Blog: The Brain Dialogues, filtered by tag: Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing

Scientia PhD scholar in Brain Ageing and Proteomics Research Laboratory at CHeBA, Gurjeet Kaur is researching plasma proteome profiles of early-onset and late-onset Alzheimer's disease from three different cohorts for identification of potential blood-based biomarkers. Gurjeet hopes her proteomics findings from the longitudinal cohort will dissect the pathological changes and help us understand the complexity of Alzheimer's disease and further targeted drug discovery. Gurjeet is also working for the development of clinically relevant proteomics methods which will impact the mass spectrometry-… Read More

Dr Stephanie Ward is a geriatrician who is passionate about improving the quality of diagnosis and care for persons living with dementia. She is thrilled to have an appointment at CHeBA as the clinical and initiative lead for the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) Clinical Quality Registry. ADNeT is a nationwide initiative bringing together consumers, clinicians and researchers to improve research opportunities and clinical care for persons at risk of and living with dementia. The Registry is a central component of ADNeT centred on benchmarking clinical practise, highlighting variations in… Read More

PhD Candidate with CHeBA’s Neuroimaging Group, Dr Jing Du, is aiming to find the relationship between vascular burden and brain structural or functional changes in the ageing process, using Diffusion-weighted imaging techniques. Her ultimate hope is for her research to be meaningful and that it has an impact on future generations.   How did you first get into research? After completing my bachelor, I made the decision to continue with a Medical degree in Neurology, which opened the window for me to look at a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. The accumulated experience I gleaned… Read More

Dr Nicole Kochan is the leader of CHeBA’s Neuropsychology Group and plays a key role in the development and progress of CHeBA’s largest longitudinal cohort study, the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. Dr Kochan is assessing the validity and efficacy of computer-based neuropsychological tests to detect cognitive decline and potentially provide a more accessible, time efficient and cost-effective means of assessing cognitive function in older adults.   How did you first get into research? I am a trained Clinical Neuropsychologist and was working for several years at the Prince of Wales… Read More

Apathy, defined as loss of motivation leading to dysfunction or disability, is experienced by many community-dwelling older people, and is one of the most common symptoms of neurological and psychiatric disorders. It has often been mislabelled as depression, resulting in ineffective treatment, and has a significant impact on an individual’s ability to lead a fulfilling life. Through research undertaken in her PhD, Fleur Harrison, hopes to shine the light on apathy as an under-researched construct which interplays with ageing and the immune system.   How did you first get into researching… Read More

A PhD Candidate in the Brain Ageing Research Laboratory at CHeBA, Marina Ulanova is researching the development of iron nanoparticles aimed at discovering improved methods to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. Marina hopes this research will eventually lead to earlier intervention and more effective treatment of the disease.   How did you first get into research? After completing my undergraduate degree, I wasn’t entirely sure about what I wanted to do next. A friend informed me of a research internship opportunity at the Garvan Institute and, given I had always been interested in neuroscience… Read More

HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Dr Karolina Krysinska obtained her PhD in Psychology in 2001 and has since had a rich career history in research. She is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity at the University of New South Wales. Previously she worked on the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) Registry project at the Monash University. Karolina is also a Gestalt psychotherapist at the ConnectGround Clinic and Lygon… Read More

Dr Karen Mather’s multi-disciplinary research approach to understanding human ageing is dependent upon collaborating not only with CHeBA staff, but also national and international researchers and using publicly available data to provide a more comprehensive examination of the biological processes that underlie the rate at which we age. Dr Mather is enthusiastic about working with CHeBA’s unique studies - in particular the Sydney Centenarian Study - which is the only ongoing exceptional longevity study in Australia.    How did you get into researching the ageing brain? Unlike most people I… Read More

Dr Inga Mehrani is currently a project manager for one of the three main initiatives within the Australian Dementia Network - the Memory Clinics initiative (ADNeT-MC). The project aims to harmonise diagnostic assessment standards and post-diagnostic pathways to provide a best practice framework for healthcare practitioners and reassure patients and carers that they receive a high-quality dementia diagnosis across Australian Memory Clinics.   How did you get into researching the ageing brain? I am a Speech Pathologist by training and completed my training in Germany. The system there… Read More

Dr Sumangali Gobhidharan originally studied Zoology before moving into Neuroscience and the field of healthy ageing research. What ultimately motivated her to join the field was hearing stories of her Grandfather’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and the hope to contribute to healthy brain ageing research.   How did you get into researching the ageing brain? I am from Sri Lanka and my first degree was in Zoology. Zoology is a field I am passionate about and one which was nurtured by the fact that my father is a keen biologist. However, I was always curious to learn more about the… Read More