GRANTS FUNDED:
The Neurosurgical Research Foundation raises money to fund research into disease and injury of the Brain and Spinal cord.
This research is undertaken in Australian Universities and Teaching hospitals.
Some of the specific areas of research funded have been in the following areas:
MOST RECENT GRANTS FUNDED:
NRF Grants 2008 $366,000
Abbie Simpson Clinical Fellowship Start up Grant $42,160
Dr Andrew Zacest was appointed first Abbie Simpson Clinical fellow in 2008. The NRF gave a start up research grant allocated to this position.
NRF Grants 2008 $18,000 to go towards Brain Tumour research
Associate Professor Mounir Ghabriel and Professor Alan Nimmo of the University of Adelaide.
Swelling (oedema) around tumours, which is an important determinant of patient outcome. It is known that the cerebral blood vessels in and around brain tumours become ‘leaky’, and that this underlies the development of the oedema, however, the mechanisms for this change in vascular permeability are unknown. Research in head injury and stroke undertaken at the Centre for Neurological Diseases suggests that neuropeptides play a key role in changing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier in these conditions and may therefore offer a new approach to the management of peritumoural oedema.
The second research question focuses on the way cancerous cells enter the brain through the blood-brain barrier which normally prevents cells crossing into the brain. They will examine whether neuropeptides play any role in enabling these cancerous cells to cross the blood-brain barrier and so facilitate secondary tumour development.
Joan Estelle Hutchesson Estate Bequest
$48,000 to go towards Parkinson’s Disease research
The NRF has been fortunate to receive a bequest of just over $48,000 from Joan Estelle Hutchesson, who died in 2006. Mrs Hutchesson directed that the bequest be used specifically for research into Parkinson’s Disease.
Prof. Robert Vink, and his team, will receive this grant over two years.
“Accordingly, this project will use a model of Parkinson’s Disease to examine the role of substance P in the disease, focusing on whether the neuropeptide is increased in the early stages of the disease.”
Abbie Simpson Clinical Fellowship – University of Adelaide. $800,000 total complete.
$300,000 granted to the University of Adelaide to finish this Appeal in May 2008.
A total of $800,000 was given with the original $500,000 being handed over in 2006.
NRF Grants 2008 $18,000 to go towards Brain Tumour research
Associate Professor Mounir Ghabriel and Professor Alan Nimmo of the University of Adelaide,
Swelling (oedema) around tumours, which is an important determinant of patient outcome. It is known that the cerebral blood vessels in and around brain tumours become ‘leaky’, and that this underlies the development of the oedema, however, the mechanisms for this change in vascular permeability are unknown. Research in head injury and stroke undertaken at the Centre for Neurological Diseases suggests that neuropeptides play a key role in changing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier in these conditions and may therefore offer a new approach to the management of peritumoural oedema.
The second research question focuses on the way cancerous cells enter the brain through the blood-brain barrier which normally prevents cells crossing into the brain.
They will examine whether neuropeptides play any role in enabling these cancerous cells to cross the blood-brain barrier and so facilitate secondary tumour development.
Joan Estelle Hutchesson Estate Bequest
$48,000 to go towards Parkinson’s Disease research
The NRF has been fortunate to receive a bequest of just over $48,000 from Joan Estelle Hutchesson, who died in 2006. Mrs Hutchesson directed that the bequest be used specifically for research into Parkinson’s Disease.
The NRF is pleased to announce that Prof. Robert Vink, whose team has undertaken studies into this condition, will receive this grant over two years. Prof. Vink.
“Accordingly, this project will use a model of Parkinson’s Disease to examine the role of substance P in the disease, focusing on whether the neuropeptide is increased in the early stages of the
disease.”
GRANTS Funded 2007 by the NRF $85,000 Total
Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs): A Population Based Study and Survey of Neurosurgical Practice Pattern
Current investigators Professor Michael Morgan and colleagues inc Prof Brian Brophey of RAH.
This Australia wide survey aims to establish neurosurgical practice patterns in the treatment of arteriovenous malformations. The treatment of small and medium sized AVMs remains a clinical challenge. The study will seek to define the natural history and treatment outcomes of AVMs using both retrospective and prospective population based approaches. A further aim is to develop a method of predicting which AVMs are likely to haemorrhage, regress or recur.
