Neurological Foundation Announces July Grants

Neurological Foundation Announces July 2010 Grant Round Recipients

The Neurological Foundation of New Zealand has today announced research grants, travel grants and scholarships totalling nearly $750,000 for its July 2010 funding round. The Neurological Foundation is the primary non-government sponsor of neurological research in this country.

Foundation Executive Director Max Ritchie says “This grant round’s recipients continue to demonstrate the highly innovative thinking that enables New Zealand to remain at the leading edge of research into the understanding, prevention and treatment of neurological disorders. Furthermore, this innovation provides hope for the one in five New Zealanders who will be struck with a brain disorder in their lifetime.”

The Foundation awarded a Repatriation Fellowship in the July round - a significant scholarship established to encourage gifted young scientists working abroad to return to New Zealand and continue their careers. “We are thrilled to award the Repatriation Fellowship to Dr Peter Freestone, allowing him to return from a two-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Rome and foster his promising career on these shores,” Mr Ritchie says. Dr Freestone will study in the Department of Physiology at the University of Auckland upon his return.

The July grants allocated include the funding of the following four Project Grants, and three Small Project Grants (attached):

• a large research project focusing on the use of MRI to capture changes in the brain associated with anxiety in people with Parkinson’s disease
• the exploration of the mechanisms of neuron (nerve cell) death in Alzheimer’s disease; understanding neuron survival may lead to potential drug discovery
• the evaluation of the plasticity of the visual brain areas following injury to the nerve of sight (optic nerve); potential to inform new and innovative treatment modalities
• the study of the endocytosis (the process by which substances are taken into a cell) of Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) by neurons; aiming to provide new insights into neurodegeneration relevant to Parkinson’s disease

Research project summaries overleaf

The Neurological Foundation is an independent body and charitable trust and its funding has facilitated many of New Zealand’s top neuroscientists’ pioneering breakthroughs. Without the ongoing support of individual New Zealanders the Foundation could not commit to progressing research to the high level that it does. Ninety-eight per cent of funding comes from donations and bequests.

If you would like to know more about the work of the Neurological Foundation, or if you require information regarding neurological conditions, contact the national office on (09) 309 7749 or visit www.neurological.org.nz

Neurological Foundation Repatriation Fellowship

Repatriation Fellowships are intended to support the repatriation of outstanding young researchers who have recently completed post-doctoral studies outside New Zealand and who propose to return to New Zealand and conduct research in scientific fields of relevance to the Neurological Foundation.

Endocannabinoid modulation of dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia Nigra pars compacta – function in health and implications for disease

Dr Peter Freestone, Department of Physiology
University of Auckland, $88,000

Recent studies discovered that the brain produces its own ‘endocannabinoid’ compounds resembling the action of the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana (cannabis). In many brain regions, endocannabinoids regulate the flow of information between brain cells, yet little is known about their function in dopaminergic neurons, the cells that die in Parkinson’s disease. Evidence suggests that endocannabinoids could be important in the development of Parkinson’s disease, and in its treatment. This study will find out how endocannabinoids interact with dopaminergic neurons and help to evaluate the therapeutic potential of endocannabinoids for Parkinson’s disease.

Specialist Postgraduate Training in Neuropathology

Dr Clinton Turner, Department of Anatomical Pathology,
Auckland City Hospital, $57,000

Neuropathology deals with diseases of the brain, nerves, and muscle. It is an important medical discipline that involves diagnosis of a wide range of diseases including brain tumours and Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropathology is highly specialised and requires subspecialty training by doctors who have already trained in pathology. Currently there is a shortage of neuropathologists, and only one recognised neuropathologist is practicing in New Zealand. This Fellowship will allow Dr Clinton Turner to spend time at the University of Edinburgh, Department of Neuropathology to gain additional training in neuropathology. Following this he will return to New Zealand and undertake diagnostic practice.

PROJECT GRANTS

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Anxiety in Parkinson’s Disease

Dr Toni Pitcher, University of Otago
Christchurch, $179,899

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects 1% of the population aged over 60. Often people with PD suffer non-motor disturbances along with the classic motor symptoms. Anxiety is a common non-motor disturbance reported in PD and can add significantly to the burden of disease for both the patient and caregivers. The research team, led by Dr Pitcher, will be located at the Van der Veer Institute in Christchurch, and aims to use advanced brain imaging techniques to extend their knowledge of changes in the brain associated with anxiety in people with PD. Use of such techniques may be used in the future to predict treatment response or to monitor responses to treatment regimens.


