Projects
A longitudinal cohort study of dementia with Lewy bodies
Dementia with Lewy bodies is a common form of dementia in older people, second only to Alzheimer’s disease. It is a condition that shares symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease and is associated with high rates of morbidity, mortality and poorer quality of life than Alzheimer’s disease. In a longitudinal cohort study of 100 people with dementia with Lewy bodies we aim to determine the influence of biomarkers on clinical symptoms and disease outcomes in order to improve the clinical diagnosis, deliver appropriate information and care for patients and assist in the development of disease modifying therapies.
More information: Lewy Body Study Trial
Lead clinician:
Dr Rosie Watson MBBS, FRACP, PhD
Consultant Physician in Geriatric Medicine
Dr Watson completed her clinical training in geriatric medicine in Melbourne before undertaking her PhD studies at the Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom investigating how imaging markers can be used to help better understand dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease in older people. She returned to Melbourne in 2013 and holds current appointments at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne.
Dr Watson is the inaugural YARP clinical research fellow enabling her to pursue further research in dementia. She is interested in investigating how biomarkers can be used to help refine the clinical diagnosis and understand disease progression in order to develop appropriate and disease modifying treatments for people with dementia.
Investigating Genetic and Environmental Resilience Factors to Alzheimer Dementia
With dementia set to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in Australia, the need to formulate treatment and preventative strategies is urgent. A variant of the gene APOE called the e4 variant has been considered a significant risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s dementia. However, certain elderly people, despite inheriting this high risk variant from both their parents (double dose of the gene), seem to be resilient to Alzheimer’s dementia. Studying in detail what protects this elderly group from the disease will shed light into effective preventative and treatment modalities. Dr. Huq aims to investigate these resilience factors as part of her PhD.
Lead clinician:
Dr Aamira Huq MBBS, FRACP
Consultant Clinical Geneticist
Dr Huq completed her FRACP in clinical genetics in Melbourne. She currently works as a clinical geneticist at The Austin Hospital and is undertaking PhD through the University of Melbourne. She works in the field of Adult Genetics including Cancer Genetics. Her PhD research interests involve investigating the various genetic components of dementia.
Diagnostic Utility of Whole Genome Sequencing in Young Onset Dementia
Young Onset Dementia (YOD) is defined as clinically diagnosed dementia in individuals under the age of 65. Despite extensive clinical diagnostic tools and investigations, many of these patients do not have a clear cause of their dementia identified. Dr. Huq is involved in a project that utilises whole genome sequencing, which is a latest genetic testing technology capable of scanning the entire genome to look for genes related to dementia. This project will indicate if the diagnostic rate of YOD increases with this type of genetic testing compared to conventional diagnostic methods.
Lead clinician:
Dr Aamira Huq MBBS, FRACP
Consultant Clinical Geneticist
Dr Huq completed her FRACP in clinical genetics in Melbourne. She currently works as a clinical geneticist at The Austin Hospital and is undertaking PhD through the University of Melbourne. She works in the field of Adult Genetics including Cancer Genetics. Her PhD research interests involve investigating the various genetic components of dementia.
BϒOND: A longitudinal cohort and characterisation of people with young-onset dementia.
Young-onset dementia (YOD) refers to people who have the age of onset of dementia younger than 65 years old. The presentation and aetiology can be varied and thus there is often a delay in diagnosis. This project aims to undertake a longitudinal study of patients with YOD that incorporates biological and psychosocial research. We will review patients through their entire journey and follow up their genetics, CSF biomarkers, imaging, other novel techniques and their caregivers/families – thus revealing important clues that can better assist with the diagnosis of YOD which will ultimately improve outcomes for our patients and their families.
Lead clinician:
Dr Samantha Loi MBBS, FRANZCP, PhD
Consultant Neuropsychiatrist
Dr Loi has completed training in psychiatry in 2011 and has an Advanced Certificate in Psychiatry of Old Age. She later obtained her PhD in 2016, through the Academic Unit of Psychiatry of Old Age (University of Melbourne) which focused on risk factors for depressive symptoms in older caregivers. Her work at Northwestern Mental Health Neuropsychiatry Unit since 2015 involved the assessment and diagnosis of younger people presenting complex neuropsychiatric symptoms. This clinical work helped her realise that there was often a lag from presentation to diagnosis, which had significant impacts on the lives of the patients and their families. In addition to young-onset dementia, Dr Loi also has interests in caregiver well-being and has been investigating how novel technology can support both the people with dementia and their caregivers.
Vascular Study
Yassi has been awarded a prestigious NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development fellowship to explore important questions relating to vascular contributions towards cognitive impairment, including in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This work will focus on assessment of brain imaging studies for signs of cerebrovascular disease including silent infarcts, white matter hyperintensities, microhaemorrhages, microinfarcts and cerebral atrophy, and investigation of their association with cognition. He is working with Prof Colin Masters and the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers & Lifestyle (AIBL) study team at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health / University of Melbourne, with the goal of developing models to quantify the overall contribution of cerebrovascular disease towards cognitive impairment in an individual patient.
Lead clinician:
Dr Nawaf Yassi MBBS, BSc (Med), FRACP, PhD
Consultant Neurologist
Dr Nawaf Yassi is a vascular neurologist working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He studied medicine at the University of New South Wales, graduating in 2005 with first class honours. He undertook neurology specialty training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Eastern Health - Box Hill Hospital, and then completed a PhD in brain imaging and stroke from 2012 to 2015 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne. He is actively involved in the Royal Melbourne Hospital acute stroke service which provides expert stroke care to patients from around the state of Victoria, and is also a neurologist for the Victorian Stroke Telemedicine Service, which provides 24/7 telemedicine stroke care to patients in rural Victoria. His interests are in stroke and cerebrovascular disease, and, in particular, in quantifying the contribution of cerebrovascular disease towards cognitive impairment using brain imaging.
Ocular Imaging Study
The retina, the neural tissue that lines the back of the eye, shares its developmental origins with the brain. Studies of human retinal tissue have demonstrated the presence of beta-amyloid, a protein known to accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer disease. Interestingly, experimental studies with mice that overexpress human beta-amyloid show close correlation between levels of the protein in retina and brain. Recent work suggests that beta-amyloid scatters light in a characteristic way, opening the way for retinal imaging as a means of detecting and measuring beta-amyloid accumulation. With thanks to support from the Yulgilbar Alzheimer’s Research Program, the Pratt Foundation and the Joan Margaret Ponting Charitable Trust we now have a state-of-the-art hyperspectral retinal camera that will allow us to image the retina at high resolution across a wide range of different wavelengths of light to see if we can detect beta-amyloid in the eyes of people with Alzheimer’s disease. The development of a cheap, quick and easy test to detect the level of beta-amyloid deposits would be a major advance for people with Alzheimer’s disease. It might allow easier monitoring of the progression of the disease and, importantly, monitoring of the effectiveness of new treatments that aim to slow disease progression.
Lead clinician:
Dr Peter van Wijngaarden (MBBS [1999], PhD [2005], FRANZCO)
Ophthalmologist
Dr Peter van Wijngaarden is an ophthalmologist and early career scientist whose research is based on using the eye as a window to the brain. He was engaged in specialist training and full-time clinical practice between 2005 and 2010 before undertaking a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge in the field of regenerative biology in multiple sclerosis. In 2013 he returned to the Centre for Eye Research Australia and the University of Melbourne where he is a principal investigator for the Ocular Imaging Study.