{"id":577985,"date":"2025-11-18T09:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T09:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/577985\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T09:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T09:23:19","slug":"sheffield-neurologist-becomes-first-mnd-association-rob-burrow-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/577985\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield neurologist becomes first MND Association Rob Burrow Professor"},"content":{"rendered":"

A neurologist and geneticist at the University of Sheffield has been appointed to the first Rob Burrow Professorship in Translational Neurobiology named after the late rugby league player Rob Burrow CBE. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Funded by the MND Association in honour of its late patron, the Professorship was awarded to Dr Johnathan Cooper-Knock who is based at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN).<\/p>\n

The award means he can accelerate his work hunting for genes underpinning motor neurone disease (MND) and reveal new avenues for treatment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rob\u2019s parents Geoff and Irene Burrow were among the first to congratulate Dr Cooper-Knock while visiting SITraN\u2019s world-class MND research facilities earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Dr Cooper-Knock said: \u201cThis Professorship is occurring at a truly exciting moment in the fight against MND with lots of new treatments in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, currently there is a gap in our knowledge \u2013 for the majority of patients we simply don\u2019t know why the disease starts, even though we know genetics plays a part.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this role I\u2019m hoping to fill this gap. We\u2019re taking a new approach \u2013 instead of only looking at the motor neurons \u2013 the cells that die \u2013 we\u2019re studying how they interact with every other cell around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cFocusing on the whole picture is our best chance to find the hidden gene faults which can then become new drug targets to slow down or treat MND.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some promising leads from our work already and I really feel we are on the cusp of something exciting. In three years\u2019 time I hope we have at least one treatment in a clinical trial and several more in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the incredible support of the MND Association and the Burrow family, I\u2019m confident we are close to delivering real hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord.<\/p>\n

It attacks the nerves that control movement so muscles no longer work. It can leave people locked in a failing body, unable to move, talk and eventually breathe.<\/p>\n

The disease kills six people per day in the UK \u2013 just under 2,200 per year \u2013 and there is currently no cure.<\/p>\n

Rob Burrow was diagnosed with MND in 2019.<\/p>\n

A rugby league icon, he became a tireless advocate for MND awareness and the need for greater investment into research.<\/p>\n

Rob\u2019s courage, public campaigning, and determination to make a difference for other people with MND inspired the nation. He died in June 2024, aged 41.<\/p>\n

Rob\u2019s legacy and the amazing fundraising from many, including his best friend Kevin Sinfield CBE, has driven forward MND research, including this Professorship in Rob\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Dr Brian Dickie MBE, chief scientist at the MND Association said: \u201cWe are forever grateful to Rob for helping to make more people aware of how devastating this disease is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis award recognises Rob\u2019s drive to find effective treatments for MND and his determination to accelerate MND research so no one else would have to face the same diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope this work paves the way for a very different outlook for people with MND in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geoff Burrow, Rob\u2019s father said: \u201cFunding for MND research gives us hope that one day there will be an end to MND.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob worked so hard to fundraise to help find treatments and I am so proud this Professorship, funded by the MND Association, is in his name.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was inspiring to visit SITraN to see the research taking place there and meet Professor Johnathan Cooper-Knock, who is absolutely amazing. Irene and I couldn\u2019t have wished for anyone better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A neurologist and geneticist at the University of Sheffield has been appointed to the first Rob Burrow Professorship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-577985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115569978486762196","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}