Current portfolio
Academic Clinical Fellowship in Neurology: 2024 candidate
Project title: National Institute of Health and Research (NIHR) and Encephalitis International Academic Clinical Fellowship
Project Lead: Dr Abdusshakur Muhammad Auwal
Department and institution: University of Liverpool and Walton Neuroscience NHS Foundation TrustNational Institute of Health and Research (NIHR) and Encephalitis International Academic Clinical Fellow; University of Liverpool and Walton Neuroscience NHS Foundation Trust
Awarded in 2024
I am an NIHR & Encephalitis International Academic Clinical Fellow working to understand better, the pathophysiology of NeuroCovid using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). It also aims to identify diagnostic biomarkers that can be used to develop therapeutic interventions. This research will be under the supervision of Professor Benedict Michael, Professor Ed Bullmore, and Professor Simon Keller.
I am also rigorously involved in patient and public involvement and engagement in healthcare research by collaborating with others to enhance the experience of people with neurological problems as well as creating factsheets on encephalitis for people to enhance their understanding.
I have worked as a collaborator in the COVID-19 RECOVERY Trials (2020-2021) that led to the approval of Dexamethasone and Tocilizumab for use in eligible Covid 19 patients. I was also the first author of a published abstract (2023) that looked at the characteristics of people with Multiple Sclerosis involving only the spinal cord. My MSc dissertation demonstrated the disruption of resting state functional connectivity in cognitively healthy young adult carriers of Alzheimer’s genes impairing amyloid beta clearance when compared to controls.
Dr Abdusshakur Muhammad Auwal’s background
I graduated from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto in Nigeria (2018) at the top of my class where I was awarded the best graduating student in 2 out of 3 faculties (Basic Medical Sciences and Basic Clinical Sciences) with several distinctions including Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology, Pathology and Paediatrics. My final year project that I led, which was a KAP study on Pharmacovigilance was awarded as one of the best. I also held national leadership positions within medical students’ associations.
I completed my internship at Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital with a distinction in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. I joined the NHS in 2020 and have since undertaken several audits and quality improvement projects (QIP). My latest QIP on improving nutrition in acute stroke patients got accepted for a poster presentation at the World Stroke Congress and publication in the International Journal of Stroke.
Due to my passion for teaching, I have actively been involved in teaching medical students from the Universities of Cambridge (2021-2022) and Plymouth (2022-2024) as well as junior colleagues.

Seed funding 2022 Uganda
Project title: Differentiating viral encephalitis from its mimics in patients with encephalitis of unknown aetiology
Project lead: Dr. John Kasibante, MBChB, MSc Clinical Immunology
Department and institution: Research Department, Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Awarded in 2022
Encephalitis is a disease that develops when microbes like viruses enter the brain, altering its function. These encephalitides can present with confusion, convulsions, forgetfulness, and sometimes death. Many adults in Uganda admitted with encephalitis have no known cause for their illness. Their disease is referred to as encephalitis of unknown aetiology (EUE). Many of these patients die, and some who survive have long-term problems such as paralysis. Our research shows that some of these patients are treated for other diseases like tuberculosis, yet the aetiology could potentially be viral.
Biofire technology is a PCR-based platform that can identify these viruses fairly accurately and could reduce the cost of care and improve patient outcomes. It is available in Uganda but unfortunately, it is not commonly used because no research has extensively assessed its use to detect these viruses in EUE patients and the importance of paying for it in Uganda.
This study will evaluate the platform’s ability to identify these viruses in EUE. Findings from our study will provide data on the utility of using this test in the daily care of patients with EUE in Uganda’s public hospitals. It will also tell us the typical viruses these patients have and the best medications to give them. Additionally, we will collect cerebrospinal fluid for future immunology studies to characterize immune cells that enter the brain when one acquires EUE to investigate potential subgroups characterized by different immune responses.

Seed funding 2023 France
Project title: Markers of neuroinflammatory activity in autoimmune encephalitis
Project lead: Dr Chloe Bost
Department and institution: Immunology laboratory, Toulouse University Hospital
Awarded in 2023
Autoimmune encephalitis field has experienced great improvements in knowledge in recent years, both from a diagnostic point of view and understanding of the mechanisms underlying these pathologies. However, few relevant tools are available for monitoring patients and especially for assessing and adapting the therapeutic response.
Our project is to find, in the blood or CSF, a biomarker making it possible to monitor the neuroinflammatory activity of the disease. We identified 2 promising markers in a preliminary study that we will evaluate in a larger study. This is in order to be able to adapt the treatment of patients and limit side effects.

