Download - Newsletter 2015 CM OP - NeuRA · Dr Ramon Landin-Romero was previously investigating structural and functional brain changes in psychiatric conditions. Since joining FRONTIER, he

AnnualNewsletterDecember2015

FRONTIERTeam2015

FrontRow:DavidFoxe,AliceZhen,AustinLee,NadineEyre,EmmaMcCormack

SecondRow:SherryChen,SarahHomewood,NadeneDermody,CynthiaMurray,JamesBurrell,JohnHodges,OlivierPiguet,RamonLandin-Romero,Stephanie

Wong,LaurenBartley,FionaKumfor

ThirdRow:VanessaZeleny,RosiHutchings,TimVanLangenhove,NaomiDaveson,CassandraKaizik,AkiraMidorikawa

Missing:MuireannIrish,CristianLeyton,NicholasCordato,RebekahAhmed,EmmaDevenney,SicongTu

HelloandGoodbye!Wewelcomedanumberofnewfaces:DrRamonLandin-Romero(postdoctoralfellow),CynthiaMurrayandVanessaZeleny(ResearchAssistants),EmmaMcCormack(ResearchCoordinator),RosiHutchingsandSherryChen(PhDstudents),AustinLee,NadineEyreandAliceZhen(undergraduatestudents)joinedusin2015.WesaidgoodbyethisyeartoClaireO’CallaghanandLeoneChare,whosuccessfullycompletedtheirPhDs,andtoresearchassistantsEmmaFlanaganandLucieBarhon.InternationalvisitorsthisyearincludedProfAkiraMidorikawa(ChuoUniversity,Japan),DrTimVanLangenhove(AntwerpUniversity,Belgium),DrPhillipFletcher(UCL,UK),DrSharonSavage(UniversityofExeter,UK),ProfMasudHusain(Oxford,UK),DrJonathanRohrer(UCL,UK),DrEneidaMioshi(Cambridge,UK),ProfRoyKessels(DondersUniversity,Holland)andstudentsfromHollandandItaly.

Congratulations!Awards:JohnHodgesreceivedtheprestigiousBengtWinbladLifetimeAchievementAwardinAlzheimer’sDiseaseResearchforhisworkincognitioninneuro-degenerativeconditions.MuireannIrishreceivedtheL’Oreal-UNESCOAustraliaandNewZealandForWomeninSciencefellowship.Thisprestigiousfellowshipisawardedtowomenwhohaveshownscientificexcellence.OlivierPiguetwasawardedDoctorateHonorisCausafromFavaloroUniversity,Argentina,forhisworkinclinicalneuroscience.FionaKumforwonthe2015PaxinosPrizeforbestscientificpaperbyapostdoctoralresearcheratNeuRA.RebekahAhmedandClaireO’CallaghanreceivedtheDean’sListawardfromUNSWMedicine.EmmaDevenneywasawardedtheTowPrizeatthePrinceofWalesHospitalCampusConference,andSicongTureceivedtheStudentResearchAwardattheInternationalNeuropsychologicalConferenceinSydney.

Funding:JohnHodgesandOlivierPiguetareco-investigatorsonasuccessful5-yearDementiaResearchTeamGrantfundedbytheNationalHealthandMedicalResearchCouncil(NHMRC)worth$6,5M.OlivierPiguetwasawardedaprestigious5-yearNHMRCSeniorResearchFellowship.FionaKumforandCristianLeytoneachreceiveda4-yearNHMRC-ARCDementiaResearchDevelopmentFellowships.

ThankYou!ProfJohnHodges,A/ProfOlivierPiguet,andtheFRONTIERteamwouldliketothankalltheparticipantsandtheirfamiliesfortheircontinuingsupportinourresearchprogrammethisyear.Yourgeneroustimecommitmentandhelpwithourprojectsisanintegralparttoourongoingsuccess.

BarkerStreet,RandwickNSW2031Phone:0293991734Email:[email protected]:www.neura.edu.au/FRONTIER

ResearchNews

FRONTIERwelcomed81newparticipantsinourresearchthisyear,andwelcomedbackmanyfamiliesforreviewvisits.Ourresearchonfrontotemporaldementiaandrelateddisorderscontinues.Somerecentresearchprojectsandfindingsaredescribedbelow.

DrJamesBurrellisinvestigatinglanguagedeficitsinmotorneuronediseaseandisstudyinghowclinicalsymptomsarerelatedtobrainpathology.Heisalsoinvestigatinghowvision,visualmemory,andvisuospatialfunctioncanimprovethediagnosisofunusualdementiapresentations.

DrMuireannIrishcontinuestoexplorehowmemoryandsocialcognitionareaffectedindementia.Herresearchhasuncoveredthebrainregionsassociatedwithprospectivememory(orthinkingaboutthefuture)deficitsinfrontotemporaldementia.Theseresultsopenthedoortointerventionstostructurethedailylifeofaffectedindividuals.

