Are you ready to tackle one of the most pressing safety challenges in immuno-oncology? We are offering a DiMeN DTP iCASE MRC-funded PhD studentship in the Dickens Lab, in collaboration with AstraZeneca. Decode how the #BloodBrainBarrier is compromised & explore ways to protect it

Fantastic 14th UK & Ireland Early Career blood-brain barriers meeting last week!
Many thanks to the local hosts, Avril Reddy & Natalie Hudson from Matt Campbell lab at Trinity College Dublin for an excellent meeting showcasing early career research on CNS barriers.

I gave a talk yesterday at the bionow Neuroscience 2025 conference on “Crossing the blood–brain barrier: emerging therapeutic strategies”. Many thanks for the organisers for the invite and was great to see the depth and breadth of neuroscience research from both industry and academic scientists!

Congratulations to Leon Lane, an undergraduate pharmacology student, who was awarded a British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP) Summer Research Internship. Leon presented his research involving scopolamine and glycopyrrolate at the BAP summer meeting as a poster presentation. Well done, Leon!

Excellent visit to Alchemab Therapeutics yesterday to give an invited talk on “Crossing the blood–brain barrier: emerging therapeutic strategies”.

Attended a stimulating UCB Pharma PhD Day today. Was a great opportunity for Andrew Sellin to present on his UCB funded PhD project involving the blood-brain barrier.

Some of the Dickens Lab attended #BNA2025 this week -right here in our home city of Liverpool! 🧠✨
Fantastic to see such a wide range of neuroscience topics and brilliant presentations throughout the festival. #Neuroscience #BNA #Liverpool

Great visit by our UCB Pharma collaborators to Universty of Liverpool to discuss Andrews ongoing PhD project focused on developing a state of the art blood-brain barrier model using an organ on a chip platform. This aims to surpass current methodologies for testing drug permeability across the BBB

Great visit to Revivocell Ltd. today at Daresbury Laboratory!

I meet up with Abdullah Talari and we focused on the potential of NANOSTACKS technology to enhance in vitro blood-brain barrier modelling -an exciting step forward for neuropharmacology and translational research.

Many thanks for the team at Sygnature Discovery for inviting me to give a guest lecture on "Crossing the blood–brain barrier: emerging therapeutic strategies". Was great to meet the team, chat about drug transporters, DMPK and discuss the challenge of drug delivery to the brain! #Sygnature Discovery

Delighted that the Campbell Lab, based at Trinity College Dublin, will host the 14th UK & Ireland Early Career Blood-Brain Barrier Symposium on the 17th of July 2025! Further Info: bbbsymposium.com & to register: ti.to/genetics/uk-... @mattcampbelltcd.bsky.social

Our review is now out in the March print issue of Lancet Neurology!

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

New Personal View online at The Lancet Neurology, looking at some emerging strategies to get drugs across the blood–brain barrier #neurology @thelancet.bsky.social This paper came about after I attended a talk at the Festival of Neuroscience in 2023 #neuroscience www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Here is an important read from an important journal ! To quote @davidsdickens.bsky.social from his earlier post, the authors "highlight several pioneering strategies that show promise for safely bypassing this barrier." #BloodBrainBarrier #cerebrovascular www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Our review is now out in Lancet Neurology on "Crossing the Blood–Brain Barrier: Emerging Therapeutic Strategies for Neurological Disease’. We highlight several pioneering strategies that show promise for safely bypassing this barrier.

Our review is now out in Lancet Neurology on "Crossing the Blood–Brain Barrier: Emerging Therapeutic Strategies for Neurological Disease". We highlight several pioneering strategies that show promise for safely bypassing this barrier.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kUHI5FFzL...

Great short talk by Jo on the blood-brain barrier at the recent Brain Tumour North West meeting. Jo is developing a novel, biologically relevant, in vitro model of the blood-brain tumour barrier (BBTB) using a cutting edge stem-cell derived model.

Inspiring meeting last week on neuroscience research at the Universty of Liverpool. The meeting highlighted the depth and breadth of neuroscience research at the Universty and the exciting opportunities for growing this area of research in the future! @livuni-ismib.bsky.social

I would like to welcome two new PhD students to the Dickens Lab. Yahya is funded by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau in the UK and is working on a project involving clozapine. While Andrew is funded by UCB Pharma and is working on a cutting-edge blood-brain barrier model. @livuni-ismib.bsky.social