Cell Biology of Alzheimer's Disease Laboratory
Head of laboratory:
This research laboratory is located on level four of the Brain and Mind Research Institute in Camperdown on the central campus of the University of Sydney.
Research students are Ineka Whiteman, Erikar Eco and Erica Jeong. All student projects are administered by the Discipline of Anatomy and Histology.
Alzheimer's is a devastating disease that is projected to have an increasing impact as the population ages. The prevalence of dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most common form, is up to 6% in the 75-84 yr age bracket and 25% in the over 85 yr age group (Access Economics, June 2005 Report).
Our research is concerned with understanding mechanisms that underlie cell biological changes relevant to the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In particular the work focuses on determining the sequence of events that causes cytoskeletal abnormalities that so define neurons in the AD brain. The work is done with primary neuronal cell culture models, biochemical techniques and live cell imaging. We are investigating roles of oxidative stress, energy deprivation and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Dissecting relevant mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction has an essential requirement for cell models. It is also important at each stage to refer back to the human disease. We parallel our cellular approach by collaboration with Dr. Karen Cullen (Discipline of Anatomy and Histology, University of Sydney) in the investigation of cytoskeletal abnormalities in human post mortem AD brain. We also carry out a significant amount of our work at the Bosch Institute Advanced Microscopy Facility and the University of Sydney Electron Microscopy Unit.
