08/09/2008
Can Stroke be Treated?
Can stroke be treated? New avenues for treating brain disease
Local business leaders will learn from Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) based researcher Dr Hakan Muyderman about groundbreaking new approaches to selectively target brain cells as a potential treatment for stroke at the last Inspirational Luncheon at SKYCITY Adelaide Casino for the year on September 8.
Focusing on the complex interactions that take place in the brain, Dr Muyderman and his colleagues from the Centre for Neuroscience at Flinders are fine-tuning a way to selectively target and deliver treatments to specific groups of brain cells - an approach that has not been possible before now.
"We are doing this by delivering a genetic treatment directly into selected cells to either repair or alter their function so they are no longer damaging to the brain," said Dr Muyderman.
The next step will be to see if this technique can be used to treat the brain damage and behavioural changes that develop in stroke. Stroke affects many Australian’s, with more than 60,000 new and recurring strokes occurring every year. It is also the leading cause of disability and the second biggest killer after heart disease in Australia.
Dr Muyderman's research will also help shine light on the role of glial cells (also known as astrocytes), as they have not yet been well defined. Glial cells greatly outnumber nerve cells in the brain and are believed to play many essential roles in normal brain function.
Brain insult or injury activates these cells which initiate responses that can have both protective and damaging effects on the brain.
Understanding the role of these cells has been limited as there have been few scientific approaches that have allowed the properties of the cells to be selectively targeted in an intact living brain.
"A gene delivery system capable of selectively targeting sub-populations of brain cells will be of significant value in creating a better understanding of the contribution of these cells to normal brain function and disease," said Dr Muyderman.
This research could also help create better treatments for other diseases of the central nervous system such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and motor neuron disease.
Channel 7 newsreader Jane Doyle will host the lunch as a way of helping the Flinders Medical Centre Foundation raise awareness of the groundbreaking research underway at Flinders.
The lunches (which began in April and will finish with this lunch) have been very successful in raising both a considerable amount of funds and support for research at Flinders. With over 400 researchers housed at Flinders working round the clock to make medical happen,
generosity such as that shown by SKYCITY Adelaide Casino and Jane Doyle is an important tool for the Foundation to raise the funds needed to support their work.
More information
Maxine Pollard
Flinders Medical Centre Foundation
(08) 8204 5216
maxine.pollard@fmc.sa.gov.au
