We’ve been waiting a long time to share this with you! 🥰🍄
Remember we mentioned we were cosponsoring a PhD Neuroscience student to collaborate on research into our native Lion’s mane strain and its potential effects on Neurodegenerative diseases?
Well, after much ado last month we finally onboarded the wonderful Kaitlin Turk. Katie has a background in Translational Neuroscience & Psychology (along with a penchant for microbiology & mushrooms) and under the tutelage of Dr Tim Craig, Molecular Neuroscientist and Associate Professor at
@uwebristol - will be looking at the Neuroprotective effects of our extracts. Needless to say, this is very exciting! 🥳
As far as we’re aware, this is the first study of its kind in the UK. While there have been many studies investigating the therapeutic potential of mushroom extracts in patients for a variety of conditions, our study will attempt to dissect out the precise molecular mechanisms behind any therapeutic effects, including identifying the compounds in question. This will hopefully pave the way for novel therapies for diseases which are currently incurable…
This is the first of many steps down a long road - which is divided into 2 parts:
⚗️ Optimising the extraction process for the potentially therapeutic compounds in a variety of different mushrooms, using different techniques - including enzymatic assays, HPLC and gas chromatography to quantify the levels of different compounds.
🔬Testing the therapeutic potential of the mushroom extracts using cell systems. This work is all done in cells grown in a lab at UWE to enable us to look into:
🔥 Effects on inflammation
🧠 Neuroprotective effects
🧬 Activation/inhibition of different cell signalling pathways
🧫 Effects on growth and differentiation of cells
♻️ Metabolic effects
All these markers are highly relevant to many diseases, from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s & Multiple Sclerosis to metabolic diseases such as Type-2 Diabetes and cancer.
Pretty cool huh.
Who wants to hear more? 👇🏼
#BristolFungarium #BristolBorn #ScienceLed
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#neuroscience #mushrooms #brainhealth #neurology #psychology #mycology #science #fungi #research #phd #labwork 
