Dr Yue Huang, NeuRA Senior Research Officer, assists with overseeing these projects
Genetic variation in Parkinson’s disease influences the rate of neurodegeneration - Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common movement disorder in the elderly with variable clinical features and different rates of disease progression. Pathologically, there are different distribution patterns of characteristic brain lesions in patients with PD. This project is to determine whether genetic factors contribute to these variable clinical and pathological features, and to investigate the underlying mechanisms in human brains affected with PD.
Cellular changes due to LRRK2 parkinsonism - Parkinson's disease is a progressive, disabling, age-associated neurological disorder with no known cure. Several genes have been identified as causing Parkinson's disease, although mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase2 (LRRK2) are by far the most common. The studies we propose will identify the cellular proteins that interact with LRRK2 to cause Parkinson's disease. These proteins may be amenable to future therapeutic manipulation.
Cellular effects of glucocerebrosidase (GBA) mutations in Lewy body diseases - Approximately 1 in 100 people are carriers of mutations in the glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene and are at considerably greater risk of diseases characterised clinically by parkinsonism and by the presence of Lewy body-related pathology. This study will provide tissue-based evidence of the cellular lipid and protein changes relating to Lewy body formation in patients with GBA mutations, providing the information necessary to identify the pathways and mechanisms involved.
Yue Huang, MBBS, MSc, PhD, NeuRA Senior Research Officer
Paul Foley, BScHons, PhD, P/T NeuRA Research Officer
Nicolas Dzamko, BScHons, PhD, NHMRC Biomedical Overseas Fellow
Heidi Cartwright, BSc, P/T Senior Research AssistantAmanda Gysbers, BBTEC with honours, Research Assistant
Germaine Chua, BScHons, P/T Research Assistant
Primary supervisor Dr Yue Huang
Jinxia (Jessica) Zhou, MBBS, MSc, PhD Student - α-Synuclein modification and its relation to LRRK2 in Parkinson’s disease
Primary supervisor Prof Glenda Halliday
Karen Murphy, BScHons, PhD Student - Glucocerebrosidase mutations in Lewy body diseases
Claire Stevens, BScHons with honours, PhD Student - Contributions of ageing and immune system dysfunction to the progression of pathology in Parkinson's disease
Jie Zhang, MBBS, MMedSc, PhD Student - Neurogenesis in Parkinson's disease
Cosupervisor Prof Glenda Halliday
Raymond Schwartz, MBBS, FRACP, PhD Student - A clinical and pathological study of small vessel cerebrovascular disease in Parkinsonism
Stefanie Reyes, BScHons, PhD Student - Cellular vulnerability in Parkinson’s disease
Lisa Mak, BScHons, PhD Student - Role of ABC transporters in the pathophysiological processes of Parkinson’s disease
Dominic Rowe, Professor of Neurology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Simon Lewis, NHMRC Practitioner Fellow, Brain and Mind Research Institute, Sydney, Australia
WeiPing Gai, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, Finders University of South Australia
Carolyn Sue, Professor of Neurogenetics, Kolling Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Dario Alessi, Deputy Director MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, University of Dundee, Scotland
Brett Garner, ARC Future Fellow, University of Wollongong, Australia
Anthony Cooper, Senior Research Fellow, Garvan Institute, Sydney, Australia
Ellen Sidransky, Senior Investigator in Neuroscience, US National Institutes of Health, Washington, USA
Deniz Kirik, Professor of Neuroscience, Brain Repair and Neural Imaging in Neural Systems, Lund University, Sweden
Jeffrey Kordower, Director Research Center for Brian Repair, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, USA
Poul Jensen, Head, Institute of Medical Biochemistry, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Xiaomin Wang, Chairman, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Kay Double, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, NeuRA, Sydney, Australia
Cyndi Shannon-Weickert, Macquarie Group Foundation Chair of Schizophrenia Research, NeuRA, Sydney, Australia
Woojin (Scott) Kim, NeuRA Research Fellow, NeuRA, Sydney, Australia
Halliday G, Barker R, Rowe D (eds.) (2011) Non-dopamine lesions in Parkinson’s disease. New York:Oxford University Press.
Halliday GM, McCann H (2010) The progression of pathology in Parkinson’s disease. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1184:188-195.
Obeso JA, Rodríguez-Oroz MC, Goetz CG, Marin C, Kordower J, Rodríguez M, Hirsch EC, Farrer M, Schapira AH, Halliday G (2010) Crucial questions towards solving Parkinson’s disease. Nature Med. 16:653-661..
Song YJC, Huang Y, Halliday GM (2011) Clinical correlates of similar pathologies in parkinsonian syndromes. Mov. Disord. 21 JAN 2011, DOI: 10.1002/mds.23336.
