
The eye as a window to the brain: tackling neurodegenerative disorders
This project explores whether retinal imaging can be used as a clinical screen for presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.
The project will be complemented by KU Leuven-based project and the collaboration will ensure successful completion of the project.
Project aims:
Precise control of intracellular levels of calcium (Ca2+) is essential for heart function. Not only do increases in intracellular Ca2+ induce contraction of heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) that are responsible for the pumping of the heart, Ca2+ also participates in the regulation of gene expression that mediates muscle growth (hypertrophy) and modulate metabolism to ensure energy production matches demand.
But it is currently unclear how Ca2+ acts in such a selective manner to precisely control these diverse functions with great fidelity.
Indeed, perturbations of Ca2+ regulatory mechanisms contribute to diminished Ca2+ transients and reduced cardiac contraction, arrhythmias and induction of pathological abnormally thick (hypertrophic) muscle growth that ultimately can lead to heart failure or sudden cardiac death.
We will test the central hypothesis that the partitioning of Ca2+-dependent activities relies upon subcellular Ca2+ signalling microdomains that are coupled to their own specific Ca2+-dependent actions.
Using state-of-the-art nanoscale imaging combined with a genetically-encoded toolkit of Ca2+ signal modulators and reporters to localise Ca2+ handling proteins and membranes we will quantify Ca2+ changes in subcellular microdomains including the nucleus, perinuclear space, dyad and bulk cytosol.
Activation of gene expression will be determined using RNA-Seq, fluorescently-tagged transcription factors and reporters.
Known cues for pathological and physiological hypertrophy as well as strategies for artificially altering intracellular Ca2+ levels will be applied to allow identification of signatures and localisation of Ca2+ signals linked to specific functions.
These data will be used to inform model development, with experiments guided by models generated during the course of this research project.
The graduate researcher on this project is: Joshua Chung
The University of Melbourne: Dr Vijay Rajagopal, Professor Edmund Crampin
KU Leuven: Professor Dr H. Llewelyn Roderick
This project explores whether retinal imaging can be used as a clinical screen for presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.
Two paired projects researching next-generation nanomaterials for targeted light and temperature-mediated cancer therapies.
This project will use state-of-the-art optimisation technologies in the form of mathematical models and algorithms to find optimal solutions for industry.
This project will investigate how long-distance connections in the enteric nervous system (ENS) operate and study how transplanted stem cells can repair specific lesions in the mouse ENS.