Using the TDP-43Q331K MND mouse model to determine the role of oligodendrocytes in disease

Research Opportunity: PhD students, Honours students
Number of Honour Places Available: 1

Primary Supervisor	Email	Number	Webpage
Dr Samantha Barton	samantha.barton@florey.edu.au

Co-supervisor	Email	Number	Webpage
Dr David Gonsalvez

Summary Dr Barton's laboratory focusses on the motor neurone diseases and frontotemperal dementia, especially the role of non-neuronal cells like oligodendrocytes.

Project Details

Oligodendrocytes have two essential roles in the CNS – to myelinate neurons and to provide metabolic support to axon through this myelin sheath. Given more than 95% of a neuron is its axon, and axons require myelination for normal function, impaired oligodendrocyte function would negatively impact on myelin formation and subsequent capacity to metabolically support neurons. Indeed, recent research from our lab and others has begun to implicate oligodendrocyte dysfunction in MND pathogenesis.

This project will use a combination of biochemical approaches to assess gene and protein expression as well as advanced imaging techniques like SCoRe which isn’t available anywhere else in Australia and allows an in depth analysis of myelination. This can be coupled with electron microscopy to give a very thorough evaluation of oligodendrocyte function in MND; this will be a critically important study in the field particularly given the current interest in glial involvement in MND.

Research Opportunities

PhD students, Honours students
Students who are interested in joining this project will need to consider their elegibility as well as other requirements before contacting the supervisor of this research

Graduate Research application

Honours application

Key Contact

For further information about this research, please contact a supervisor.

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