Dubbed the Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN), the NIH-funded program, under the leadership of Patrick Lyden, MD, professor of Physiology and Neuroscience at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute of the Keck School of Medicine at USC, will assess the effectiveness of six potential therapies for stroke. The researchers also are charged with investigating whether applying higher standards of rigor to preclinical research—that is, phases of medical research that take place before therapies are tested in humans—could produce results that are more likely to succeed in human clinical trials.