Since I've moved to Hobart, I've lived in all of Australia's capital cities except for Perth!

I know a number of people living with brain diseases including MS, and understand the day to day challenges that can exist when living with a neurological condition, for both patients and their families. By doing research in this area, this is a small way to improve their future in the long-term. Also, once I found out about glial cells (the oligodendrocytes that make myelin, and the astrocytes and microglia that provide support to neurons in other ways) I wanted to know more.

I'm excited by the emerging findings that indicate that there is something happening in the brain and spinal cord that either initiates MS or contributes to the disease getting worse. While preventing the immune system from attacking the brain and spinal cord will always be an important part of treating MS, I think if we can understand what is happening on the neurological side, the closer we will get to finding new ways to stop MS from getting worse and ultimately improving the quality of life for people living with MS.

In people with MS the wrap around nerves called myelin is attacked by the immune system. Myelin can be repaired by cells called oligodendrocytes that survive the immune attack or by recruiting support cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). However, in people with MS, OPCs and surviving oligodendrocytes stop being able to repair myelin and we don't understand why. My fellowship is focused on learning why OPCs and oligodendrocytes stop being able to make myelin in MS. By doing this, I hope to develop new methods we can overcome this failure of myelin repair so we can prevent disability accrual in people with MS.

My research is discovery based – this means that is the very first step that we as researchers take in developing new treatments. Currently, there is an unmet need for treatments that stop MS disease progression and prevent the ongoing damage to the nervous system that occurs in MS, even in the absence of an immune attack. My study will identify why myelin repair fails in MS lesions and this is important to developing effective brain repair therapies for MS into the future.

My favourite thing about working in the lab is that I get to work with very intelligent, passionate, thoughtful and highly motivated people. As researchers, we are incredibly privileged in being able to take an idea and make it a reality and even if sometimes this doesn't work out exactly the way we plan, we have the opportunity to learn from it.