Grupos de investigación


Research lines

- Role of Innate Immunity (TLR4)
- Vascular Cognitive Impairment
- Role of neutrophils on stroke
- Neurogenesis and stroke
- New targets for stroke therapy
- Hemorrhagic Transformation
- Excitotoxicity (Glutamate)
- Ischemic Tolerance and stroke
- Other research lines



Centres

Complutense Medical School. The Neurovascular Research Unit has its laboratories in Pavilion III of the Faculty of Medicine at the Complutense University of Madrid. They occupy 240 m2 of which 30% are dedicated to offices and meeting places and 70% to 6 laboratories.

Health Research Institute of Hospital Doce de Octubre (i+12). The Stroke Unit of the Neurology Service has 16 beds, 8 of which have a cardiologic monitoring. The unit has a biobank, a switchboard with specific software for hemodynamic and respiratory detection, a laboratory for vascular neurosonology and a general laboratory. The hospital is the tertiary reference centre for stroke treatment for a total of 800.000 people, and conducts over 200 mechanical thrombectomies and 125 intravenous thrombolysis a year, delivered on a regular 24/7 basis, which ensures a constant patient inclusion rate for translational studies.

The Neurovascular Pathophysiology Group is at the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC).



Neurovascular Research Unit (NRU)

The Neurovascular Research Unit (NRU), located at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Medical School at the Complutense University (Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM), at the Health Research Institute of Hospital Doce de Octubre (i+12) and at Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III; CNIC), is coordinated by Prof. Ignacio Lizasoain (UCM; i+12) and Prof. María Ángeles Moro (CNIC), and is integrated by several members including postdoctoral researchers, postgraduate and pregraduate students, technicians and an administrative manager.

The NRU is forged with a triple dimension, that encompasses research, teaching and innovation. As part of academia, a cardinal objective of NRU is the training of future researchers and university professors and lecturers, as well as the generation of knowledge. In its research facet, the NRU is fully committed to the understanding of neurovascular diseases (stroke and vascular cognitive impairment) at the preclinical level and with a strong translational projection through the close interaction with clinical neurologists in several hospitals. In addition, a major aim of the NRU has been to generate scientific results with good prospects for the transition to the industry that contribute to health care advancement and innovation.

Stroke, the major neurovascular disorder, is the second most common cause of death and the third most common cause of disabilities in the European Union, with a a tremendous health impact and socio-economic cost. In this context, our research lines include the study of the brain damage that results from stroke, the search of therapeutic and prognostic targets of this pathology. We are also focused on the development of new and better ways to help the brain repair itself to restore important functions.

Because of the growing age of the population, dementia is a major socio-sanitary problem affecting millions of lives, a number that will keep on increasing, and with a huge economic and social cost. Vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), the 2nd most common cause of dementia, includes brain disorders in which cognitive impairment is attributable to cerebrovascular pathologies. In this field, our research lines are focused on the analysis of the different neuropathological substrates underlying each different type of VCID and in the identification of mechanisms and therapeutic and diagnostic targets.