Neuroscience grad makes stroke recovery discovery

June 11, 2025

Kamal Narayana with Craig Brown — Kamal Narayana pictured with his graduate supervisor Craig Brown.

A neuroscience graduate whose research focuses on improving the recovery of stroke survivors has been awarded best master’s thesis at the University of Victoria.

Kamal Narayana received the Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal on Wednesday at UVic’s convocation. The graduate student from the School of Medical Sciences says it took him a few days to process the good news.

“I did not expect this—I was doing my own thing,” he says.

Narayana’s research identified a gap in scientific literature about the role a specific gene, Serpine1 (Serp1) and its protein, 1/PAI-1, play on blood flow in the brain and the potential downstream effects following an ischemic stroke.

“The [genes] are highly expressed after stroke—there must be a reason why. There must be some reason why it’s only primarily found after a stroke,” he says. “We decided to take a look at Serp1 and its role in blood flow, blood pressure and brain stability.”

Kamal Narayana works in the Brown lab.

Globally, one in four people over age 25 will have a stroke in their lifetime. Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke that occurs when a blood clot or blockage interrupts blood flow to the brain, causing a lack of oxygen and nutrients to brain cells.

Narayana used a technique called gene knockdown to remove the Serp1 gene in preclinical models. He hypothesized that removing the gene would have a positive impact on stroke recovery by promoting greater blood flow to the brain.

Using a variety of light-based imaging techniques to assess blood flow changes in mouse models, Narayana found that removing the Serp1 gene didn’t reduce the number of blood clots. Instead, he found the opposite: Serph 1 lowered blood flow at a rate that supported better recovery after stroke.

“There were some lows and highs as we found the opposite that we hypothesized,” he says, with a laugh. “I thought, am I doing something wrong?”

In fact, Narayana had made an important discovery.

While restoring a minimum level of blood flow to stroke-affected areas is critical for preventing permanent cell death, especially in the first few hours after a stroke occurs, it is unknown if increasing blood flow is beneficial in the days that follow a stroke. One potential problem is that a long-lasting increase in blood flow in fragile, stroke-affected vessels, could lead to complications such as brain bleeds or hemorrhage.

“Maybe the real goal should be to provide a certain level of blood flow that allows cells to survive but also minimizes the potential for bleeds,” Narayana says.

The findings add to current research around blood flow and stroke and Narayana says the findings could inform future therapies.

Narayana’s supervisor, Professor Craig Brown, says the experiments generated new insights into how blood clotting pathways can have counterintuitive effects on brain blood flow after stroke.

“Importantly, Kamal's findings call into question the dogma that increased blood flow in the days and weeks after stroke is better for recovery,” Browns says. “This finding also has eye-opening implications for current and planned clinical trials.”

The results are so promising Brown’s lab was awarded $400,000 from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada to work on a project related to the research findings.

Kamal Naryana looks at preclinical model images.

It’s an impressive trajectory for Narayana, who had taken one neuroscience course in his undergraduate biochemistry degree at the University of British Columbia before coming to UVic.

Brown says Narayana has a natural gift for neuroscience and scientific research.

“Since arriving at UVic only two-and-a-half years ago, Kamal’s academic and scientific growth has been extraordinary. Despite having no formal training in neuroscience, Kamal achieved a perfect GPA in his graduate coursework,” Brown says.

Born in Uzbekistan to an Uzbek Russian mother and an Indian father, Narayana grew up in India, Dubai and Thailand before moving to Canada for his undergrad. Although his studies have focused on science, Narayana has a deep interest in how different cultures approach medicine, science and art.

As a volunteer who works with people recovering from strokes, he understands the long-term impact of stroke on people’s lives. Narayana hopes to incorporate clinical work into his career and to bring his love of the arts and science together with his commitment to social good.

“Stroke is not just about science—it's about policy,” he says. “We’ve gotten better in treating stroke initially in the acute phase. But in the policy aspect we’re lacking prevention and recovery programs.”

Whatever he does next, Narayana is hoping to link his passions for science and policy in stroke recovery.