Rotary award aids research into new MS drug targets
[ UniNews Vol. 15, No. 14
7 - 21 August 2006 ]
Research to identify new targets for drugs to improve treatment for multiple sclerosis has won University of Melbourne PhD candidate Laura-Jane Oluich a three-year research scholarship funded by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund and the Rotary Club of Pakenham.
The Rotary scholarship, which is supplementary to Ms Oluich’s Australian Postgraduate Award, recognises a student’s academic excellence and their potential for research training in areas which will enhance community health and wellbeing.
Ms Oluich is conducting her doctoral research at the University’s Centre for Neuroscience and the Howard Florey Institute.
Multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative disease of the brain and spinal cord, affects 1 in 1000 Australian adults.
MS sees the death of oligodendrocytes – cells which produce a substance called myelin that insulates the axons of nerve cells (the electrical cables of the brain and spinal cord). The resulting reduced production of myelin impairs nerve cell function, resulting in symptoms ranging from blindness to quadriplegia.
Howard Florey Institute MS laboratory researchers are investigating the potential of brain stem cells to repair the brain damage associated with MS. Ms Oluich’s research aims to develop a novel mouse model of demyelination which replicates the earliest events in human MS, with a view to identifying new targets for drug intervention to enhance oligodendrocyte renewal.
Supervising Ms Oluich are Professor Trevor Kilpatrick, Director of the University’s Centre for Neuroscience and Head of the MS Research Group at the Howard Florey Institute, and Mr Toby Merson and Dr Holly Cate (Howard Florey Institute).
Ms Oluich received her Rotary award recently from Mr Des Jones of the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund and Mr Barry Morris of the Pakenham Rotary Club. Speaking at the presentation, Professor Kilpatrick noted the long-standing support of the fund and its local members for his group’s MS research.
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