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Blood-Brain Interactions Group
Team Leaders
Research Assistant
- Mr. Jisong Chen
- Ms. Hania Czerwinska
Laboratory-based Postgraduate Students
- Ms. Joannah Cane
- Ms. Theresa Dang
- Ms. Samantha Fernandes
- Mr. Jeff Liddell
Clinic- & community-based Postgraduate Students
- Ms. Kathryn Bruce
- Mr. Tim Friedman
- Ms. Samantha Speirs
Honours student
Why our research is important
Our brain is our most precious organ. It defines who we are and how we relate to the world, yet when it is damaged there is little that can be done to repair it. Unlike our other organs, it cannot be amputated, transplanted, replaced with a prosthesis or given a triple bypass. Once our brain is injured we have to live with the consequences for the rest of our lives. It is difficult to imagine any research that can be more important than finding ways to improve brain health and reduce the severity of brain injury.
Neurological disorders account for a quarter of all years lost to disability in Australia. The majority of neurological disorders are untreatable. These disorders primarily afflict people in their second half of life (particularly stroke and dementia), and with the Australian ‘baby boomers’ ageing, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has predicted that the incidence of neurological disorders will triple in the period between 1993 and 2023. By 2023, neurological disorders will kill more Australians than cancer or cardiovascular disease. As the Australian population becomes older, there will be fewer young people to care for those who are disabled by brain disease, or to pay the increased healthcare costs. To avoid a healthcare crisis, ways must be found to reduce the incidence and severity of age-related neurological diseases.
What we do
Our brain is fuelled by the energy released from glucose when its chemical bonds are broken by oxygen. All of this glucose and oxygen, as well as other nutrients in the brain, are obtained from the blood. As a consequence, the brain is completely dependent on its blood supply; slight alterations in the rate of flow or composition of the blood can have significant effects on brain function. It is no coincidence that most forms of brain injury – stroke, trauma, dementia or ageing – involve abnormalities in the utilisation of oxygen, glucose and other blood-borne agents.
Our team investigates how abnormal interactions between the blood and brain can result in cognitive dysfunction and brain damage. For instance, we have demonstrated that haemoglobin becomes extremely toxic to brain cells as it degrades, which means that haemoglobin could be an important cause of brain damage in stroke and other disorders. We have also shown that iron and zinc, which are blood-borne nutrients, can turn into ‘rogue elements’ that damage brain cells by reacting with the breakdown products of glucose and oxygen to produce oxidative stress. We are particularly interested in finding out whether there are chemicals in the blood that can protect brain cells from oxidative stress. Our team is also investigating why brain function is adversely affected in diabetes and in food intolerance (e.g. Coeliac disease). Our findings will assist people to choose diets and lifestyles that improve their brain health and reduce their risk of brain disease.
Tools of our trade
The combined technical expertise of our team spans all the way from cognitive testing of people in clinical and community settings, to measuring biochemical reactions in cultured brain cells. Our resources include:
- Subtle Cognitive Impairment Test (SCIT); a computer-based test developed by us to detect improvements or impairments in cognition, such as those associated with dietary nutrients, drug intoxication, brain damage and chronic inflammatory conditions.
- A battery of neuropsychological tests of specific cognitive domains.
- Biochemical assays on primary cultures of astrocytes and neurones derived from (neonatal and adult) rats and mice. We have considerable experience in measuring the antioxidant capacity of brain cells, and the uptake and metabolism of iron.
- Use of synchrotron technology to investigate the distribution and concentrations of metal ions and proteins within brain cells following the administration of dietary compounds.
- Measurements of the effectiveness of neuroprotective compounds following the stereotaxic injection of neurotoxic agents into specific brain regions of adult rats.
- Immunohistochemical investigations of protein expression in brain tissue.
This wide range of expertise provides us with the potential to assess the relevance of our basic research findings within clinical and community settings.
Future projects
We have a wide range of research projects available for students with a background in Psychology, Behavioural Neuroscience or Biomedical Science. These projects can be clinic/community-based, laboratory-based, or both, and are suitable for students who wish to undertake honours research or a doctorate. We also supervise undergraduate student projects for BNS2082 (Introductory Research in Behavioural Neuroscience), and summer vacation projects.
We enjoy fruitful collaborations with many research groups in Australia and overseas, including:
- Prof. Julian Smith: Cognitive impairment following cardiac surgery.
- Prof. Peter Gibson, Dr. Sue Shepherd & Dr. Evan Newnham: Cognitive impairment in coeliac disease.
- Prof. Velandai Srikanth: Effects of diabetes on cognition.
- Prof. Helena Parkington & A/Prof. Gerald Munch: How diabetes affects brain cells.
- Prof. Ralf Dringen: Iron-mediated oxidative stress in brain cells.
- Dr. Alfons Lawen: Iron metabolism in brain cells.
- Dr. Marion Cholewa & Dr. Rosalie Hocking: Synchrotron radiation as a tool for investigating brain cells.
- Dr. Russell Conduit: Effects of intermittent hypoxia on brain cells and cognition.
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