Research Departments
Science at the ANRI focuses on our ten research groups involved in basic research and also clinical treatment regimes. Researchers from any group combine to form formal or informal collaborative and multidisciplinary programs to promote innovation and translate outcomes to each neurological-neuromuscular area.
Research Departments
- Brain Research Group >
- Clinical Psychology Research Unit >
- Clinical Research >
- Demyelinating Diseases Centre >
- Gene Therapy Group >
- Molecular Genetic Therapies Group >
- Molecular Neurobiology Unit >
- Movement Control Unit >
- Parkinson's Centre for Research and Treatment >
- Stroke Research Group >
Brain Research Group
The Brain Research Group investigates the neurophysiology of brain function in healthy people and in neurological disorders such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. The main research interests are in motor control and fatigue, but also include higher cognitive function such as language. We use magnetic brain stimulation to probe brain function, and as a neuromodulation tool to influence function and promote recovery from injury. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables us to image brain function and to study motor and language organisation.
Contact Details
Professor Gary Thickbroom
gary.thickbroom@anri.uwa.edu.au
08 9346 4479
4 Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487
Clinical Psychology Research Unit
The Clinical Psychology Research Unit has established a multidisciplinary holistic approach to the assessment and treatment of individuals with various neurological disorders. The aim is to improve the overall coping and quality of life of people with Stroke, Spinal Cord Injury, Stuttering, Parkinson's disease, and Multiple sclerosis.
Contact Details
Dr Michelle Byrnes
michelle.byrnes@anri.uwa.edu.au
08 9346 1598
4 Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street,
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487
Clinical Research Group
The Clinical Research Unit comprises specialty clinics providing diagnosis and ongoing management for patients with neuromuscular diseases, movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and dystonia, multiple sclerosis and other neuro-immunological disorders - in collaboration with the Department of Neurology and the Neurosciences Clinical Service Unit, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
Our objectives are to provide optimal diagnosis and management using the latest in evidence-based medicine for patients with neuromuscular or neurological disorders.
Dr Arada Rojana-Udomsart has a special interest in Inflammatory Myopathies and has worked collaboratively with Professor Frank Mastaglia on several projects.
Contact Details
Professor Frank Mastaglia
frank.mastaglia@anri.uwa.edu.au
08 9346 1611
The Australian Neuro-muscular Research Institute
4th Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street
Nedlands WA 6009
Demyelinating Diseases Centre
The Demyelinating Diseases Centre is dedicated to investigating the causes and improving the therapy and management of those suffering from multiple sclerosis and other related diseases and to providing the best clinical management available.
The Centre is involved in a number of research projects to investigate the clinical profile of different subgroups of patients with demyelinating disease in Western Australia, including relapsing-remitting and primary progressive MS, optico-spinal forms (OSMS), neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and transverse myelitis, and the influence of HLA alleles and haplotypes on disease susceptibility and clinical and laboratory characteristics. This work is being done in collaboration with Professor F Christiansen and the Department of Clinical Immunology at Royal Perth Hospital. New serological techniques for detecting antibodies to aquaporin-4 have been developed in collaboration with Professor P Hollingsworth and the Department of Clinical Immunology at the QEII Medical Centre and are being evaluated in the large cohort of patients in the Perth Demyelinating Diseases Database (PDDD) to determine what role this antibody has in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Collaboration with Professor S Mallal at the Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Murdoch University aims to investigate genetic epistasis and the interaction of viral infections in MS.
In addition, the Centre has established important collaborations with Centres at Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing (Professor XJ Zhang) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Professor Q Cheng) in China and Kyushu University in Japan (Professor J-I Kira) to carry out comparative studies in Asian and West Australian cohorts of patients with different forms of demyelinating disease and has played a key role in the establishment of the Pan-Asian MS Registry to investigate regional differences in the prevalence of MS in Asia and the Pacific region.
New forms of pharmacotherapy for patients with these disorders are being investigated and the Centre is participating in international multicentre therapeutic trials of new agents for the treatment of MS.
