Craniopharyngiomas (CPs) are tumours that originate from embryological cells of the pituitary gland. They affect both children and adults with peak incidences at 5-14 years and again at 50-74 years. They are aggressive tumours that lead to hormone loss from the pituitary gland which affects growth, fertility, metabolism, stress response, lactation and water balance. They invade surrounding structures such as the optic and cranial nerves (leading to visual loss) and the hypothalamus, which regulates key vital functions of body temperature and appetite. There are two types of CP, adamantinoumatous (ACPs) which have been associated with a mutation in the B-catenin gene and papillary (PCPs) associated with a mutation in the BRAF gene. Current treatment involves invasive neurosurgery and radiotherapy, which are associated with significant morbidity. Furthermore, despite this the incidence of tumour regrowth is very high. Importantly, there are no pharmacological treatments for these tumours and there is an urgent need to understand how these tumours grow and develop in order to change and identify new treatments. My research will concentrate on preliminary results, which strongly suggest that these tumours create an immune response that leads to local inflammation. These responses are not well understood, but are able to create an environment that benefits these tumours helping them evade the bodies immune system and hence making them more aggressive. I will be using a genetically modified mouse to identify and investigate the role of inflammation in the early development and progression of CPs. In parallel, I will be using human CP samples to investigate whether there is a correlation between the degree of inflammation within CPs and the incidence of tumour recurrence. My underlying hypothesis is that by understanding the inflammatory response that leads to CP formation and progression, I will be able to modify it, hence changing the tumour environment and slowing tumour growth. This could potentially lead to the exciting discovery of new pharmacological treatments that could slow CP growth and prevent tumour recurrence.

For nearly 900 million people living in Europe, mental disorders constitute the most significant yet most neglected public health problem: depression affects an estimated 30.3 million Europeans, snf psychotic disorders 5 million Europeans. People with severe and enduring mental ill health want the same things out of life as other citizens but are often placed in a vulnerable position and are hence afforded less opportunities to attain their goals and thus experience a lower quality of life, and have a lower life expectancy compared to the general population. For many countries that have undergone mental health services reform or have health systems in transition, efforts to make such comprehensive community-based mental health services available resulted in short-lived outcomes or are still to demonstrate substantial impact. RECOVER-E’s aims to ensure well-functioning community mental health teams in 5 countries in Europe (Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Montenegro), which will serve as the central node for coordination and provision of care for people with SMI. Our project narrows the implementation gap by going beyond infrastructure changes and pursuing the development of human resource capacity and care pathways that can be distilled in a comprehensive pathway to scale for regional and national decision-makers for uptake after the project’s life span. RECOVER-E will: 1) Develop evidence based care pathways and treatment protocols for transition to scale for regional and national decision makers in 5 implementation sites; 2) Establish a peer to peer capacity building partnership in community mental health by linking a European expert panel with key stakeholders in 5 implementation sites to co-create community mental health services for people with SMI) 3) Evaluate intervention elements that will enhance sustainable adoption and implementation of community-based mental health care for people with SMI, by carrying out implementation research.