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4 Headlines Professor Nick Draper Collisions and concussion: The impacts of impact Wednesday 1 March, 6-8pm, Christchurch More than three-quarters of active rugby players are juniors, with concussion representing a significant health issue for children and adolescents involved in the sport. During this talk, Professor Nick Draper will discuss research to assess the number and size of collisions in rugby and the potential of World Rugby approved headgear to reduce collision forces for young players. Professor Draper will be joined by PhD students Stefan Henley and Danyon Stitt to discuss their findings from the 2022 rugby season. Nick Draper is a Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Canterbury and is the Chair of Sport and Exercise Science New Zealand. His current research investigates collisions and headgear in junior rugby. Professor Stephanie Hughes A night at the movies – adventures in gene therapy and stem cells Thursday 2 March, 6-8pm, Timaru Howour brain stores memories, controlsmovement and connects us to theworld remains largely amystery. Despite this, we are developing therapies for some of themost devastating conditions, using technologies once only seen in sciencefictionmovies. Professor StephanieHughes, an expert in gene therapy and stemcells, will present a series of short stories reflectingwork on childhoodBatten disease andAlzheimer’s disease, thatmay one day turn sciencefiction intomedical reality. Professor Stephanie Hughes works in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, and Director of the Brain Health Research Centre at the University of Otago. Her research focuses on Batten disease, a group of childhood neurodegenerative diseases. Dr Bruce Harland Bright Sparks: New tech bringing fresh hope for spinal cord injuries Monday 6 March, 7-8pm Online Dr Bruce Harland is developing and testing an ultra-thin implant that can be applied to a spinal cord injury site to act as a platform to deliver treatments. He is poised to test this exciting electrical stimulation treatment aimed at re-growing nerve fibres. Dr Bruce Harland specialises in developing implantable devices to record brain activity. As a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Auckland, he applies these skills to record electrical activity along the spinal cord and develop new treatments for spinal cord injury. Dr Akshata Anchan Melanoma on the move: The role of the blood-brain barrier Thursday 9 March, 1:30-3.30pm, Online During this talk, Dr Akshata Anchan will discuss cancers that travel to the brain from other parts of the body, such as melanoma. The brain, however, has a specialised, protective barrier known as the blood-brain barrier (BBB). While successful melanoma migration relies on several key events, Dr Anchan will discuss how melanoma cells interact with the BBB to travel into the brain. Dr Akshata Anchan received a Neurological Foundation First Fellowship in 2020. Her speciality is researching how invasive cancer cells get through the protective blood-brain barrier. Dr Anchan currently has several projects specifically investigating melanoma and other brain-metastatic cancers. CELEBRATE BRAIN AWARENESS MONTHWITH US! March is a special month for the Neurological Foundation because it’s Brain Awareness Month! To celebrate, we’ve lined up a series of fantastic events to showcase some of the incredible neurological research that you help us to fund. We hope you can join us at one or more of these fascinating talks. To register for all events go to neurological.org.nz/events