It is hoped that this study will provide clearer guidelines for clinician in advising patients on the most appropriate treatment. The Research Committee recommends a grant of $15,000.
NRF fund equipment to the value of $15,000 to enable Quantitative Approaches to Neurosurgical Research. Application from Prof Robert Vink, the NRF Chair of Neurosurgical Research at the University of Adelaide.
Advances in molecular biology have provided a range of powerful approaches that can now be applied to neurosurgical research. In particular, very small samples of human brain tissue can now be analysed using methods that previously required significant volumes of tissue. A newly-developed instrument known as a Nanophotometer permits this process to occur. The Nanophotometer is a UV/Vis spectrophotometer specifically designed for improved concentration estimations in ultra-low volumes. It has a wide range of applications in molecular biology, biochemistry and microbiology, and in terms of neurosurgical research, will be invaluable in our analysis of gene and protein changes following acute and chronic brain injury. The instrument will be widely used by a number of students undertaking various neurosurgical research projects at the University of Adelaide.
The RAAF has raised more than $25,000 to purchase critical research equipment for the NRF Chair of Neurosurgical Research at the University of Adelaide.
An Agilent Bioanalyzer for the NRF Chair of Neurosurgical Research at the University of Adelaide. The instrument will be used to continue the critical world-leading research in stroke, Parkinson’s disease and brain The Agilent Bioanalyzer will be used to study human tissue. This Bioanalyzer will assist us in generating accurate and reproducible results in our gene expression studies, and give us the ability to discover new gene pathways in neurosurgical conditions of relevance to everyone today.
GRANTS Funded 2006 by the NRF $60,000 Total
2005
The NRF Chair of Neurosurgical Research at the University of Adelaide $50,000.
The NRF is pleased to announce the new NRF Chair of Neurosurgical Research at the University of Adelaide a n eminent scientist, Dr Robert Vink was appointed and he took up his position on 1 st July 2005.
He has an outstanding track record in neurosurgical research and is conducting an international trial on a substance P antagonist.
The NRF has awarded a grant of $50,000 to Professor Vink, for the purpose of “kick starting” his appointment as NRF Professor of Neurosurgical Research.
2004
Grant 1: Post-traumatic syringo-myelia. Stoodley (Sydney) and Jones ( Adelaide)
A joint Sydney/Adelaide research project receiving $20,000 in funding.
Patients with spinal cord injury often have serious immediate leg weakness (paraplegia). Occasionally, such patients develop further leg weakness some years later due to a cavity developing inside the spinal cord known as post-traumatic syringo-myelia, which is a poorly-understood complication of spinal cord injury.
The study will focus on the inflammatory response prior to initial cyst formation and will examine the effects of drug treatment on the initial cyst and syrinx formation.
Hopefully it will lead to better management of this devastating condition.
Grant 2: Biology of ADAM proteins in brain tumours. Kaye, Novak (Melbourne)
Most gliomas are malignant brain tumours, which are highly invasive and are currently incurable. Patients with glioblastoma rarely survive more than one or two years after diagnosis even after all conventional treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The interaction of the tumour cells with surrounding cells determines their invasive properties. This study investigates certain proteins involved in this process. If these reactions could be understood, then agents could be developed which would arrest the growth of these tumours.
Professor Kaye’s laboratory has extensive experience in this type of molecular biology, involving immunohistochemistry, cell culture, expression studies and a detailed analysis of protein interactions.
This research project has been granted $15,000.
Grant 3: An investigation using microdialysis into traumatic brain injury (diffuse axonal injury) with and without hypoxia. Rosenfeld (Melbourne).
The NRF has a long history of funding research into head injury, since it is so common in our society and because its victims are in the prime of life. The majority of victims sustain their injuries in motor vehicle accidents.
Dr. Rosenfeld’s head injury research is concerned with diffuse axonal injury, a condition where characteristic nerve fibre damage is visible under the microscope. Most experimental methods in head injury research depend on the use of anaesthesia to control pain, but the use of these anaesthetic drugs complicates data analysis. Dr Rosenfeld’s application uses pain-free microdialysis, enabling the experiment to be conducted without anaesthesia when necessary.
The study hopes to determine whether lack of oxygen exacerbates inflammation and whether other events at the injury site are involved so that, in the future, treatment can be designed to limit the degree of damaging inflammation.
This research project has been granted$15,000.
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