Row Fogo Research Projects

Small Vessel Diseases (SVDs) play central role in causing brain damage leading to neurodegenerative disease (e.g., dementia) and stroke. SVD often starts silently and builds up over several years before it is noticed by the affected person. SVD is still not fully understood, and prevention and treatment remain limited.

At the Row Fogo Centre for Research into Ageing and the Brain, we bring together scientific specialities and advanced brain imaging methods from clinical and preclinical research, to accelerate discoveries about mechanisms of SVD and other common brain disorders, their causes and treatment. Our work has led to important advances in understanding of the causes and factors influencing the progression of small vessel disease, imaging methods, image analysis computational mapping and rating tools, and image databanks. These allow for faster image processing and disease quantification. Therapeutic approaches developed in our Centre are now being tested in clinical trials.

Current research projects

Fondation Leducq Transatlantic Network of Excellence - Perivascular Spaces in Small Vessel Diseases

A global study of a disease responsible for almost half of all dementias and a large proportion of stroke cases, jointly coordinated by Professor Joanna Wardlaw.

International Perivascular Spaces Meta-analysis Collaboration

The International Perivascular Spaces Meta-analysis Project: A global study of the disease responsible for almost half of all dementias and a large proportion of stroke cases, funded by the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation.

Mild Stroke Study 3 (MSS3)

Longitudinal study investigating the causes and impact of mild stroke from medical, dietary, sleep, cognitive, mood, and psycho-motor perspectives, funded by Fondation Leducq, the UK Dementia Research Institute, the British Heart Foundation, and the Stroke Association.

Brain Changes in Sleep Apnoea

Sleep and SVDs is a study of the effects of obstructive sleep apnea and its treatment on perivascular spaces and SVD lesions in the brain in Edinburgh and Toronto, funded by the Fondation Leducq Transatlantic Network of Excellence on Perivascular Spaces in SVDs.

SVDs@Target

SVDs@Target is funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme, with researchers in several European centres who are researching blood-brain barrier and vascular dysfunction in sporadic and genetic SVDs (INVESTIGATE@SVDs, ZOOM@SVDs) and treatments (TREAT@SVDs).

Lacunar Intervention Trials (LACI-1, LACI-2)

The Lacunar Intervention Trials (LACI-1, LACI-2) were randomised controlled trials testing two repurposed drugs, cilostazol and isosorbide mononitrate, to prevent worsening of SVD. LACI-1 was funded primarily by the Alzheimer’s Society and laid the groundwork for LACI-2 funded by the British Heart Foundation.

Rates, Risks and Routes to Reduce Vascular Dementia (R4VaD)

Rates, Risks and Routes to Reduce Vascular Dementia (R4VaD), is a UK-wide observational study of risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia after all types of stroke, funded by the Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation as part of their Priority Programme in Vascular Dementia, as well as the Alzheimer’s Society and Dementias Platform UK.

Small Vessel Diseases (SVDs) Brain Tissue Bank

The Edinburgh Brain Bank (EBB) is Scotland's sole brain bank, collecting tissue from individuals with conditions like multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, prion disease, and dementia. This tissue aids researchers worldwide in developing treatments and cures.

Centres for Excellence in Neurodegeneration (COEN) and Joint Programme for Neurodegeneration Research (JPND)

Through the Centres for Excellence in Neurodegeneration (COEN) and the Joint Programme for Neurodegeneration Research (JPND), we have worked with international experts since 2011 to standardise the definitions of SVDs lesions on imaging, the image acquisition and analysis methods for use in studies of SVDs and to improve the availability of data for research in SVDs.

Imaging of the small blood vessels in the retina

A window to the small vessels in the brain helps us to improve understanding of brain small vessel disease, including advancing image analysis methods, funded by The Stroke Association, the British Heart Foundation and the Allan Turing Institute.

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