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Mouna Haidar

Neuromodulatory Control of Memory Circuits in Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Portrait of Mouna Haidar
  • Award

    2013 AADRF PhD Scholarship

  • Status

    Completed

  • Start Date

    3 February 2014

About the project

Alzheimer’s disease primarily affects the memory-related areas of the brain, and ongoing research into where and how this damage occurs can provide insights into the nature of the disease and its improved treatment. Ms Haidar’s research aims to determine the effects of Alzheimer’s disease on an area of the brain called the ‘nucleus incertus’ (NI). This area is located in the brainstem (at the base of the neck), and produces a chemical called relaxin-3, which is thought to play a role in the regulation of memory and other cognitive functions that are effected in dementia. Mouna’s research is investigating if the NI/relaxin-3 system is damaged at different stages of disease progression in a mouse model of dementia, and she hopes to determine whether alterations in NI/relaxin-3 networks might contribute to memory loss, and ultimately, if relaxin-3 related drugs might be therapeutic.

Over the last decade, our laboratory has characterized a unique network of inhibitory brain neurons that contain a highly-conserved ‘peptide’ transmitter, known as relaxin-3, and modulate interrelated behaviours such as goal-directed exploration, arousal and stress responses; and related spatial/emotional memory and brain (theta) activity. These insights into the neurobiology of relaxin-3/RXFP3 systems have been made using cutting-edge reagents/methods such as selective receptor-activating peptides; viral vectors that drive the neuronal expression of peptides- or genetically-modified membrane receptor proteins for ‘pharmacogenetic’ studies; and mice with the relaxin-3 and RXFP3 genes deleted - so called ‘knockout’ mice. 

This project will use these and other state-of-the-art techniques and validated animal models of AD pathology to elucidate new aspects of the specific distribution, plasticity and therapeutic potential of the relaxin-3/RXFP3 system in relation to the nature and treatment of hippocampal neuronal pathology in dementia and AD.

Where are they now?

Ms Haidar is a PhD candidate at the Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne. She began her PhD in early 2014.

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Last updated
19 December 2023