DrFionaKumforcontinuestoinvestigatesocialskillsindementia.Recently,sheshowedthatsomepeoplewithfrontotemporaldementiahavedifficultyrecognisingfaces.Fionaisalsoinvestigatinghowdifferentsymptomsemergeoverthediseasecourse.Thisresearchwillhelpusunderstandthetypesofsupportpatientsandfamiliesneedovertime.

DrCristianLeytoncontinueshisresearchonlanguagedeficitsinAlzheimer’sdisease.HeshowedthatAlzheimer’sdiseaseresultinvariablelanguagechanges,whichareexplainedbythelocationofbrainatrophy.Intheupcomingyear,hewillinvestigatehowpathologyprogressesandhowitaffectspatients’languageperformancewithdiseaseprogression.

DrRamonLandin-Romerowaspreviouslyinvestigatingstructuralandfunctionalbrainchangesinpsychiatricconditions.SincejoiningFRONTIER,hehasappliedhisskillstounderstandingthebrainchangesinAlzheimer'sdiseaseandfrontotemporaldementiaovertime.

DrRebekahAhmedisinvestigatingtheeatingandmetabolicabnormalitiesindementiaandmotorneurondisease.Eatingchanges(bingeeating,sweetpreferences)arecommoninthebehaviouralvariantoffrontotemporaldementia.Thesepatientsalsoshowelevatedcholesterolandinsulinlevels,whichmayaffecttheirhealthanddiseaseprogression.

DrTimVanLangenhoveisstudyingbehaviourchangesinthelanguagepresentationsofdementia.Heshowedthatsuchchangesbecomemorecommonwithdiseaseprogression,particularlyinsemanticdementia.Apathyandlossofempathyarealsofoundinasubsetofpatientswhohaveanon-fluentlanguagedisturbance.

RosiHutchingsisinvestigatingfaceperceptioninFTD.Byunderstandinghowweprocessinformationsuchasidentityandemotionfromtheface,thisresearchwillclarifysomeoftheprocessesunderlyingsocialcognitioninfrontotemporaldementia.

ResearchNewsCont’d

StephanieWonghasbeenexploringlearningandmemoryprocessesindementiaandwhetherself-orsocially-relevantinformationisremembereddifferentlytootherinformation.Thesefindingswillhelpunderstandwhethercertaintypesofmemoriesaremoreresistant,andhowthiscanbenefitmanagementstrategiesindementia.

LaurenBartleymanagesthebloodandDNAsamplescollectedatFRONTIER,andourbraindonorprogram.Ourhopeisthattheanalysisoftheproteinswithinthebloodwillrevealtheunderlyingcausesofaperson’sillness.Ifsuccessful,thesewillbecomevaluablediagnostictoolstohelpclinicianswiththemanagementofthesedisorders.

OtherActivities

Wehavecommencedtheopen-labelextensiontotheinternationalPhaseIIIdrugtrial,TauRx,forbehavioural-variantFTD.Recruitedparticipantshaveregularvisitsandtestingwithusforanother12months.In2016,wehopetoseeresultsforthefirsttrialwecommencedlastyear.ThisresearchisanimportantsteptowardsthedevelopmentoftreatmentsinthefightagainstFTD.

ThisyearwerecognisedWorldFTDAwarenessweek(Oct5-9),hostinganumberofeventsandpromotingawarenessthroughsocialmedia.TheMosmanGalleryinSydneysupportedusinhostinganafternoonteaforindividualswithFTDandtheirfamilies,withanopportunitytoviewtheexhibition‘AnUnendingShadow’byAnnandSophieCape.TheCapeshavebeeninvolvedinourresearchprogram.Wealsoorganisedascreeningofthedocumentary‘LooksLikeLaury’followedbyaQ&Asession,whichwasopentothepublic.

OurannualfrontotemporaldementiaInformationandSupportDayforFamilieswillreturntoitsusualformatin2016.WeplantoholdthisdayinJune,hereatNeuRA,sostaytunedformoredetails.

ConferencePresentationsandPublications

Ourresearchfindingshavebeenpresentedatmanyscientificconferences,includingtheWorldCongressofNeurology(Santiago,Chile),theInternationalNeuropsychologicalSocietyConference(Sydney),andtheAsiaPacificFTD-MNDMeeting(Sydney),whichwehelpedorganise.

FRONTIERwasagainveryprolificin2015.Wehavepublishedover30peer-reviewedarticlesininternationalscientificjournals,includinginprestigiousjournalssuchasTheLancet,Brain,Neurology,andJAMANeurology,aswellasanumberofbookchapters.