The Natalie Kate Moss Trust has committed to raising £300,000 for the University of Manchester to fund further research into brain haemorrhage.

The charity was set up in 2012 following the sudden death of 26-year-old University of Manchester alumni, Natalie Moss, from a brain haemorrhage.

Over the last ten years, the charity has funded many scholarships for students attending the university who have suffered a brain injury and has made a number of smaller donations to support research activities.

This latest donation is a significant commitment from the charity and will fund the salary and running costs of a post PhD research fellow for three and a half years, within the stroke research team at the recently opened Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre.

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Haemorrhagic stroke – otherwise known as brain haemorrhage – is a subtype of stroke. Around half of all patients who experience this type of stroke will die, and this death rate has changed very little in the past thirty years. This is in stark contrast to other diseases that have seen death rates reduce substantially over that time.

There is currently no successful treatment for haemorrhagic stroke – making this is a key area of research focus for the Manchester Stroke Group. The university’s strengths in Neuroscience research and links with the UK’s largest clinical stroke centre make Manchester particularly well-placed to lead the search for better treatments.

Natalie’s sister and co-founder of the Natalie Kate Moss Trust, Fiona Moss, recently shared her sister’s story as part of the University of Manchester’s own stroke research appeal, helping it to raise over £100,000 to fund a three-and-a-half-year PhD student who will work alongside the new research fellow. Together, the new researchers will increase capacity in the Manchester stroke team and support the search for life-saving new treatments.

Professor Stuart Allan, from the University of Manchester, said: “We are incredibly grateful for this fantastic commitment from the Natalie Kate Moss Trust and I am so proud to lead the team of researchers who are currently undertaking ground-breaking work in stroke.

“This commitment to £300,000 funding will enable us to attract and support a very talented young scientist and to fund their work over the next three and a half years, helping them to launch their research career as well as build capacity in our expanding haemorrhagic research team.”

Fiona Moss, co-founder and trustee of the Natalie Kate Moss Trust, said: “We are really excited and honoured to be able to make this commitment to Professor Allan and his team at the University of Manchester. After working with them for almost ten years now, it is incredible to see how far they have come and we are really excited that this funding pledge will enable the team to do so much more work in to the causes and treatment of brain haemorrhage.

“As a family, we have experienced the heartbreak of losing a young daughter and sister to a sudden brain haemorrhage and we feel proud to be able to make this commitment to them in Natalie’s memory.”

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