Neuroscience and Stem Cell Biology at Griffith University

Griffith University is leading research in several areas of biotechnology with applications to many brain diseases and neurological conditions.

Enhancing human health and quality of life
Griffith University’s Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies is bringing together the specialised skills of neurobiology, cell biology, chemical biology and natural product discovery to develop pharmaceutical and therapeutic products and treatments to enhance human health and quality of life.

Cell transplantation therapies for paraplegia
A team of researchers at the Institute is undertaking a world-first clinical trial into spinal cord regeneration surgery in paraplegics. The procedure involves taking cells taken from the nose of a patient, the olfactory ensheathing cells, growing them in the lab and transplanting them into the patient’s own damaged spinal cord.

Adult stem cell biology
The olfactory epithelium, the sense organ of smell, is a site of continual production of new nerve cells throughout adult life. Researchers at the Institute have isolated the stem cells responsible and are exploring their use for future stem cell transplantation therapies. Like olfactory ensheathing cells, these adult neural stem cells will be taken from and transplanted into the same patient, eliminating tissue rejection problems and avoiding the ethical issues involved in other stem cell transplantation therapies.

Cellular pathways to disease
By taking stem cells from persons with brain diseases and neurological disorders it is possible to find out about the cellular pathways to disease. Stem cells can be grown in the lab and their biology investigated using genomics and proteomics. Researchers at the Institute are using adult neural stem cells to investigate diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, mitochondrial diorders and epilepsy.

Japanese partners
Researchers at the Institute already collaborate with a number of Japanese universities. We are actively seeking Japanese researchers who are interested in adult neural stem cells and their application to cell therapies and disease.

For more information

Contact Professor Alan Mackay-Sim:
a.mackay-sim@griffith.edu.au or visit www.griffith.edu.au.