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Latest research grants - 2019 Round A Project grants Treatment of Parkinson’s disease by simultaneous blockade of DAT and D2-receptors Professor Brian Hyland, Physiology, University of Otago $135,526 Drugs that block dopamine reuptake into brain cells could help treat Parkinson’s disease. However, to date these have produced only mild benefit and are not in common use. Professor Hyland found that the effectiveness of drugs is dampened by negative feedback, which prevents large enhancement of dopamine, but that this feedback can be prevented using small doses of another drug. Professor Hyland will investigate whether this combined therapy enhances limb movement performance in a model of Parkinson’s disease symptoms. This combination may offer an alternative initial treatment, or be used in combination with existing treatments, to reduce their doses and side effects. MAnagement of Systolic blood pressure during Thrombectomy by Endovascular Route for acute ischaemic STROKE: the MASTERSTROKE trial Dr Doug Campbell, Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Auckland District Health Board $264,795 Stroke is the third most common cause of death in New Zealand and is one of the leading causes of long-term disability at all ages. A life-saving clot retrieval procedure can save lives and prevent disability of patients with ischaemic stroke who get to hospital in time. In NZ, 90% of clot retrieval procedures are performed under general anaesthesia. Many anaesthetic drugs can affect blood pressure (BP) and blood flow within the brain. Increasing BP during the procedure could provide additional benefits in this devastating disease. A large trial is needed to investigate BP management during clot retrieval. Rescue of a spectrum of brain injury & behavioural deficits due to extreme prematurity Associate Professor Dorothy Oorschot, Department of Anatomy, University of Otago $258,686 Associate Professor Oorschot’s research aims to investigate whether specific treatments rescue the brain injury of extreme prematurity. Specifically, she will investigate if these treatments prevent myelin loss and the loss of ADHD- and hearing-related nerve cells in the midbrain. She will also investigate if these treatments prevent memory deficits, hearing deficits, and ADHD-like hyperactivity. Associate Professor Oorschot will use an innovative, clinically relevant model that was developed at the University of Otago and published in the prestigious international journal, the Journal of Neuroscience. A positive outcome would drive clinical trials to develop effective treatment for the brain damage and behavioural deficits of extreme prematurity. Identification of the range of suppressive checkpoint ligands expressed by Glioblastoma cells that directly control T cell activation Dr E Scott Graham, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Auckland $222,304 Glioblastoma multiforme is a brain cancer with a median survival of less than 15 months. It effectively evades detection by our immune system and one way it does this is through the expression of suppressive proteins that control T cell responses, which are trying to kill the cancer cells. The goal of Dr Graham’s current work is to analyse a panel of Glioblastoma cultures derived fromNew Zealand patients who had this devastating brain cancer with the hope to identify the range of suppressive proteins (called checkpoint ligands) that these cells express to control and evade the immune-system. 14 Headlines