Glial Reactivity During The Post-acute Phase Of Stroke: A Target For Promoting Functional Recovery
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$547,307.00
Summary
Recent studies suggest that the development of a type of scar around damaged tissue in the brain following a stroke can limit recovery. Our studies will improve understanding of events leading to scar formation and will test whether modifying these events can improve functional recovery in experimental stroke. The studies have excellent potential to identify targets for treatments that will reduce the long-term debilitating effects of stroke even when administered well after its onset.
Neuronal Linking Of Attention, Perception And Action
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$586,469.00
Summary
We are able to perceive and interact with the environment around us primarily because a filter of attention selects just the objects or features of relevance in the world and helps to make appropriate motor responses. This project will study how attentional networks of the brain operate to link our perception and action. An understanding of this process is fundamental to revealing the underlying pathology in many neurological conditions where attention is impaired.
Effectiveness Of Ghrelin Receptor Agonists To Limit The Extent Of Tissue Damage Caused By Traumatic Injury To The Central Nervous System
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$592,002.00
Summary
Ghrelin is a naturally occurring compound that under adverse conditions can activate specific receptors on cells around the body to enhance their survival. These receptors are also present in the spinal cord, but ghrelin doesn't enter the spinal cord. We will investigate a new group of compounds that can enter the spinal cord and activate these receptors to see if this can reduce the amount of damage that occurs after a spinal cord injury. Less tissue damage would mean less permanent disability.
Roles Of Peripherally Derived BDNF In Regeneration Of Spinal Cord And The Mechanisms
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$472,770.00
Summary
Injury to the brain and spinal cord often leads to permanent disability due to lack of regeneration. The mechanism why central nerve does not regenerate is not known. Neurotrophic factors are powerful molecules which can overcome effects of inhibitory factors on regeneration. This project aims to investigate how neurotrophic factors override the effects of inhibitory factors and how to improve the regeneration by increasing the production of neurotrophic factors within nerves. Successful complet ....Injury to the brain and spinal cord often leads to permanent disability due to lack of regeneration. The mechanism why central nerve does not regenerate is not known. Neurotrophic factors are powerful molecules which can overcome effects of inhibitory factors on regeneration. This project aims to investigate how neurotrophic factors override the effects of inhibitory factors and how to improve the regeneration by increasing the production of neurotrophic factors within nerves. Successful completion of this project will help understanding the mechanism of how neurotrophic factors work on regeneration and developing the effective way to improve regeneration of the injured spinal cord.Read moreRead less
Epileptic convulsions are common, disrupt social life and may occasionally cause death. They can occur spontaneously in individuals whose brains appear to be physically normal. Apart from the fact that epilepsy may run in families, the processes leading to spontaneous convulsions are not known. We measure the brain's electrical rhythms (EEG) to find out which rhythms are disturbed in people with epilepsy and whether these rhythms disrupt the brain to cause attacks. In preliminary studies in pati ....Epileptic convulsions are common, disrupt social life and may occasionally cause death. They can occur spontaneously in individuals whose brains appear to be physically normal. Apart from the fact that epilepsy may run in families, the processes leading to spontaneous convulsions are not known. We measure the brain's electrical rhythms (EEG) to find out which rhythms are disturbed in people with epilepsy and whether these rhythms disrupt the brain to cause attacks. In preliminary studies in patients with generalised epilepsy, we have identified abnormally strong rhythms that are almost certainly related to epilepsy causation and our studies are in part aimed at making our findings into a diagnostic test. Our findings may even enable individuals with epilepsy to test themselves for their immediate risk of seizure. Both of these outcomes should enable improved treatment for epilepsy. In addition to benefits in epilepsy, there are potential benefits in the diagnosis of cerebral degenerative disorders if changes in the rhythms also occur in these conditions.Read moreRead less
TorsinA Mediated Dystonia, Functional Analysis And Molecular Models
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$479,817.00
Summary
