Board of Trustees position for RISES academic

The study of movement and the structure of our bodies has long been an established part of the award-winning Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences (RISES). The ultimate aim of all research is to benefit society through world class research, and the Biomechanics Research Group has been making an impact in the medical community on a local, national and international level.

Dr Gabor Barton, from the Biomechanics Research Group based at the School has been accepted onto the Board of Trustees of the Vincent Foundation which aims to raise awareness of and support research into treatment of brain injuries.  The Foundation was formed in 2014 by Jean-Yves Sireau and his brother, Dr Nicolas Sireau, to seek better treatments for Jean-Yves's son, Vincent, who suffered an anoxic brain injury in 2012.

This position comes about through Dr Barton’s research in clinical biomechanics throughout the community and local hospitals, including working with cerebral palsy children in the NHS (Alder Hey Children’s Hospital).  This area of work focuses on the rehabilitation of movement function through the training and testing of core control using Virtual Reality games.  

Research, leading to Dr Barton’s new role, has also taken place with the National Alkaptonuria Centre (NAC) at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.  Alkaptonuria (AKU) is a rare metabolic disease which can damage internal organs.  Dr Barton’s team performs clinical gait analysis for all AKU patients in the UK. In collaboration with the University of Liverpool, the group examines the natural progression of the disease with a focus on changes in movement function due to a special form of osteoarthritis which develops in patients with alkaptonuria. A clinical drug trial of Nitisinone is currently under way and an advanced form of gait analysis contributes to identifying the optimal timing of treatment.

The Biomechanics Research Group