This short clip above shows some footage of us in Dr Lesley Cheng's lab with a demonstration of a Pipette Machine and some photos.
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Postdoctal Researcher
College of Science, Health and Engineering School of Molecular Sciences Department of Genetics and Biochemistry Area of Study: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Sciences Role: Research fellow |
Dr Lesley Cheng and her lab have been researching specifically about Alzheimer's Disease and how to develop cheaper and more efficient ways of detecting the disease. Current detection methods include the PET scans and the removal of cerebrovascular fluid; these methods are very invasive and expensive. It is believed that in the blood, the cell RNA may contain important information about the body and specific genetic coding that would cause Neurodegenerative Diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease. They have discovered that in our blood there are tiny things called exosomes, where these RNA are packed in, which can be referred to as our internal postal system of the body, in the blood. These exosomes contain proteins as well such as the Beta Amyloid, which is the toxic protein found in the brain of Alzheimer's sufferers. Dr Lesley Cheng is developing a blood test for Alzheimer's Disease patients along with The Hill Lab at La Trobe University. Once a blood test is taken, the exosomes can be secreted from the blood. After this, next generation sequencing is used to determine their MiRNA profile. This method is still in the process of being tested on people to determine its accuracy. If it proves to be accurate and can be used in hospitals, this non-invasive and affordable technique to allow patients with Alzheimer's to be discovered and treated earlier will be available to many people.
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A photo of the three of us in Dr Lesley Cheng's Lab
Above is Dr Lesley Cheng who explains Alzheimer's disease and the blood test she is developing.
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![]() Dr Ross O'Shea is working here at La Trobe University, researching about Neurodegenerative Diseases, mainly Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. Dr Ross O'Shea is working in collaboration with The Florey in Parkville, looking at cells other than neurons in the brain to see whether they might be able to help protect neurons better. Astrocytes are cells in the brain that Dr Ross O'Shea is investigating looking at which neurons are healthy and alive by providing nutrients and also removing waste products. Astrocytes are specialized and surround the neuron to to get all of the above done. Dr Ross O'Shea is investigating about Neurodegenerative Diseases and which neurons are dying and what their previous roles were because it has been found that this could determine the types of symptoms. His approach is that if the surviving neurons can be kept alive longer, we are going to slow down the progression of the disease, therefore he is trying to identify what aspect of the Astrocytes tell us they are in a good shape to help the neurons, or an unhealthy shape. His team has found that in animals they can cause Neurodegenerative Diseases by making Astrocytes not work well. This means that they are not damaging neurons directly, but injuring them indirectly via the cells and getting the same results as if they were damaging neurons. Dr Ross O'Shea and his team are looking for a simple test to tell if its a healthy or unhealthy Astrocytes are surrounding the cells. This will mean that they will be able to figure out how to fix the unhealthy Astrocytes and be able to treat the disease.
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Senior Lecturer
College of Science, Health and Engineering School of Life Sciences Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology Area of study: Physiology Role: Academic |
Professor
College of Science, Health and Engineering School of Psychology and Public Health Department of Psychology and Counselling Area of Study: Psychology Role: Academic Here is a photo of the 3 of us with Professor Simon Crowe.
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Professor Simon Crowe is a Neuropsychologist and he is interested in how the brain and behavior work together. The sort of work that Professor Simon Crowe is doing is a couple of projects on Psychopaths. He explained to us that a psychopaths are people who don't have the ability to determine right from wrong and so they don't recognize the things we or you would say, would be the things that you maybe shouldn't do. They almost use people as objects or tools for there own use, he told us. So Professor Simon Crowe is investigating and doing projects about why these people become like this. He needs to recognize why these are the way they are. He has found and predicted that these Psychopaths are like this because they grow up thinking that the behaviors that they are engaging in aren't causing pain to the people around them. His argument is that they don't learn the issues of the shame and guilt because these particular people don't know how to read facial expressions of pain of other people. Professor Simon Crowe is working on quite a lot of projects on this particular matter here at La Trobe, but not only this, he is also in the field of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. His focus is more around psychopaths. Here at La Trobe he is currently working on a range of projects to find out more answers to this specific topic. We wish him all the luck in the future with his research and future findings.
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