iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Really pleased our new preprint is up! 🏈🧠 We explored head acceleration, previous contact-sport experience, and cognitive change across a British American football season. Small study, cautious conclusions. Feedback welcome! #TBI #Science #Brainhealth doi.org/10.64898/202...

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I’m recruiting public contributors to help shape my Alzheimer’s Research UK-funded work on head impacts and future brain health. No scientific experience is needed. Paid role, with online and Exeter meetings. Interested? Email p.weightman-potter2@exeter.ac.uk by 31 Oct 2026. Please share! #PPIE

Green and cream recruitment graphic titled “Help shape research: Head impacts and future brain health”. It advertises a paid public contributor role involving online and Exeter-based meetings. No scientific experience is needed. Expressions of interest should be emailed to p.weightman-potter2@exeter.ac.uk by 31 October 2026. The graphic includes illustrations of a brain, extracellular vesicle-like particles, and an American football helmet.

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

My new fellowship began long before the award. ARUK pilot funding supported the fieldwork and helped us validate neuron-enriched EV isolation, detect tau in pilot samples, and test EV effects in human neural-cell models. Now we can build on that groundwork at a much larger scale. 🧠🔬 #neuroscience

A selfie of me working in the lab getting ready to do some experiments

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The project, Shake, Shed, Spread, asks whether tiny packages released by neurons after head impacts are simply markers of exposure, or whether they carry harmful forms of tau and disrupt how brain cells manage energy and inflammation. 2/5

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Some very good news: I’ve been awarded a three-year @alzheimersresearchuk.org Research Fellowship! 🧠 From October, I’ll build an independent programme exploring how repeated head impacts may contribute to dementia-related brain changes. Pictured with some of our public contributors. 🧵 1/5

Group photo of me (far right) and some of the public involvement team

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

🧪 A quick look behind the scenes. This 30 second clip condenses 25 minutes of prep for a metabolism assay on human brain cells ( #microglia ). Careful pipetting, clean technique, and lots of repetition. This is where the data begins. #lablife #neuroscience #braininury #science

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

🧪 First look at our neuron derived EVs after head impact exposure in American football. ExoCheck neuronal panel shows at least two neuronal markers and an EV marker, with no cellular contamination. Image from today’s run. #EVs #TBI #AmericanFootball #Biomarkers #Science #BrainInjury

Greyscale dot blot from an ExoCheck neuronal panel. EV markers CD63, CD9, CD81, and TSG101 show clear spots. Cellular contamination controls CANX and ICAM1 are absent. On the right, a strong positive control is visible and neuronal markers L1CAM and NCAM1 are positive. Overall pattern supports successful isolation of neuron derived extracellular vesicles from post game samples.

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

👏 Huge kudos to @braininjuryhrc.bsky.social for the Unmet Needs Directory. This needs more attention! 70 needs identified, 55 validated, mapping gaps from A&E to rehab and prevention. A brilliant launchpad for real solutions. hrc-braininjury.nihr.ac.uk/dun #BrainInjury #Research #neuroscience

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Your #brain has a sweet tooth! I recently gave a talk to @headwayuk.bsky.social about our #TBI research. Here's a little snippet. Look at Headway's YouTube channel for the full video. #braininjury

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

🧠 Concussions shorten time to next injury This is still one of my favourite papers 10 years on. Even when following return-to-play guidelines, players had: 📉 50% shorter time until their next injury 📈 60% higher overall injury risk bjsm.bmj.com/content/50/1... #BrainHealth #Concussion #TBI

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Want to know more about how American Football impacts your brain health? I've got a study going and looking to recruit participants! 4 hours of your time and a little bit of blood, ideally in Exeter, but could also do Bristol, UK Any questions? Please contact me by DM or email #BrainHealth #TBI

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

🧠 How do ketones support brain function? Ketones provide energy ⚡ and may reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain. They help support mitochondria 🧬 and keep brain signalling healthy. This makes them useful in brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. #Ketones #BrainHealth #Metabolism

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

What are #ketones and why does your #brain care? 🧠 Ketones are alternative fuel made by your body or acquired from supplements. Your brain uses them, especially when glucose is less available, like during injury. They also have anti-inflammatory functions. #BrainFuel #Neuroscience #BrainHealth

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Took this near Dinorwig Quarry on our one-year wedding anniversary. As researchers, it's easy to get lost in the #lab or laptop. But moments in nature aren't a luxury. They support #mentalhealth, creativity, and perspective. Time outside is time well spent. #BrainHealth #WorkLifeBalance

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Appropriate water brand choice for an Alzheimer's conference! #tau #alzheimersdisease #brain

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Here's another picture I enjoy of #astrocytes. Here we have a particularly ramified #astrocyte. Where green is showing GFAP (part of their cytoskeleton), red is showing #mitochondria, and blue is the nucleus. Beautiful. #glia #neuroscience #research #brain

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

I love my students' smiley faces on the cells they are culturing. Some kind of positive affirmation that they will behave themselves! #research #brain

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Being an academic means balancing research and teaching. Proud of my award for being a "supporting hand" on the #neuroscience program @exeter.ac.uk for my support of undergraduate students. Hopefully inspiring the next generation of #brain researchers.

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Love capturing the beauty of research. Here's a picture of mitochondria in a human primary astrocyte cell. Proof that they're not just the "egg-shaped" organelles you see in textbooks. #mitochondria #research #glia #neuroscience

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

“To examine each part [of the brain] thoroughly requires so much time and such application of mind that it would be necessary to give up all other labours and all other considerations on that particular task.” Niels Steensen 1638-1686 #neuroscience

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Dr Paul Weightman Potter @drwp.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Fun visual from my undergraduate project students' work. After microglia are exposed to blast injury, their mitochondrial function is impaired, leading to an increase in inflammation. But what about glycolysis – how do you think it's affected? #Neuroscience #Braininjury #Research #Glia #Microglia

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