Personal Statement
I am Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience and Honorary Paediatric Neurology Consultant working between the University of Liverpool and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

My team's main aim is to improve diagnosis, treatment and management of infection, with a focus on brain infections in children (and adults) across the UK and world-wide. My research Interests lie on the host responses to severe infection and inflammation, particularly neurological insults, with a focus on identifying diagnostic and prognostic markers as well as to better understand the role of host and pathogen responses in determining the outcome of brain infections. I use transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to explore these responses, both in patient populations and brain infection models.

I am PI for several UK and international studies, including TRIM (TRanscripts Identifying Meningitis) and DIME (Diagnostic Improvement for Meningo-encephalitis) studies. To date, I have obtained >£18 million in grants as Principal or Co-Investigator. Funding sources for my work include the Medical Research Council (MRC), Newton fund, Wellcome Trust, HEIF, EU Horizon 2020, NIHR and Industry.

I lead and support global and domestic collaborations within research (e.g. with Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia; University of California San Francisco; Aarlborg University, Denmark Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Netherlands); health (e.g. National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hanoi, Vietnam; Kathmandu Children’s Hospital, Nepal); third-sector (Sade Crianca and Union of Mothers with Angels, Brazil); and commercial organisations (e.g. Dam Health, Medtechtomarket, Abbott Health and vCreate in the UK, Ugentec, Belgium; BlinkDx, Germany, Fast Track Diagnostics, Luxembourg). Alongside my industry engagement, I have filed and successfully secured intellectual property (IP).

Nationally, I serve as an external advisor for several clinical, charity and research bodies including the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA), and the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF). I am a research panel member for Action Medical, the largest child focused research charity in the UK. I serve as a reviewer for other research funders, including MRC and Wellcome Trust.

I have published >100 research articles (>3200 citations; h-index 31), including peer-reviewed articles in Lancet, Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, Lancet Infectious Disease and Lancet Neurology and Acta Neuropathologica.

Internationally, I am an invited consultant for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and PATH. I am a co-developer and co-author of their global road map for ‘Defeating Meningitis by 2030’.

Research Overview
My team's main aim is to improve diagnosis, treatment and management of infection, with a focus on brain infections in children (and adults) across the UK and world-wide. My research Interests lie on the host responses to severe infection and inflammation, particularly neurological insults, with a focus on identifying diagnostic and prognostic markers as well as to better understand the role of host and pathogen responses in determining the outcome of brain infections. I use transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to explore these responses, both in patient populations and brain infection models.

Active funding or within 5 years
Total >£18M; Principal [or chief investigator] PI: >£3.9M; Co-Investigator [CI]: >£14M)

Selected grants:
1. MRC-DPFS: Development of a novel host blood test using TRanscripts to Identify bacterial Meningitis (TRIM study). PI costed extension until 2025 (MRC approved / finalising legal agreements)
2. Health Education and Innovation Funding (HEIF): Developing novel diagnostic tools in partnership with BlinxDX PI HEIF funding (£30,034) plus matched in-kind funding. 10/2022-ongoing
3. MRC: Diagnostic Improvement of Meningo-Encephalitis in Indonesia (DIME study) supplement - PI £34,132 09/2022-
4. Health Education and Innovation Funding (HEIF): Developing novel diagnostic tools in partnership with Dam Health and Medtechtomarket PI £51,240 02/2022
5. MRC-DPFS: Development of a novel host blood test using TRanscripts to Identify bacterial Meningitis (TRIM study). PI £1.69M 03/2019
6. Newton Fund: Diagnostic Improvement of Meningo-Encephalitis in Indonesia (DIME study) - using novel and established molecular diagnostic tools. PI £419,510 04/2019
7. MRC CiC: CSF peptide data set to accurately diagnose bacterial infection in neuro-surgical patients” PI £59,999 10/2019
8. Fast Track Diagnostics (Industry): Improving diagnosis of CNS infections through pathogen specific NAAT. Co-PI £411,877 05/2014 - ongoing
9. MRC CiC: Employing Next Generation Sequencing to enhance diagnosis of neurosurgical cerebrospinal fluid shunt infection. £24,999 09/21 Collaboration with University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
10. UKRI: The COVID-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study (COVID-CNS) Paediaitric lead; £1,986,056 10/2020
11. National Institute of Health Research (NIHR): DexEnceph: Dexamethasone in Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis Randomised Controlled Trial. Co-I £145,126, Supplement: 06/2021
12. NIHR: DexEnceph: Dexamethasone in Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis Randomised Controlled Trial. Co-I £1,331,779 01/2021
13. NIHR: Global Health Research Group (GHRG) on Improving the Management of Acute Brain Infections at University of Liverpool Co-I £237,075 Suppl. 03/2021
14. NIHR: COVID-Neuro: COVID-19 Neurological Disease: a Global Meta-Analysis and Prospective Case Control Study in Brazil, India and Malawi. Co-I £932,541 10/2020
15. NIHR Health Protection Research Unit: Emerging & Zoonotic Infections Co-I £3,891,432 04/2020
16. Enceph-Ig NIHR Efficacy Mechanism Evaluation Program Co-I £3,225,92 04/2020
17. NIHR: Global Health Research Group (GHRG study) on Improving the Management of Acute Brain Infections at University of Liverpool Co-I £1,348,992 03/2018
18. Wellcome Trust: Empowering communities affected by Zika Virus – Zika Engagement, Support and Training PI £63,750 03/2017
19. EU: Zika Preparedness Latin American Network (ZikaPLAN): Co-I £900,790 10/2016
20. MRC: Improving diagnostics for Zika infection (IDZI study) through Fiocruz, Brazil, Laboratorio de Virología, Colombia and Liverpool-Public Health England. PI £101,025 03/2016
21. Wellcome Trust: Childhood Aetiology of Severe Encephalopathy in Malawi (CHASE study); Clinical PhD Fellowship: Primary Supervisor (Dr S Ray) £354,13 10/2017
22. Wellcome Trust: Risk factors for and spatio-temporal distribution of cases of acute encephalitis syndrome in northern Viet Nam. Clinical PhD Fellowship: Primary Supervisor (Dr H Brindle) £382,839 10/2014