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Vacuum cleaning and drainage: Fixing the brain’s housekeeping Did you know there’s a lymphatic system just outside the brain? When it’s working well, fluid moves through our brain, washes out the waste and drains to our lymph nodes. Neuro-researcher Dr Taylor Stevenson (pictured right) refers to this as ‘brainwashing.’ When the systemmalfunctions, however – such as in Parkinson’s disease – harmful proteins build up around the brain’s borders, causing inflammation and blocking the waste-clearing system. Taylor is determined to figure out the mechanisms of what is going wrong, so that therapies can be developed. He says that focusing on the meninges, which sit outside the brain, means treatment could be delivered without having to pass the blood-brain barrier – a notoriously difficult challenge in medicine. Taylor was awarded the PhilipWrightson Fellowship as well as a project grant* in 2025, totaling more than half a million dollars. To receive both personal and project grants at the same time is very rare, and he couldn’t be more grateful. Taylor has been supported by the Neurological Foundation for years. He started as a Gillespie scholar studying Parkinson’s disease. After that he was awarded a First Fellowship, during which time he discovered that meningeal inflammation is largely caused by macrophages – which he describes as professional vacuum cleaners – that directly disrupt the brain’s drainage system in Parkinson’s disease. In his latest work, he’ll use live imaging techniques – which he’ll learn atWashington University in St Louis, USA – to pinpoint where the dysfunction is happening. Once that’s established, researchers can start looking at developing therapies. Taylor says it’s possible that an existing drug, such as one currently approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis, could be repurposed. “We want to test the idea that if we block inflammation, do we see clearance start up again?” He dreams of an eventual clinical trial here in New Zealand. “It’s the pinnacle of science,” he says. What keeps him so invested in his work? “You are always on the cusp of finding out something. In the past, explorers discovered new continents or pioneered space travel. This is our equivalent. “Everything we do is new. That’s what keeps me there.” *with co-principal investigator Dr Justin Rustenhoven 24 25