Australian Rotary Health

University of Melbourne, Vic
The Fenwick Scholarship 2009
Rotary Club of Whyalla, SA
Multiple Sclerosis
 

Jo began studying in Melbourne in 2006 after growing up in Vancouver, Canada. While living in Vancouver she enjoyed the mountains, wilderness and beaches; but also focused on furthering her Bachelor of Exercise Science. Science has always been a great interest. She said, “I have always questioned the way things work, enjoyed learning about the biology of human systems and I get excited knowing that there is still a vast unknown world of physiology left to discover.”
 

Jo’s father was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 1996.  Her passion for MS research stemmed from this personal experience of the disease. Being awarded a Funding Partner Scholarship to do her PhD in MS research is a great achievement.  Jo said she is “looking forward to all the challenges and experiences that are to come”.
 

Aims:
To understand how new cells called oligodendrocytes are regenerated in the brain after oligodendrocyte death.
 

Project overview:
Multiple Sclerosis occurs when myelin, a fatty substance that wraps around the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord much like insulation around an electrical cable, becomes damaged.
 

Myelin is produced by oligodendrocytes which are specialised cells that support the function of nerve cells. In diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, oligodendrocytes die and the myelin that they produce is lost resulting in damage to the nerve cells that they insulate. When this happens nerve cells no longer function normally, resulting in symptoms such as blurred vision and walking difficulty.
 

This PhD project will investigate a process of cell renewal in the brain and spinal cord as a consequence of the death of cells called oligodendrocytes.
 

One of the consequences of oligodendrocyte death is the spontaneous generation of new oligodendrocytes. This process of cell replacement helps restore function to the nerve cells by replacing the myelin that was initially lost.  Although this process occurs spontaneously, it does not occur very efficiently and becomes progressively less efficient with time.
 

Jo Stratton’s research aims to unravel how oligodendrocytes are regenerated to determine how this process can be enhanced to protect nerve cells more efficiently. The study will use an animal model to determine:

   ►   the precise mechanism by which the cells are regenerated and
   ►   the genes responsible for controlling this process
 

Understanding which genes control regeneration of oligodendrocytes could translate into developing new strategies to treat Multiple Sclerosis and prevent long-term disability.