Study level

  • Master of Philosophy
  • Honours
  • Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

School of Biomedical Sciences

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Microbiome Research

Supervisors

Overview

Dementia exhibits the presence of Lewy bodies in the cerebral cortex, which are composed of α-synuclein (αSYN) or Amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques, as well as hyperphosphorylated tau (P-tau) tangles in various forms of dementia. The exact pathological mechanisms underlying this disease are not well understood; however, there is evidence suggesting the involvement of inflammatory activity. Microglia, macrophage cells residing in the brain responsible for clearing external pathogens and dead cells, are of particular interest.

Our study aims to investigate whether Lewy bodies induce inflammation through microglial activation and if this inflammatory pathway can be targeted with pharmacological drugs as a potential treatment for dementia. We hypothesized here that the aggregation of Lewy bodies activates microglia mediated inflammation, leading to the exacerbation of neurodegeneration. Moreover, we believe that targeting microglial activation pathway pharmacologically could serve as a potential approach for treating dementia.

Research activities

  • literature review
  • laboratory experiments
  • data collection
  • data entry
  • drafting or revising conference papers or journal articles.

The research will involve working with primary mouse microglia and human peripheral blood monocyte cultures. You will conduct dose and time kinetic studies to determine the optimal dose and duration for activating primary mouse microglia and human peripheral blood monocytes using pathological Lewy bodies protein.

To achieve this, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blot techniques will be employed to detect the upregulation of target molecules. Surface molecules will be confirmed using flow cytometry, while the release of inflammatory molecules in the supernatant will be measured through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Outcomes

The outcome of this project will provide insights into how Lewy bodies contribute to inflammation by activating microglia and how this affects the development of dementia. By investigating the inflammatory activation pathway of microglia and its involvement in neuroinflammation, we expect to further add understanding to the mechanism underlying dementia. Furthermore, the research may lead to the identification of potential target for modulating microglia activation and treating dementia.

Skills and experience

Experience in microglia or cell culture and laboratory techniques like ELISA, PCR are desirable.

Keywords

Contact

Contact the supervisors for more information.