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Headlines 13 Rachael Sumner What is important about your research project? We don’t know how many women with epilepsy in New Zealand suffer with catamenial (menstrual) seizures. But we can be sure that because overseas studies have been reasonably consistent, it will be around 40%. We don’t have a validated, targeted treatment for these seizures, and this is largely because we don’t have a complete understanding of what causes them in the first place. My research project is important because it will be the first study of its kind to attempt to provide a mechanistic understanding of how the menstrual cycle interacts with the brain and epilepsy, by measuring the differences between women with and without catamenial seizures. To achieve this I will use EEG, blood testing and computational modelling techniques. Tell us something interesting about the brain? “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” Many people think that the barrier to decoding how our brain functions is just about finding a computer powerful enough to do the relevant computations. However, there are still massive questions facing neuroscientists every day about what type of maths the brain is doing at every level of functioning. One clue is thought to be found in the ways the brain makes mistakes. If you had to reread the phrase “fruit flies like a banana” twice, that’s because your brain was predicting how the second “flies” should be interpreted based on its previous experience reading “Time flies like an arrow”. You got to “banana” and the brain got a surprise! It has to recompute that sentence again! “Different flies will eat different things; fruit flies like a banana.” Was that easier? The most efficient way to compute the meaning was for your brain to start predicting how it would end before you got there, based on previous experience. Most of the time making predictions works very well for us. Predictive coding can be a fun way to explain why stand-up comedian one liners are funny, but it can also be used to understand different disorders where the brain persists with incorrect predictions or struggles to retune its predictions. For example, chronic pain persists when the early injury that taught the brain to predict pain has long gone. Mental illness, including depressio and schizophrenia, have all been described in different ways by problems with the brain’s internal predictive coding computations. Understanding the type of maths the brain is using is very useful for researchers, because we are increasingly using equations and models to not just describe brain function in health and disease, but to recreate it on a computer. Dr Hannah Jones What did you want to be when you were growing up? When I was really young, I wanted to pack bags at the supermarket - I suppose young children don't get too much exposure to different professions! But I have wanted to be a doctor since I was 13. What do you love about being a researcher? The potential to make a difference for patients and their families. It can be very hard to sit opposite a patient for whom we have little understanding of their disorder and limited treatment to offer, but research brings hope that disorders that are an enigma today may be understood and treatable in the future. I also love working alongside other researchers who are experts in their fields and passionate about what they do. What is important about your research project? Encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, is devastating in children. Many children have long-term neurodisability and even those who recover well often lose months of developmental potential. Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is significantly more common in Māori and Pacific Island children and as New Zealanders, it is important that we find out why and what we can do to treat it better. Dr Andrea Kwakowsky Tell us something interesting about the brain? “The brain is the body's most complex organ. There are around 86 billion neurons in the human brain. Each neuron communicates with many other neurons to form complex circuits and involves coordinated action of neurons in many brain regions. Neurodegenerative disorders pose a major health challenge and are very complex conditions. From the earliest stages of my career, I have been attracted to study complicated biochemical and neuronal pathways. As my career progressed, I have realised how little is known about these pathways in the brain of patients with neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s Disease. This led me to start exploring this area of research with a hope for a breakthrough treatment for those who are affected by these conditions. Brain research is about pushing the limits, and with this discovering something new and amazing; for me this is the most exciting, challenging, and meaningful job that I could imagine and wish for.”