I lead the Centre for Neuroscience, Surgery and Trauma, and as a neuroscientist and pharmacologist. I am particularly interested in the development of new therapeutic interventions in traumatic spinal cord injury and brain injury. The Neurotrauma Group that I lead has strong links with clinicians at the Royal London Hospital who are working on brain and spinal cord injury patients, and includes several PhD students, MSc students and post-doctoral researchers. We investigate various aspects of trauma in the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system using experimental models, and more recently we have also become involved in clinical studies in neurotrauma.

I am a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and I am also one of the Directors of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids.

Teaching

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and teach neuroscience and neuropharmacology in several programmes, at undergraduate and postgraduate level; Lecturer and module convenor for the MBBS degree and Intercalated Neuroscience BSc; Programme Director and lecturer on the MSc in Neuroscience and Translational Medicine; Lecturer on the MSc in Trauma Sciences. In recognition of my activity and results as a teacher, in 2011 I was awarded the Drapers’ Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Research interests

My main research interest is in the development of new therapeutic strategies for the management of spinal cord injury and brain injury patients. Over the last decade we have developed a large programme of research on a specific polyunsaturated fatty acid which has shown neuroprotective potential in models of spinal cord injury and brain injury and we are at the stage of clinical translation, focused on the development of an optimum formulation, for the first studies in patients. We are also exploring other potential therapeutic targets and diversifying our experimental models and functional endpoints, as well as the assessment of the evolution of the injury using structural and functional imaging, similar to that used in the clinic. Thus, by improving our modelling of neuronal injury, the work in experimental models becomes more relevant to the clinical injury situation.

My group has also started a programme of studies on strategies that could support neurorepair in the chronic phase post-injury, and we have obtained very interesting data with a specialised medical multi-nutrient which has significant potential to enhance neuroplasticity after traumatic injuries. We are also developing a research programme on the link between neurotrauma and neurodegenerative disease.

Current research projects

· Exploration of stable forms of docosahexaenoic acid for acute neuroprotection

· Combinatorial strategies for enhanced recovery after neurotrauma

· The link between traumatic brain injury and brain senescence

· Multiple concussion in the juvenile brain

· Specialised metabolic and nutritional support of white matter in brain ageing and post-injury

· Lipidomic signature of the acute phase after brain and spinal cord injur

Contact

email: A.T.Michael-Titus@qmul.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 207 882 2290