Dr Hannah Botfield PhD, MRes, BSc

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Research Fellow

Contact details

Email: h.botfield@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @Dr_Bots

Address: Department of Inflammation and Ageing
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Hannah Botfield is a research fellow based within the Department of Inflammation and Ageing.

Her research interest is in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics in health and disease. Her work focusses on understanding the pathology behind CSF dysfunction in disorders such as hydrocephalus and haemorrhagic stroke, with an emphasis on the role of inflammation, matrix biology and ageing.

Qualifications

PhD in Neuroscience, University of Birmingham, 2014
MRes in Tissue engineering, repair and regeneration, University of Birmingham, 2010
BSc in Biomedical Science, Cardiff University, 2008

Biography

Hannah graduated with a BSc from Cardiff University in 2008 and moved to the University of Birmingham where she completed an MRes (2010) before embarking on a PhD, ‘modelling and preventing the development of chronic communicating hydrocephalus’ with Prof Ann Logan and Dr Ana Maria Gonzalez. During her PhD Hannah collaborated with Prof Pat McAllister, and was awarded a Postgraduate Researcher Overseas Work Experience Scholarship to work in his lab at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, USA) for 3 months.

After graduating her PhD in 2014 Hannah commenced a post-doctoral position with Prof Alexandra Sinclair, which focussed on idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) and repurposing GLP-1R agonists for use in raised ICP conditions. During this time she spent over a year working at the world-leading Danish Headache Center (Copenhagen, Denmark) in collaboration with Prof Rigmor Jensen.

Recently she has been awarded a Wellcome ISSF Accelerator Fellowship (2017) and a Medical Research Foundation Award (2019) to develop her research in CSF dynamics and stroke.

Teaching

Undergraduate teaching

Biomedical Science BSc

Postgraduate supervision

Post-graduate supervisor

Research

Research interests

Hannah’s research focusses on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) disorders such as idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), hydrocephalus and haemorrhagic stroke. She also conducts research into ocular disorders such as glaucoma which shares similar dysregulated fluid dynamics.

She is interested in understanding how changes in fluid dynamics, inflammation, matrix biology and ageing contribute to pathology in order to develop novel therapeutic strategies to improve patient outcome.

Current projects

Investigating anti-scarring agents to treat inflammation and fibrosis in post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus
Determining the impact of haemorrhagic stroke on fluid dynamics and brain ageing
Developing in vitro models of haemorrhagic stroke to determine the impact of blood products on the brain
Developing anti-scarring eye drops for anterior segment fibrosis in glaucoma

Other activities

Member of:

British Neuroscience Association
Society for Endocrinology
British Inflammation Research Association

Current member of the Postdoctoral and Early Researcher Career Training and Development committee at the University of Birmingham

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Mugo, CW, Church, E, Horniblow, RD, Mollan, SP, Botfield, H, Hill, LJ, Sinclair, AJ & Grech, O 2025, 'Unravelling the gut-brain connection: a systematic review of migraine and the gut microbiome', The Journal of Headache and Pain, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 125. https://doi.org/10.1186/s10194-025-02039-7

Hardy, RS, Botfield, H, Markey, K, Mitchell, JL, Alimajstorovic, Z, Westgate, CSJ, Sagmeister, M, Fairclough, RJ, Ottridge, RS, Yiangou, A, Storbeck, K-HH, Taylor, AE, Gilligan, LC, Arlt, W, Stewart, PM, Tomlinson, JW, Mollan, SP, Lavery, GG & Sinclair, AJ 2021, '11βHSD1 inhibition with AZD4017 improves lipid profiles and lean muscle mass in Idiopathic intracranial hypertension', Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol. 106, no. 1, pp. 174-187. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa766

Hill, LJ, Botfield, H, Begum, G, Qureshi, O, Vigneswara, V, Masood, I, Barnes, N, Bruce, L & Logan, A 2021, 'ILB® resolves inflammatory scarring and promotes functional tissue repair', npj Regenerative Medicine, vol. 6, no. 1, 3. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41536-020-00110-2