The dystonias represent a group of movement disorders characterised by sustained muscle contraction, resulting in twisting and abnormal postures. Current treatment regimes may provide some measure of symptomatic relief, but are often unsatisfactory and limited by adverse side effects. The prevalence of dystonia is estimated at approximately 300 cases per million population. Dystonia is a complex disorder, the causes and disease mechanisms are not well understood. However, in the past 10 years se ....The dystonias represent a group of movement disorders characterised by sustained muscle contraction, resulting in twisting and abnormal postures. Current treatment regimes may provide some measure of symptomatic relief, but are often unsatisfactory and limited by adverse side effects. The prevalence of dystonia is estimated at approximately 300 cases per million population. Dystonia is a complex disorder, the causes and disease mechanisms are not well understood. However, in the past 10 years several genes have been identified that can cause dystonia. The overall aim of this proposal is to characterise a gene that causes dystonia when disrupted. Understanding the function of this gene may significantly advance our understanding of this disorder. Using these results, we aim to model dystonia in cellular and animal systems; these may provide powerful insight into the molecular pathway(s) perturbed in dystonia and a means to develop novel therapeutic approaches to alleviate or prevent the disorder.Read moreRead less
Novel Assessments Of The Central And Peripheral Control Of The Human Hand
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,105.00
Summary
This is a study of how the human hand works. The hand is supremely adapted for manual skills ranging from writing and playing a musical instrument to non-verbal communications via gesture and pointing. How is the range of hand skills achieved? We are motivated to study this because the ability of the hand to recovery from some neurological disorders, particularly stroke, is very poor. One important element in virtually all activities of the hand is precise movement of the thumb. The tip of the t ....This is a study of how the human hand works. The hand is supremely adapted for manual skills ranging from writing and playing a musical instrument to non-verbal communications via gesture and pointing. How is the range of hand skills achieved? We are motivated to study this because the ability of the hand to recovery from some neurological disorders, particularly stroke, is very poor. One important element in virtually all activities of the hand is precise movement of the thumb. The tip of the thumb is flexed by a single muscle, a muscle only present in humans. We want to determine how this muscle works, and how the force it produces affects the whole hand. We will use specialised neurophysiological techniques to do this in human volunteers. There is no comparable animal model for this type of work due to significant differences at both the level of the brain and the level of the muscle. Second, we want to understand better how the cells in the spinal cord which control the hand (and other) muscles work. We have two new ways to do this, including a novel technique which can activate these cells with a form of stimulation that may help us improve functional electrical stimulation. Finally, with 27 bones and more than 25 muscles which operate it, the hand is not simple to control. We will use a new apparatus to measure how well it is controlled, and we will directly stimulate the motor areas of the brain to evaluate the control. From this, we will come up with new understanding, as well as new stimulus and measurement techniques that can be applied to patients with impaired hand function, as occurs all too often after stroke.Read moreRead less
We propose to establish the Australian Mouse Brain Mapping Consortium which is a national network of facilities allowing Australian researchers to better characterise mouse models of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease and stroke. Just as accurate maps were key to the voyages of geographic discovery in the 17th and 18th century, improved methods of mapping structural and functional changes in the brain of mouse models of neurological disease will be key to discovery in the neurosci ....We propose to establish the Australian Mouse Brain Mapping Consortium which is a national network of facilities allowing Australian researchers to better characterise mouse models of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease and stroke. Just as accurate maps were key to the voyages of geographic discovery in the 17th and 18th century, improved methods of mapping structural and functional changes in the brain of mouse models of neurological disease will be key to discovery in the neurosciences in the 21st century . For the Consortium the cartographic tools will be magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), microscopy and sophisticated computational methods of mapping brain structure and function. Participants in the Consortium are internationally recognised leaders in brain imaging based at Monash University, the Howard Florey Institute, the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute and the Centre for Magnetic Resonance and the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland.Read moreRead less
Cell Death In The Retina: Analysing The Switch That Triggers Dependency On Target-derived Trophic Factors
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$428,414.00
Summary
Construction of the developing nervous system in the embryo involves the creation of nerve cells and their connections, but also involves loss of a proportion of these cells prior to maturation. We will study this process of cell death and how developing nerve cells switch on their dependency to survival factors. In so doing we will better understand what happens when brain development goes wrong and also devise new ways to protect nerve cells in the injured or degenerate adult nervous system.