The Headache Research Lab is based within Wolfson CARD, King’s College London and Dr Anna Andreou is the Primary Investigator of the Lab (Andreou Lab).
Anna Andreou is the Director of Headache Research at The Headache Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust and a Senior Lecturer within Wolfson CARD, King’s College London.
The Headache Research Lab focuses on the neurobiology of primary and secondary headaches and in developing novel therapies to prevent headaches. Although many advances have been achieved around the neurobiology of headaches over the past decade, their actual pathophysiology remains unclear. Most importantly, the available treatments for patients are largely ineffective with further socioeconomic impacts. Understanding the pathological and cellular events that occur before and after a headache attack and targeting these with novel, disease-specific therapies is the main goal of the Andreou Lab.
Our research spans two main themes:
A. Mechanistic research into understanding disease biology and processes at the cellular and molecular level:
· Investigation of the role of novel ion channels in the trigeminovascular system
· Investigation of sensory brain pathways involved in migraine, trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias’ (TACs) pathophysiology and facial pain
· Proteomics/metabolomics, biomarkers and novel targets
B. Translational research aimed at developing novel therapies to prevent and treat primary headaches, and understanding the mechanism of action of current treatments:
· Identifying novel, targeted acute and preventive treatments for migraine, TACs and facial pain with less side effects
· Investigation of the mechanism of action of neuromodulation techniques in headaches treatment