Contact Details
Professor Allan Kermode
kermode@me.com
08 9346 3980
The Australian Neuro-muscular Research Institute
4th Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street
Nedlands WA 6009
Gene Therapy Group
McArdle's disease is an inherited muscle disease resulting in exercise intolerance, premature fatigue, muscle pain and weakness. It is caused by the absence of the muscle form of an enzyme called phosphorylase. Successive major breakthroughs have been achieved with Professor John Howell's exciting progress on a treatment for this muscular disorder. Like many other breakthroughs it is expected to be applicable to other rare neuromuscular conditions.
Contact Details
Professor John Howell
j.howell@murdoch.edu.au
08 9360 2477
4 Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street,
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487
Molecular Genetic Therapies Group
The Molecular Genetic Therapy Group investigates experimental therapies for neuromuscular diseases, with a focus on Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The main research interests are the manipulation of transcript splicing to modify gene expression for therapeutic outcomes. We use antisense oligomers to alter the exon structure of a target transcript in order to remove or by-pass protein truncating mutations and thereby reduce the impact of a genomic lesion on muscle function.
The exquisitely precise and highly co-ordinated process of gene transcript splicing, that is intron removal and joining of exons, not only greatly increases our genetic plasticity through alternative splicing, but also offers a point of intervention as a therapy for many genetic disorders. Our primary research efforts lie in the manipulation of primary gene transcript processing (splicing) to modify gene expression for selected therapeutic outcomes.
Other conditions being studied as possible candidates for splice intervention therapy include asthma, Alzheimer's dementia, cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, Myotonic dystrophy and Parkinson's Disease. Potential applications are only limited by our imagination.
Contact Details
Professor Stephen Wilton
steve.wilton@anri.uwa.edu.au
08 9346 3967
4 Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street,
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487
Molecular Neurobiology Unit
The Molecular Neurobiology Unit (MNU) was established to investigate molecular processes involved in neuronal cell death. In particular, we are interested in those events which contribute to neuronal cell death in the common "neurodegenerative disorders" such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease. motor neuron disease and spinal muscular atrophy. The long-term goal of the MNU is to identify important cellular targets which have the potential to form the basis of novel neuroprotective agents to treat neurodegenerative disorders.
Contact Details
Dr Sherif Boulos
sboulos@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
08 9346 4090
4 Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street,
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487
Movement Control Unit
The Movement Control Unit studies the function of motor areas of the brain and the control of voluntary and skilled movements. We record neural activity simultaneously from many neurons of the brain. This allows us to investigate the coding of movement parameters by populations of neurons in the cerebral cortex and to evaluate interactions between neurons in the brain. We plan to extend our studies to patients with motor disability using non-invasive techniques (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, functional MRI, high density EEG) to study cortical function and plasticity.
Contact Details
Soumya Ghosh
soumya.ghosh@anri.uwa.edu.au
(08) 9346 3636
4th Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street,
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487
Parkinson's Centre for Research and Treatment
The Parkinson's Centre for Research and Treatment comprises a group of clinicians and scientists who carry out basic and applied research into the causes and consequences of Parkinson's disease and are investigating novel pharmacological, physiological and surgical approaches to the treatment of the disease and its symptoms. The aim is to reduce disability, improve function and quality of life for affected individuals.
Contact Details
Professor Frank Mastaglia
frank.mastaglia@anri.uwa.edu.au
08 9346 1611
4th Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street,
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487
Stroke Research Group
The Stroke Research Group's main focus is to develop potential treatments to minimise the brain damage that occurs following stroke and cerebral ischaemia. Available treatments are limited and consist of thrombolytic therapy (tPA) and moderate hypothermia. However, treatment with tPA is only useful within 3 hours after thrombo-embolic stroke and moderate hypothermia is only used following cardiac arrest in comatose survivors. Despite the limitations of current treatments there is optimism that therapies that protect the brain following stroke will be developed. To this end, we have been: i) identifying and characterising potential neuroprotective proteins and peptides ii) assessing the potential of the sodium calcium exchanger (NCX) membrane ion transporter to protect neurons from ischaemia; and iii) assessing the efficacy of magnesium and mild hypothermia as a potential treatment.
Contact Details
Associate Professor Bruno Meloni, bruno
meloni@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
08 9346 3535
4th Floor, A Block
QEII Medical Centre
Verdun Street,
Nedlands WA 6009
Phone +61 (08) 9346 2818
Fax +61 (08) 9346 3487