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Adel Helmy wins 2014 EANS Aesculap prize for clinical neurosurgical research

Adel Helmy has won the prestigious 2014 EANS Aesculap prize for clinical neurosurgical research. The prize was awarded during the EANS Congress in Prague in October.

Adel works in the area of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI, head injury), the commonest cause of death in those aged under 40 years. Despite more than two decades of clinical studies in TBI, neuroprotective drugs have universally failed to demonstrate clinical efficacy, even in large numbers of patients, despite impressive results in animal models. Several reasons have been suggested including an inability to demonstrate, in human patients, penetration of the drug across the blood brain barrier and at sufficient concentration to demonstrate a biological effect.

In their study, Helmy et al carried out a randomised control trial of an Interleukin-1 Receptor antagonist, a putative neuroprotective agent, in patients with severe TBI and used cerebral microdialysis to demonstrate penetration of the systemically administered drug into the brain extracellular space. By measuring downstream cerebral cytokines and chemokines in the same patients they were able to track the pattern of response to the administered cytokine inhibitor. An understanding of the underlying biological effects of promising pharmacological agents illuminate the pathological processes at play after TBI as well as informing larger phase III trials.

Adel Helmy is a Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

As a result of generosity of Braun Aesculap, two awards of €5000 are available; one for the best clinical research paper and another for the best laboratory research paper. The deadline for applications is 30th April 2015.

Posted on 22/06/2015