Rachel Atkinson

Ms Atkinson’s project is looking at a number of proteins that are implicated in frontotemporal degeneration, the second most common form of younger onset dementia. She will seek to determine whether these proteins play a role in maintaining nerve cell processes in the brain, and whether it is these maintenance roles that become dysfunctional in frontotemporal lobe degeneration. She will use genetic techniques in animals and in test tubes to examine how these proteins are involved in the function of nerve cell processes, and use human tissue to confirm her results. Deciphering the mechanisms by which these proteins cause nerve cells to dysfunction is vital for the development of new approaches to treatment.

In the last seven years a number of proteins have been identified that are pathologically or genetically associated with Frontotemporal Lobe Degeneration including TDP-43, FUS, C9ORF72 and progranulin. As ubiquitously expressed proteins it has been difficult to assess the role these proteins play in disease, particularly associated with ageing. Ms Atkinson proposes that the disease-associated roles are likely to stem from functions that are specific to neurons and/or glial cells. Accumulating evidence suggests that many of these proteins are involved in neurite outgrowth and cytoskeletal maintenance. In this project she will use a threefold approach to investigate the role of FTLD proteins in disease. 

Firstly she will utilise novel primary cell culture techniques that allow compartmentalization of the neuron to probe axonal and somatodendritic mechanisms. Secondly she will utilise an in vivo intraocular injection model to rapidly examine the effect of mutant and non-mutant proteins on downstream connectivity.  Finally she will investigate neurite pathology in human tissue. This project will provide mechanistic insight into the role of FTLD proteins in disease.

Ms Atkinson is a PhD candidate at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania. She began her PhD in early 2014.