Queensland Brain Institute

Brazil Family Program for Neurology Research

The Brazil Family Program for Neurology broadly focuses on understanding disease mechanisms and progressing translational approaches for neurological disorders, including motor neurone disease (MND) and stroke.

Over the past six years, collaboration amongst the laboratories has grown over the life of the program, leading to the development of four broad keystone projects encompassing this work, which will be a focus into the future. Together QBI researchers are drawing on the diverse expertise of more than 40 researchers to advance our goals in discovery research and translation.

 

Contact

QBI Advancement Team

  +61 7 334 66300
  advancement@qbi.uq.edu.au

Mailing address
Queensland Brain Institute
Level 7, Building 79
University of Queensland
4072, St Lucia,
Queensland, Australia

 

 

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Keystone Projects

1. Systemic and lifestyle interventions

Led by Dr Tara Walker, collaborating with Prof Gail Robinson

Research focus:

Mechanisms and application of systemic and lifestyle interventions for neurological disorders: exercise, diet, enrichment (including development of selenium as a stroke treatment). 

2. Neuronal function and activity

Led by Dr Matilde Balbi, collaborating with Dr Adam Walker

Research focus: 

How neuronal activity controls waste clearance from the brain and prevent neurodegenerative and other brain disorders and protein aggregation (Alzheimer's, acute conditions: stroke, MND). 

3. Neuroprotection

Led by Dr Adam Walker, collaborating with Dr Tara Walker

Research focus:

Identifying biochemical approaches for the prevention of the neurotoxicity that occurs in MND and other diseases. 

4. Clinical assessment

Led by Prof Gail Robinson, collaborating with Dr Matilde Balbi

Research focus:

Improving clinical assessment for neurological disorders: detecting and predicting long-term outcomes of cognition disruption across neurological diseases (including stroke, MND, dementia, brain tumours etc). 

Research Leads
Dr Adam Walker
Dr Adam Walker's laboratory has defined early triggers of MND to enable the best target approaches for therapies and identified ways to prevent the abnormal accumulation or improve the removal of a protein that kills motor neurons.
Dr Matilde Balbi
Dr Matilde Balbi aims to understand how stimulating the cortex in different ways reduces the loss of brain cells after a stroke and whether this mitigates behavioural deficits.
Dr Tara Walker
Dr Tara Walker is examining whether the dietary supplement selenium can prevent or decrease cognitive or motor deficits following stroke.
Professor Gail Robinson
Professor Gail Robinson's stroke research aims to improve cognitive assessment tests used to evaluate stroke survivors in the acute phase to predict outcomes and develop more targeted personalised therapies.

The Brazil Family Foundation

Recognising stroke and motor neurone disease (MND) had only limited treatment options prompted Lyn and Bobbie Brazil to establish the Brazil Family Program for Neurology in 2017. This enabled us to recruit world-leading researchers and support for laboratories.

Thank you to the Brazil Family Foundation for its generous support of this critical research at the Queensland Brain Institute and recognition that discovery research leads to health outcomes for the future, which will benefit society at large.

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