Treating Parkinson's Disease Dementia With Nanoscaffolds
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$665,144.00
Summary
Several diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), result in dementia. Currently, pharmacological therapy is the only treatment for PD dementia, which only offers symptomatic relief with diminished efficacy. Therefore, there is a need to develop new strategies that prevent or slow the onset of dementia. This study will utilize nanoscaffolds that facilitate the controlled delivery of therapeutic proteins to prevent or slow the death of neurons associated with dementia in PD patients.
Biomaterials For The Direct Reprograming Of Reactive Astrocytes Into Functional Neurons
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$630,500.00
Summary
We will employ peptide inspired hydrogel nanoscaffolds that can be injected into a brain lesion as a single injection to provide chemical and physical support for the surrounding cells. We will utilize various modifications to these materials to reprogram inflammatory cells into neurons, whilst also promoting the survival, maintenance and growth of existing neurons to encourage repair.
Using Stem Cells And Bioengineered Scaffolds To Promote Regeneration Following Necrotic Brain Injury
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$710,857.00
Summary
A number of injuries, including stroke, result in tissue loss. Consequently promoting repair will require restoration of tissue structure, replacement cells and a supportive environment to promote integration of these new cells. This study will engineer and develop novel scaffolds that can replace tissue whilst additionally providing physical and chemical support for newly implanted stem cells. This work will be conducted in an animal model of stroke.
Trials of numerous agents to slow the progression of Parkinsons disease have provided ambiguous or negative results despite having good preliminary evidence for their efficacy. The most likely reason is that many nerve cells are already destroyed by the time of diagnosis. Thus effective therapies may be most (and possible only) effective when administered in the presymptomatic stages of disease. This proposal is directed at developing method to detect early presymptomatic Parkinsons disease.
Next Generation Brain-Machine Interface: Minimally-Invasive Endovascular Stent-Electrode Array For Robotic Limb Control
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,735,574.00
Summary
Persons affected by quadriplegia and hemiplegia from stroke and spinal cord injury have few treatment options. Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) reconnect brain to a prosthetic limb, bypassing damaged nervous system. Our group has developed a BMI that can be implanted minimally-invasively, inside a blood vessel within the brain. We propose to evaluate this device in animal studies, and continue on to a human clinical trial pilot study. The aim is to restore mechanical control over the physical env ....Persons affected by quadriplegia and hemiplegia from stroke and spinal cord injury have few treatment options. Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) reconnect brain to a prosthetic limb, bypassing damaged nervous system. Our group has developed a BMI that can be implanted minimally-invasively, inside a blood vessel within the brain. We propose to evaluate this device in animal studies, and continue on to a human clinical trial pilot study. The aim is to restore mechanical control over the physical environment for a paralysed patient.Read moreRead less
My research focuses on understanding pathobiological mechanisms in acute and chronic neurodegenerative conditions such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease which have large burdens on the community through health care costs and on families because of the lack of effective treatments. An improved understanding of how brain cells die and of how the most abundant brain cell, the astrocyte, can be engineered to be a resource for regenerative medicine offer promise for improved clinical management.
Modelling human brain development with stem cells and biomaterials. With limited resources to directly study and advance our understanding of human neural development, this
proposal will establish models of 4 key stages. Employing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches, biomaterials will be fabricated to provide structural and chemical support for human stem cells during: (i) neural induction, (ii) specification into neuronal progenitor subpopulations, (iii) neuronal maturation and integration ....Modelling human brain development with stem cells and biomaterials. With limited resources to directly study and advance our understanding of human neural development, this
proposal will establish models of 4 key stages. Employing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches, biomaterials will be fabricated to provide structural and chemical support for human stem cells during: (i) neural induction, (ii) specification into neuronal progenitor subpopulations, (iii) neuronal maturation and integration into complex neural networks as well as, (iv) the organisation of neurons into larger 3-dimensional brain structures, namely folding of the human cortex. Further, biomaterials developed here have commercialisation potential, targeted at standardizing the culturing of human stem cells to defined neural populations.
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Generating multi-component scaffolding to influence the differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Nervous system diseases are debilitating and will develop in over 50 per cent of people at some time in their life. This project will develop strategies so that stem cells can be utilised to encourage brain repair for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The technology developed will also be of benefit for the treatment of other nervous system disorders.