DOCUMENT

Epilepsy in Māori children Professor Lynette Sadleir, University of Otago $155,694 Epilepsy is the most common serious neurological disorder of childhood. In theWellington region Māori children are four times more likely to have epilepsy than non-Māori children with rates similar to low income countries. This study will describe the types of epilepsy, causes and associated disorders in Māori children and compare these to non-Māori children. If, as is found in low income countries, the increased rate of epilepsy in Māori children is due to preventable causes such as trauma, infection and birth difficulties a focus on the prevention of these can help reduce epilepsy rates and improve Māori health. Small project grants Developing a non-invasive assay of catamenial epilepsy: investigating how sex hormones in the combined-oral contraceptive affect the human female brain Dr Rachael Sumner, University of Auckland $14,981 Catamenial epilepsy affects around 40% of females with epilepsy, where the number of seizures doubles at certain points of a female’s menstrual cycle. The exact underlying cause has yet to be determined. Catamenial seizures often do not to respond to typical antiepileptic drug treatment. Furthermore, despite regulating hormone changes the combined-oral contraceptive pill does not treat catamenial epilepsy. The proposed study will investigate physiological changes in the human female brain over each monthly cycle, even when the contraceptive pill is suppressing hormone changes. This will help to reveal the brain mechanisms that may underlie catamenial epilepsy, thus informing future research. Multiplex in situ hybridisation and immunohistochemistry for the study of Brain Plasticity in Alzheimer’s Disease Dr Helen Murray, University of Auckland $15,000 Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, for which there is currently no effective treatment. A hallmark feature of the disease is that neurons involved in memory function lose the ability to change their physical structure. This is due to loss of a protein called polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM). Using new labelling techniques for human brain tissue, Dr Helen Murray’s teamwill study all the mechanisms that might cause the loss of PSA-NCAM. In doing so, this project aims to identify potential new targets to maintain memory function and delay the disease progression. Toward newmechanisms of pain relief for Multiple Sclerosis Dr Jack Flanagan, University of Auckland $14,870 Over 50% of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients suffer from pain caused by the disease, and this is only partially responsive to current pain medications. A protein called nerve growth factor is found in high levels in patients with multiple sclerosis and this is known to increase pain-like sensation when it binds to receptors on the surface of cells. In this project Dr Jack Flanagan’s teamwill explore the really exciting prospect that blocking the action of nerve growth factor could relieve pain caused by nerve degeneration during MS, as well as search for new blockers. Equipment purchase (EEG digitizer) to enhance Neurological Foundation Project 1839 RF Dr Corinne Bareham, Victoria University ofWellington $15,000 Electroencephalography (EEG) enables recording of neural activity with excellent temporal resolution, high flexibility for use with patients, and low cost. Here Dr Corinne Bareham’s team propose to use EEG to perform a technique called source reconstruction to identify the neural structures underlying function(s) and disorders following damage. Using a digitisation device, they can increase precision of the source reconstruction procedure to identify crucial brain regions underlying functions, and dysfunctions, informing therapeutic interventions. Doctoral scholarships Improving the Therapeutic Potential of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in the Treatment of Glioblastoma: Conjugation with Heptamethine Cyanine Dyes Elizabeth Cooper Supervisors: Dr Thomas Park, University of Auckland; Prof Mike Dragunow, University of Auckland $116,805 - Gillespie Scholarship Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary glial tumour in adults. The diagnosis carries with it a dismal median survival period of 15 months. The current front-line chemotherapy agent, Temozolomide (TMZ), is failing to provide long-term remission for GBM patients due to the presence of treatment-resistant cells. This project aims to synthesise and characterise novel blood brain barrier (BBB) crossing dyes that are conjugated to anti- cancer tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patient-derived tumour cells. Additionally, this project will provide novel insight into signalling pathways implicated in GBM and facilitate the design of targeted therapies to overcome TMZ resistance. 16 Headlines