Marion Turnbull

Research over the last 50 years has indicated that overproduction of the protein called amyloid beta and irregular accumulations of tau proteins in brain cells are responsible for the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. However the factors that initiate the production and accumulation of these toxic proteins are poorly understood. Ms Turnbull’s research aims to see if a decrease in the availability of a class of chemicals in the brain called neurotrophins, which are observed in people with Alzheimer’s disease, are associated with the early stages of the development of amyloid beta and tau protein build-up. She aims to understand the molecular mechanisms linking neurotrophin reduction to the dysregulation of amyloid-beta production and tau accumulation. She will also investigate whether a compound called c29 peptide may be able to reduce the production of amyloid beta and reduce tau accumulation in the event of decreased neurotrophin activity in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Turnbull MT, Coulson EJ. (2016). Cholinergic basal forebrain lesion decreases neurotrophin signaling without affecting tau hyperphosphorylation in genetically susceptible mice. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. Preprint, no. Preprint, pp. 1-14. http://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad160805

Ms Turnbull graduated with her PhD from the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland in December 2016.