Role of TRPV4 channels in astrocyte calcium signalling and neurotoxicity induced by amyloid peptide

Dr Ji-Zhong Bai, Department of Physiology
University of Auckland, $116,735
Alzheimer’s disease is a slow-developing brain disease diagnosed mostly in people aged over 65 years that affects memory, thinking and behaviour due to nerve cell (neuron) damage. About 1% New Zealanders have the disease and the number is increasing. To explore the mechanisms of neuron death, this study will investigate the role of a calcium-permeable channel (called TRPV4 channel) found on the membrane of the star-like house-keeping glial cells (astrocytes), using in vitro tissue culture models of rat brain (hippocampus). Understanding how modulating calcium signalling in astrocytes affects neuron survival may lead to potential drug discovery.

Evaluating Alterations in Striate and Extrastriate Visual Brain Areas Using Structural and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Visual Loss

Dr Benjamin Thompson, Prof Helen Danesh-Meyer,
Department of Optometry and Department of Ophthalmology
University of Auckland, $107,700

Plasticity, the capacity of the brain to reorganise itself following injury, is an exciting and emerging area of research. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows mapping of brain areas based on patterns of brain activity. This research will evaluate the plasticity of visual brain areas following injury to the nerve of sight (optic nerve). Changes in the brain following acute stroke to the optic nerve, development of slowly growing tumours, and glaucoma (a neurodegenerative disease) will be studied. This study will increase the understanding of the potential plasticity of the brain that occurs following injury and consequently inform new and innovative treatment modalities.

Endocytosis of Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) by neurons: new insights into neurodegeneration

Dr Shamim Shaikh
Department of Anatomy and the Centre for Brain Research
University of Auckland, $95,714

Most neurodegenerative diseases are characterised by the loss of specific neurons in the disease-specific brain regions and the accumulation of protein aggregates within neurons known as inclusion bodies. Studies suggest that accumulation of the pathogenic compounds Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) is an important contributor to the neuronal cell death. The study aims to investigate how AGEs contribute to these inclusions. An in-vitro cell-culture model will be used in conjunction with AGEs prepared in the laboratory and well-established cellular and molecular techniques to study whether neurons can internalise AGEs, and if these internalised AGEs can become part of the inclusions seen within neurons. The results of the proposed study may provide a major step forward in understanding the pathways implicated in neurodegeneration.



SMALL PROJECT GRANTS

Influence of Chemoattractant Cytokines on the Differentiation of Adult and Aged Neural Progenitor Cells

Dr Renee Gordon, Dr Christof Maucksch
Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, and Centre for Brain Research
University of Auckland, $10,000

Neural progenitor cells found in the adult brain may provide an exciting therapeutic strategy for replacing cells lost through brain injury and disease. In order to achieve this clinically, methods need to be developed to direct progenitor cells to migrate to specific areas of cell loss. One signalling system that may be of importance in this regard is the chemokines and their receptors. This project aims to advance knowledge regarding the function of chemokines in the adult brain by investigating the role chemokines play in directing the migration and fate of adult neural progenitor cells.

Cognitive and Neurological Correlates of Vulnerability to Depression

Dr Gina Grimshaw, Assoc Prof John McDowall
Victoria University of Wellington, $10,000

Depression is a debilitating mental illness with high emotional, physical, and financial costs to patients, their families, and society. Some individuals are predisposed to developing depression, and can be identified through recordings of the brain’s electrical activity. Most people have greater activity over the left than the right frontal areas of the brain; those who are vulnerable to depression have a reversed pattern. The goal of this research is to determine what thought processes are affected by this pattern of asymmetry, to develop an understanding of how neural activity can give rise to depression.

Identifying the mechanism by which lithium chloride directs neuronal differentiation of adult neural progenitor cells.

Assoc Prof Bronwen Connor
Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology
University of Auckland, $10,000
Cell transplantation therapy offers a viable treatment strategy for patients with a range of neurological disorders by providing new cells to replace those lost through disease or injury. One potential cell source for transplantation currently being investigated is neural stem cells. Assoc Prof Connor and her research team have previously shown that treating neural stem cells with lithium chloride prior to transplantation enhances the generation of new replacement neurons and accelerates functional improvement in a rodent model of neurological disease. This project will extend these findings and identify the mechanism by which lithium chloride treatment of neural stem cells promotes neuronal cell replacement and functional recovery.

ENDS

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