Kiwi Neuro Researchers Receive $2.6M Funding Boost

Neuro research in New Zealand has received a significant boost in the latest Neurological Foundation grant round.

The Foundation – the biggest non-government funder of neurological research in NZ – has two grant rounds each year. This latest round has seen $2.6 million of funding injected into the research community across eight projects, 10 personal awards and 12 conference and travel grants.

The Foundation’s Head of Research, Dr Sarah Schonberger, praised the standard of applications. “Our expert committee was impressed by the quality of people and projects,” she says. “There’s certainly no shortage of exciting, innovative research in New Zealand. We’re proud to be able to invest our donors’ money in areas that could lead to much-needed breakthroughs across a wide range of neurological conditions.”

University of Auckland

Associate Professor Emma Scotter’s motor neuron disease (MND) lab receives a total of $485,225 with a Dawn Fellowship (Kyrah Thumbadoo - $242,205) and a First Fellowship (Miran Mrkela -$243,020).

Kyra will use stem cells from affected family members to grow motor neurons in the lab. This will help understand how a genetic mutation causes MND and frontotemporal dementia, how it affects men and women differently, and its potential as a drug target.

Miran will create cell models in the lab to observe whether, and how, genetic changes disrupt normal cell function and lead to MND. Understanding this can help doctors provide better genetic counselling for people affected, and support family planning decisions.

A First Fellowship worth $231,460 has been awarded to Dr Sreemol Gokuladhas for her research in better understanding genetic causes of multiple sclerosis, and developing a diagnostic model for earlier and more accurate diagnosis.

Dr Kelly Zhou receives $286,483 for her work in understanding how an immune cell response contributes to brain damage in babies that are oxygen-deprived at birth.

Three doctoral scholarships totalling nearly $500K have also been awarded. They are: Mikayla Chetty (Alzheimer’s disease); Jean Yu Lim (dementia); and Benjamin Watkin (glioblastoma).

Dr Renee Handley receives a small project grant of $15,000 for her work developing a ‘one-and-done’ genetic therapy treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

Two University of Auckland summer students received $8500 each. They are Stanley Cardon, for his work investigating Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), supervised by Dr Helen Murray, and Daniel Lavin, for his work on spinal cord injury, supervised by Dr Simon O’Carroll.

University of Otago

Dr Bruce Mockett receives $175,549 to develop new mouse models of dementia that will enable testing of a promising new gene therapy, while Professor Stephanie Hughes will get $174,851 to continue her groundbreaking work on Batten disease – a fatal genetic childhood brain disease.

Associate Professor Megan Wilson receives $143,155 to study how changes in the spinal cord’s nerve cells might lead to scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, in adolescents.

Dr Toni Pitcher, University of Otago Christchurch, receives $194,910 for her work in Parkinson’s disease, crunching numbers and identifying trends in treatment. This information is useful for healthcare, support services, and researchers to help improve the care of people with Parkinson’s.

Two University of Otago summer students received $8500. They are Amy Pollard, supervised by Professor Ping Liu, and Jordan Doran, supervised by Associate Professor Louise Bicknell. Amy is investigating whether a treatment called agmatine can reduce hyperactivity and brain inflammation after prenatal exposure to viral infections, while Jordan is looking at how mutations in the CRNKL1 gene can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders.

University of Canterbury

Dr Angus Lindsay is receiving the highest value grant in the latest Neurological Foundation grant round.

Dr Lindsay’s $287,822 project aims to determine if relevant therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy – including genetic editing – can protect against muscle damage caused by multiple contractions throughout a patient’s life.

He’s working with muscle expert Dr Tanya Cully and will supervise a PhD student to work on the project.

Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington

Associate Professor Melanie McConnell has received a small project grant of $14,090 from the Neurological Foundation for her research into brain cancer.

“The prognosis for people diagnosed with primary brain tumours is not good, particularly for high grade tumours like glioblastoma,” says Dr McConnell. “To understand how best to design effective therapies, we need to understand what is driving the growth of the tumour. In this project we will see whether a protein called BCL6 is one of the 'drivers' of brain tumour growth, using a pre-clinical model. If we can confirm this, the next step will be to work out how to target BCL6 in brain tumours, by re-purposing BCL6 blockers developed for other cancer types.”

Dr McConnell has also received $4,500 to attend neuro-oncology conferences in Melbourne and Houston, Texas.

Associate Professor Bronwyn Kivell and Neurological Foundation-funded doctoral scholar Kirsten Carter have been granted just over $8,000 to attend the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, Denmark.

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