PIONEERING research into stem cell therapy for stroke patients is to progress to a new stage at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.

The work is being carried out by experts from Glasgow University in partnership with pharmaceutical company ReNeuron.

A trial is looking at the safety of injecting expanded neural stem cells, in increasing doses, into the brains of 12 patients left disabled by an ischaemic stroke, the most common form of the condition, and monitoring them over a period of two years.

The independent Data Safety Monitoring Board for the clinical trial has recommended the trial advances after a successful study of the method which involved six patients.