Dr Richard Mead
BSc, MSc, PhD
Department of Neuroscience
Senior Lecturer
+44 114 222 2256
Full contact details
Department of Neuroscience
385a Glossop Road
Sheffield
S10 2HQ
- Profile
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2019-present Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Lead- Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health
2018-present Senior Lecturer in Translational Neuroscience, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience
2017-present Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer - Keapstone Therapeutics (UoS spin-out)
2013 -2018: Kenneth Snowman-MND Association Lecturer in Translational Neuroscience
2010- 2013: SITraN Senior Research fellow in Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, UK.
2005-2010: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, UK.
2002-2004: Pharmacology Team leader, Celltech/UCB, Cambridge, UK.
2001-2002: Postdoctoral research assistant, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK.
1998-2001: PhD (Neuroimmunology), University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK.
- Research interests
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Research focused on drug discovery in motor neurone disease/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (MND/ALS), and Parkinson’s disease from target identification to in vivo disease model testing and development of translational biomarkers for early clinical studies. Specific areas include:
- Pharmacological manipulation of in vitro and in vivo model systems to dissect mechanisms in MND and find new targets
- Small molecule drug development for inflammatory and oxidative stress targets including NRF2 pathway activators
- Improving screening methodologies, evolving new in vivo screening paradigms with improved welfare, reduced biological variation and faster throughput
- Identification of ‘translational’ biomarkers, applicable in both preclinical and clinical settings
- Investigating novel cell therapy paradigms in MND/ALS
A large proportion of the work in my group is conducted in collaboration with Pharma and Biotech.
I am also co-founder and CSO of Keapstone Therapeutics, a spin-out from the University of Sheffield investigating KEAP1 inhibitors for disease modification in ALS and PD.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Extensive phenotypic characterisation of a human TDP-43Q331K transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Scientific Reports, 11(1).
- Confocal endomicroscopy of neuromuscular junctions stained with physiologically inert protein fragments of tetanus toxin. Biomolecules, 11(10).
- The GLP-1 receptor agonist, liraglutide, fails to slow disease progression in SOD1G93A and TDP-43Q331K transgenic mouse models of ALS. Scientific Reports, 11. View this article in WRRO
- NRF2 as a therapeutic opportunity to impact in the molecular roadmap of ALS. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 173, 125-141.
- Adipose-derived stem cells protect motor neurons and reduce glial activation in both in vitro and in vivo models of ALS. Molecular Therapy — Methods & Clinical Development, 21, 413-433. View this article in WRRO
- Author Correction: Female sex mitigates motor and behavioural phenotypes in TDP-43Q331K knock-in mice (Scientific Reports, (2020), 10, 1, (19220), 10.1038/s41598-020-76070-w). Scientific Reports, 11(1).
- In Vivo Fiber Optic Raman Spectroscopy of Muscle in Preclinical Models of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.. ACS Chem Neurosci.
- Female sex mitigates motor and behavioural phenotypes in TDP-43Q331K knock-in mice. Scientific Reports, 10(1).
- Applications of machine learning to diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Nature Reviews Neurology, 16, 440-456. View this article in WRRO
- Sarm1 deletion suppresses TDP-43-linked motor neuron degeneration and cortical spine loss. Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 7. View this article in WRRO
- Publisher Correction: TDP-43 gains function due to perturbed autoregulation in a Tardbp knock-in mouse model of ALS-FTD. Nature Neuroscience, 21(8), 1138-1138.
- TDP-43 gains function due to perturbed autoregulation in a Tardbp knock-in mouse model of ALS-FTD. Nature Neuroscience, 21, 552-563. View this article in WRRO
- Advances, challenges and future directions for stem cell therapy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.. Molecular neurodegeneration, 12(1), 85. View this article in WRRO
- Early detection of motor dysfunction in the SOD1G93A mouse model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) using home cage running wheels.. PloS one, 9(9), e107918. View this article in WRRO
- S[+] Apomorphine is a CNS penetrating activator of the Nrf2-ARE pathway with activity in mouse and patient fibroblast models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.. Free Radic Biol Med, 61, 438-452.
- Optimised and Rapid Pre-clinical Screening in the SOD1(G93A) Transgenic Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). PLOS ONE, 6(8). View this article in WRRO
- Systemic delivery of scAAV9 expressing SMN prolongs survival in a model of spinal muscular atrophy.. Sci Transl Med, 2(35), 35ra42.
- Guidelines for preclinical animal research in ALS/MND: A consensus meeting. AMYOTROPH LATERAL SC, 11(1-2), 38-45.
- An in vitro screening cascade to identify neuroprotective antioxidants in ALS.. Free Radic Biol Med, 46(8), 1127-1138.
- Oxidative stress in ALS: a mechanism of neurodegeneration and a therapeutic target.. Biochim Biophys Acta, 1762(11-12), 1051-1067.
- Impairment of mitochondrial anti-oxidant defence in SOD1-related motor neuron injury and amelioration by ebselen.. Brain, 129(Pt 7), 1693-1709.
- Deficiency of the complement regulator CD59a enhances disease severity, demyelination and axonal injury in murine acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.. Lab Invest, 84(1), 21-28.
- Rat T cells express neither CD55 nor CD59 and are dependent on Crry for protection from homologous complement.. Eur J Immunol, 32(2), 502-509.
- The membrane attack complex of complement causes severe demyelination associated with acute axonal injury.. J Immunol, 168(1), 458-465.
- The membrane attack complex (MAC) of complement causes severe demyelination in vivo. Evidence from C6 deficient rats. Immunopharmacology, 49(1-2), 7-7.
- Molecular cloning, expression and characterization of the rat analogue of human membrane cofactor protein (MCP/CD46).. Immunology, 98(1), 137-143.
- Mannose-binding lectin alleles in a prospectively recruited UK population. LANCET, 349(9066), 1669-1670.
- Proteomic Approaches to Study Cysteine Oxidation: Applications in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 14.
- Assessment of the Precision in Measuring Glutathione at
3 T
With a
MEGA‐PRESS
Sequence in Primary Motor Cortex and Occipital Cortex. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
- Extensive phenotypic characterisation of a human TDP-43Q331K transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Scientific Reports, 11(1).
- Research group
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- Matthew Stopford, Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Nora Markus, Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Sophie Nyberg, Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Trong Khoa Pham, Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Sophie Badger, Research assistant
- Amy Keerie, Phd Student
- Maria Plesia PhD Student (second supervisor)
- Isaac Kirkland, Placement Student
- Grants
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- Parkinsons UK
- Medical Research Council
- Motor Neuron Disease Association, UK
- University of Sheffield IP development and commercialisation fund
- Industry funders – Heptares Therapeutics, BenevolentAI, Aclipse Therapeutics
- Teaching activities
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I teach on the MSc courses in Translational Neuroscience, Translational Neuropathology and co-lead two modules on Masters level courses running in SITraN. My teaching focusses on preclinical study design, analysis of motor function, statistics and drug development.