Westgate, C, Botfield, H, Alimajstorovic, Z, Yiangou, A, Walsh, M, Smith, G, Singhal, R, Mitchell, J, Grech, O, Markey, K, Hebenstreit, D, Tennant, D, Tomlinson, J, Mollan, S, Ludwig, C, Akerman, I, Lavery, G & Sinclair, A 2021, 'Systemic and adipocyte transcriptional and metabolic dysregulation in idiopathic intracranial hypertension', JCI Insight, vol. 6, no. 10, e145346. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.145346

Markey, K, Mitchell, J, Botfield, H, Ottridge, R, Matthews, T, Krishnan, A, Woolley, R, Westgate, C, Yiangou, A, Alimajstorovic, Z, Shah, P, Rick, C, Ives, N, Taylor, A, Gilligan, L, Jenkinson, C, Arlt, W, Scotton, W, Fairclough, RJ, Singhal, R, Stewart, PM, Tomlinson, JW, Lavery, G, Mollan, S & Sinclair, A 2020, '11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 inhibition in idiopathic intracranial hypertension: a double-blind randomized controlled trial', Brain Communications, vol. 2, no. 1, fcz050. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcz050

OʼReilly, MW, Westgate, C, Hornby, C, Botfield, H, Taylor, A, Markey, K, Mitchell, J, Scotton, W, Mollan, S, Yiangou, A, Jenkinson, C, Gilligan, L, Sherlock, M, Gibney, J, Tomlinson, JW, Lavery, G, Hodson, D, Arlt, W & Sinclair, A 2019, 'A unique androgen excess signature in idiopathic intracranial hypertension is linked to cerebrospinal fluid dynamics', JCI Insight, vol. 4, no. 6, e125348. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.125348

Scotton, WJ, Mollan, SP, Botfield, H, Yiangou, A, Markey, K, Sinclair, AJ, Walters, T, Doughty, S & Williamson, S 2018, 'Characterising the patient experience of diagnostic lumbar puncture in idiopathic intracranial hypertension: a cross-sectional online survey', BMJ open, vol. 8, no. 5, e020445. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020445

Abstract

Hewitt, B & Botfield, H 2025, 'An in vitro model of post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus', Brain and Neuroscience Advances, vol. 9, 23982128251339055, pp. 2-3. https://doi.org/10.1177/23982128251339055

Roberts, L, Hewitt, BJ, Kitchen, P, Bill, R & Botfield, H 2025, 'Distribution and localisation of the water channel, AQP4, in organotypic brain slice cultures', Brain and Neuroscience Advances, vol. 9, 23982128251339055, pp. 2-2. https://doi.org/10.1177/23982128251339055

Preprint

Hewitt, BJ, Roberts, L, Roberts, JA, Fulton, D, Hill, L, Kitchen, P, Bill, RM & Botfield, H 2025 'Adult organotypic brain slice cultures recapitulate extracellular matrix remodelling in haemorrhagic stroke' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.15.665021

Roberts, JA, Batie, M, Ponsford, AH, Poh, J, Hewitt, BJ, Botfield, HF, Hill, LJ, Sanderson, CM, Rocha, S & Sharma, P 2025 'NRF2 upregulation by CDDO-Me protects AC16 human cardiomyocytes against doxorubicin-induced toxicity.' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.10.675420

Hewitt, BJ, Ali, M, Hubbard, J, Hill, LJ & Botfield, H 2024 'The double-edged sword of transforming growth factor β 1: a systematic review of pre-clinical stroke models' Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4687466/v1

Review article

Moorey, HC, McCluskey-White, LM, Andleeb, S, Botfield, HF & Jackson, TA 2025, 'A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Role of Peripheral Inflammation in Delirium', Brain and Behavior, vol. 15, no. 10, e70979. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.70979

Hewitt, BJ, Ali, M, Hubbard, J, Hill, LJ & Botfield, H 2025, 'A Systematic Review of the Differential Effects of TGF-β1 in Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Preclinical Stroke Models', Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 14, no. 14, e037890. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.124.037890

Anwar, R, Bellamy Plaice, G, Geddes, A, Botfield, HF, Hill, LJ & Masood, I 2024, 'Understanding Factors Contributing to Glaucoma in Populations of African Descent', Journal of Clinical & Translational Ophthalmology, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 155-170. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcto2040013

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