky.social NIHR PASF fellowship for a 1-year research project to investigate the sleep impact on the rehabilitation management plans. Well done!

a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon

ALT: a gold trophy with a laurel wreath around it and the words well done on a gold ribbon

media.tenor.com

Our member Jenny Shin is hosting the 13th annual meeting of Mercia Stem Cell Alliance @keeleuniversity.bsky.social on December 3rd 2025. The one-day stem cell meeting will be held at Keele Hall. More info on the event, abstract submission & registration found here: estore.keele.ac.uk/conferences-...

Fantastic to see our member Melissa Bowerman present her SMA research programme in Kunming China!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

Last day of the International Conference on KLF Transcription Factors & Human Diseases in Kunming China: I presented our 7-year journey of evaluating KLF15 as a therapeutic target for spinal muscular atrophy! Had an amazing time! Miss it already!

Huge congratulations to our member Melissa Bowerman for receiving this prestigious & competitive funding to support her research on metabolism defects in spinal muscular atrophy!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited & grateful that we received a 2-year research grant from @afm-telethon.bsky.social to study the role of brown adipose tissue in metabolic defects in spinal muscular atrophy!

Our members Melissa Bowerman, Divya Chari, Chris Adams and Stuart Jenkins, along with other colleagues from the @keeleuniversity.bsky.social School of Medicine, welcome medical students from RCSI-Bahrain to join their research labs for the summer! Hope you all have an amazing time!

Congratulations to our members Divya Chari and Chris Adams who have been awarded a place on the Innovate-UK funded iCURe Exploit scheme and are now one step closer to getting their "BrainMix" research commercialised! brainmix.co

Congratulations to our member Erminia Albanese and her team for winning best poster at the Awake Craniotomy Symposium in Bristol!

Great to see our member Melissa Bowerman sharing her research on muscle and metabolism in SMA to SMA families and people living with SMA!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

My favorite part of the Cure SMA Annual Research & Clinical Meeting is definitely the Family Friendly poster session. Thanks to all who stopped by to chat about diet and metabolism in SMA. ❤️

Exciting to see our member Melissa Bowerman get the opportunity to present her research on SMA and skeletal muscle internationally!

Melissa Bowerman@bowermanlab.bsky.social · last yr.

Was a pleasure to present our Cure SMA-funded research on defining the role of muscle in metabolic defects in SMA at the Cure SMA Annual Research & Clinical Meeting!

First day of the 2025 Cure SMA Annual SMA Research & Clinical Care Meeting was full of exciting new research and discussions with academics, clinicians & individuals living with SMA! Looking forward to day 2!

We are pleased to inform you that registration and abstract submissions for @sma-europe.bsky.social 5th International Scientific Congress on SMA, taking place in Budapest from 11 to 14 March 2026, are now open! congress.sma-europe.eu