The concept of neuroprotection has shown promise in experimental studies, but has failed to translate into clinical success.By preventing salvageable neurons from dying, neuroprotection seeks to restrict injury to the brain following an ischaemic insult. Many reasons exist for this translational failure including the heterogeneity of human stroke and the lack of methodological agreement between pre-clinical and clinical studies, in the translational edition of the International Journal of Stroke Dr Brad Sutherland et al from the Acute Stroke Programme, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom address this in their manuscript Neuroprotection for ischaemic stroke: translation from the bench to the bedside Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins, Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Dr Brad Sutherland.