Neurological Foundation Announces Grant Recipients

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release: 14 July 2011




Neurological Foundation Announces

July Grant Round Recipients


The Neurological Foundation is pleased to announce research and travel grants of nearly $550,000 for its July 2011 grant round. The Neurological Foundation is the primary non-government sponsor of neurological research in this country.

In this round, four Project Grants and one Small Project Grant have been approved. In addition to these grants, $55,814 has been allocated to travel and training grants.

Project Grants:


Dr István Ábrahám, Department of Physiology, University of Otago, $205,721

Live cell single molecule imaging of estrogen-induced neuroprotective mechanism on cholinergic neurons


In Alzheimer’s disease, the cholinergic neurons in the brain are affected, causing impairment of intellectual function. The female hormone estrogen exerts a protective action on these cells, but the mechanism is unknown. Using novel time-lapse super-resolution imaging, Dr Ábrahám will examine the mechanisms of estrogen action on live cholinergic neurons at the single molecule level. The proposed work will define a new estrogen signaling pathway in the cholinergic neurons and provide fundamental information for understanding estrogen-induced neuroprotection in Alzheimer’s disease. The results of this study will aid in the design of new treatments for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Peter Bergin, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, $85,464

Validation of the EpiNet platform and the EpiNet study group


In the July 2009 grant round, the Neurological Foundation approved funding for Dr Peter Bergin’s international collaborative pilot study which set up an internet-based platform to recruit patients for epilepsy drug trials. The platform, called EpiNet, is now functioning and is able to be accessed by adult and paediatric neurologists from anywhere in the world.


In this second study phase, the EpiNet study group, led by Dr Bergin and involving an international collaboration of epileptologists, will undertake a study to validate both the EpiNet study group and the EpiNet platform before undertaking clinical trials. The group will circulate 50 fictitious case histories to doctors who have expressed interest in participating in the EpiNet project, and ask them to enter details into the EpiNet database, using standard and internationally approved epilepsy classification systems. Investigators’ results will be compared. As well as confirming that investigators ‘speak the same language’ globally, the study will also determine how much variability there is when classifying individual cases using the classification schemes. At the same time, the group will undertake steps to confirm that the database and systems procedures are robust.

Dr Johanna Montgomery, Department of Physiology and Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland, $68,266

How do autism-related proteins alter synapse function?

Autism Spectrum Disorders are diagnosed based on behavioural symptoms including social and cognitive impairments, communication difficulties and repetitive behaviours. Many of the genes that are implicated in autism encode proteins at synapses in the brain. Dr Montgomery’s project will spearhead an international research effort to test the hypothesis that autism-associated mutations in synaptic proteins disrupt the function of synapses. The research will compare how these proteins can alter synapses in the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical for learning and memory, and the mechanisms underlying how these changes occur. These experiments have the potential to determine how synapse function may be disrupted in autism, causing altered cognitive function and behaviour. The more that is known about how autism occurs, the better able are scientists to develop treatments.

Dr Yiwen Zheng, Professor Paul Smith, Associate Professor Cynthia Darlington, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, $123,203

Therapeutic window of L-baclofen for noise-induced chronic tinnitus in rats and GABAB receptor-mediated mechanisms


Chronic tinnitus (the phantom perception of sound) is experienced by about 10% of the population and produces many detrimental effects on the quality of daily life. There are very limited drug treatment options, mainly due to a lack of systematic, well-controlled preclinical drug studies and a lack of understanding of the underlying mechanisms. It is suggested that tinnitus is generated in the brain by the hyperactivity of some brain cells. This project will test the more active form of a currently available drug known to reduce brain cell activity. Dr Zheng will utilise a laboratory model of tinnitus which closely resembles the most common form of tinnitus in humans. The project’s goal is to improve the effective use of this drug and to understand its mode of action in the treatment of tinnitus. The study will also advance the current knowledge of the mechanisms underlying tinnitus and open new treatment avenues for preventing chronic tinnitus from developing.

Small Project Grant

Dr Bronwen Kivell, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, $10,000

Investigating the role of minor tobacco alkaloids in smoking addiction


Cigarette smoke kills over 4500 New Zealanders each year and many of these deaths are the result of stroke. There are over 4000 compounds present in cigarette smoke, some of which may contribute to smoking addiction. Nicotine is the major addictive component present in cigarette smoke, but quit therapies based on nicotine replacement such as gums, patches and inhalers have relatively low success rates. Dr Kivell’s research involves studying the effects of a group of non-nicotinic components of cigarette smoke, called the minor tobacco alkaloids. (The majority of smoking addiction research to date has focused on nicotine alone.) The ability of these chemicals to regulate proteins in the brain contributing to addiction will be investigated with the aim of developing more effective therapies to aid smoking cessation.

The Neurological Foundation is the primary non-government sponsor of neurological research in this country. The 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.
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