Scientists unlock brain’s natural clean-up system to develop new treatments for stroke and other neurological diseases

Image depicts the lymphatic vessels on the surface of the brain (green) alongside cell nuclei stained in blue.

2 December 2025

Scientists from Monash University are partnering with colleagues at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., to develop a new, high-tech approach for treating ischemic stroke by enhancing removal of toxic waste products from the brain.

The “brain-draining lymphatics” are a set of drainage pathways that clear waste from the brain, with dysfunction of this “clean-up and drainage network” linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological and neurodegenerative diseases (NNDs).

The work is being done in collaboration with faculty at Yale School of Medicine, including Anne Eichmann, PhD, Lindsay McAlpine, MD, and Jean-Leon Thomas, PhD.

It was the Yale team who originally found that improving brain-draining lymphatic function can boost recovery following ischemic stroke. Together, Yale and the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) are now developing non-invasive devices that help the neck’s lymphatic vessels pump more effectively, improving the clearance of excess fluid and harmful waste from the brain right after stroke has occurred – at a time when every second counts.

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