Seed funding 2023 Italy
Project title: Epidemiology of autoimmune encephalitis and its mimics in the province of Verona, Italy
Project lead: Alessandro Dinoto, MD
Institution: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona
Awarded in 2023
The advances in the clinical characterization and diagnostic assays have led to an increased recognition of autoimmune encephalitides: from being an overlooked condition, autoimmune encephalitis has now become a relatively frequent diagnosis in clinical practice.
The diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis is based on specific criteria and requires excluding other conditions that may resemble it on clinical and radiological grounds. An erroneous diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis may delay access to treatment and be potentially harmful for patients, as they may be exposed to unnecessary immunotherapy.
The project entitled “Epidemiology of autoimmune encephalitis and its mimics in the province of Verona, Italy” aims to investigate the frequency of these disorders and their mimics in a well delimitated geographical area (the province of Verona, Italy, with more than 900.000 inhabitants), in which all samples of patients with suspected autoimmune encephalitis are referred for antibody testing in a single diagnostic laboratory. The investigators will review each diagnosis and evaluate whether patients were affected by autoimmune encephalitis or by a different condition that mimicked it, to compare clinical, radiological, and serological features in the two groups, and to investigate the frequency of these disorder through epidemiological measures. The potential results of this project are important to help clinicians in distinguishing autoimmune encephalitis from its mimics, with relevant implications in terms of treatment and prognosis.

Seed funding 2023 UK
Project title: COPE-EMBRACE: Coping with Stress After Encephalitis Using Real-Time Assessment
Project Lead: Dr Sara Simblett
Department and institution: Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
Awarded in 2023
Encephalitis can result in a type of acquired brain injury (ABI) due to brain inflammation. It can cause problems with cognition, as well as fatigue. Mental health problems such as depression are common following encephalitis and can severely affect daily functioning and quality of life. We know that daily hassles (e.g., losing items, memory lapses, feeling under pressure, having arguments) cause stress. The way people cope with stress has been found to influence their level of depression. For example, task avoidance can be particularly problematic. However, there are gaps in our knowledge:
- Greater understanding is needed in the context of encephalitis, where the literature on emotional adjustment is sparce
- How people report reactions to stress in the past does not always equate to what they do in the moment, which may be particularly important in this context of cognitive difficulties (of recall and awareness). We currently have insufficient knowledge of the mechanisms of real-time, or even daily, coping among people with encephalitis and how this relates to their mood.
We propose a study that measures real-time and daily coping with stress across six months using a method called ecological momentary assessment (EMA). EMA has already been found to be feasible to capture the experience of people with ABI across two months. However, longer assessment periods are required to measure effects of daily behaviour on symptoms of depression, which are slower to change. Our research protocol will assess feasibility of measuring cognition, mood, stress, and coping style at the end of each day, and in response to daily stressors over four months. We will analyse the type of stressors and use statistical models to test whether coping and factors known to affect coping (including cognitive functioning) are related to depression.

Seed Funding 2024 Asia - India
Project title: Enhanced Surveillance for arboviral encephalitides – A One Health Pilot Study
Project lead: Dr Chandhu Balachandran
Department and Institution: Encephalitis Group, Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology [ICMR-NIV], Department of Health Research [DHR], Ministry of Health and Family Welfare [MoHFW], Government of India [GoI], Pune, India.
Awarded in 2024
“Encephalitis”, meaning inflammation of the brain, is a serious and life threatening condition, most commonly caused due to viruses. Although many different types of viruses can cause encephalitis, the most common causative viruses are the ones transmitted by arthropod vectors, particularly mosquitoes. These viruses termed arboviruses, include Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Dengue virus (DENV), Zika Virus (ZIKV) and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV). Historically, JEV and WNV were responsible for most of the cases acute encephalitis syndrome, an increase in the incidence of neurological complications due to Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika virus has been observed recently. This coupled with the introduction of Japanese encephalitis virus in previously unreported areas, including Pune region of Maharashtra, India, necessitates heightened surveillance.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends adoption of a one health based surveillance model that integrates human, animal and environmental health to improve public health outcomes, especially for zoonotic and vector borne diseases.
Hence we propose this study, to pilot a one health based surveillance system for arboviral encephalitides. Cases of acute encephalitis syndrome, presenting to tertiary care centres in Pune, will be investigated for arboviral encephalitides using a combination of serological and molecular methods. Real time RT-PCR based assays and IgM detection kits will be used to identify the aetiology of encephalitis. This will be accompanied by an year round surveillance for these agents in vector mosquitoes using real time PCR. The PCR positive samples will then be processed for virus isolation in mosquito and Vero cell lines and be sequenced, to add to the genomic epidemiological data. Further, the presence of JEV will be studied in pig farms across the city, since pigs act as amplifying hosts for the virus. Similarly stables and veterinary hospitals will be approached for detection of West Nile virus. The identification of these viruses in Pune, hold great significance since this region has historically not reported many infections due to JEV, WNV or ZIKV. This study will pilot an enhanced, one health based surveillance model for arboviral encephalitis, and if successful, can be adopted at a national scale for faster identification of outbreaks.
Dr Chandhu Balachandran’s bio:
Dr Chandhu Balachandran is a passionate and dedicated junior scientist at the ICMR-National Institute of Virology. After completing his undergraduate medical education from the Government Medical College, Kottayam, Kerala, Dr. Balachandran joined the prestigious institute, drawn by a deep interest in the fields of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Infectious Diseases. Through his research, Dr. Balachandran intends to work on virus-host interactions, delving into the intricate mechanisms by which viruses infect and affect their hosts, with particular focus on neurotropic viral infections. Explorations into the mechanisms by which viruses cross the blood brain barrier and induce encephalitis is the core focus of his research. Dr. Balachandran is also interested in large scale surveillance studies, especially genomic surveillance to track virus evolution and using metagenomics to identify novel viruses.
