Te Huinga Hinengaro
Māehe 2025 | Kawerongo 3
March 2025 | Issue 3
Nau mai ki te kawerongo tuatoru o Te Huinga Hinengaro!
Welcome to the third issue of Te Huinga Hinengaro!
We are excited to bring to you our Centre for Brain Research newsletter to keep you updated and connected on the latest in brain health, research and innovation.
He kōrero whakapuaki
Director's address
Tēnā tātou katoa,
Welcome to the first edition of the CBR newsletter for 2025! I hope you all had a wonderful summer break and are looking forward to the year ahead.
This year is a very special milestone year for the CBR. Over the past 15 years, we’ve achieved our vision of becoming a world-class collaborative brain research centre, and I am deeply proud of what we have accomplished together as a team.
Later this year, I’ll be stepping aside from my role as Director and passing the torch to new leadership. I won’t be leaving but will provide transitional support for the incoming director and serve as an ambassador for the CBR.
The success of our Centre would not have been possible without the incredible support of all our neuroscientists, clinicians and community members across the CBR. Your dedication and enthusiasm for advancing neurological research and improving lives have been vital to realising our vision. Together, we have built something truly special - an extraordinary collaborative research environment to give hope for people and whānau living with brain disease. We have come a long way but there is still so much to do to realise our dreams.
Mauri ora,
Richard
Director, Centre for Brain Research
Te Huinga Hinengaro
The University of Auckland
In this issue:
- Dr Makarena Dudley receives MNZM
- Welcome event for all CBR staff
- New rōpū for Māori students
- Our people: Dr Jason Correia
- Funding successes
- CBR members in the news
Ngā kōrero whakahira
Highlights
Honouring Dr Makarena Dudley: A Trailblazer in Māori Dementia Care and Neuropsychology
Ka mau te wehi, Dr Makarena Dudley!
Our deputy director (Māori), Dr Makarena Dudley was recognised in the New Year Honours list for 2025 for outstanding services to whānau and hapori living with mate wareware. She has been made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit.
The recognition is well-deserved – Makarena is deeply committed to driving by Māori for Māori solutions to improving Māori health and creating meaningful change for whānau and communities across Aotearoa.
Among other pōtae she wears, Makarena is a clinical neuropsychologist who has spent more than a decade focusing on mate wareware (dementia) in older Māori. She is recognised as a world-leading researcher on Indigenous health.
You are an inspiration, and we are incredibly grateful for your mahi!
Funding successes
Pictured: Kyrah Thumbadoo and Miran Mrkela
Two jolly fellows to fight MND
The Motor Neuron Disease (MND) research lab continues to go from strength to strength with two of its emerging researchers securing highly competitive fellowships.
Kyrah Thumbadoo has received the Neurological Foundation’s Dawn Fellowship ($242,205) to explore the link between MND and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She will use stem cells from a family with a UBQLN2 gene mutation.
Miran Mrkela received a First Fellowship, also a Neurological Foundation grant, worth $243,020. Miran will develop cell models of rare genetic variants linked to MND to study how they disrupt normal cellular functions.
They are both supervised by Associate Professor Emma Scotter, head of the MND lab, who recently received a New Zealand Order of Merit for services to MND research.
With New Zealand having one of the highest rates of MND globally, this work is particularly crucial. Congratulations to both researchers—we look forward to the impact your work will have in the fight against MND!
Other Neurological Foundation funding awards went to Stanley Cardon (Summer Studentship - chronic traumatic encephalopathy); Daniel Lavin (Summer Studentship - neurodevelopmental disorders); Dr Renee Hadley (Small Project Grant - Alzheimer's disease); and Doctoral Scholarships for Mikayla Chetty, Benjamin Watkin and Jean Yu Lim (profiled in the previous edition of our newsletter).
HRC grant for brain tumour registry
Pictured: Dr Thomas Park
Senior research fellow in pharmacology Dr Thomas Park has received $29,907 from the Health Research Council (HRC) to establish a National Brain Tumour Registry for Aotearoa, that will collect, store, and report data from brain-tumour patients. Park hopes the data will improve research efforts, guide health policies, and ultimately provide better health outcomes for patients.
Ā mātou mahi
Our work
New research by Dr Victor Dieriks (right) and Dr James Wiseman (left) offers a 'glimmer of hope' for MSA patients and their families.
Dieriks lab publishes breakthrough MSA research
Hope could be on the horizon for people with multiple system atrophy (MSA) thanks to a new study led by CBR senior research fellow Dr Victor Dieriks, in collaboration with the CBR's Dr James Wiseman, and University of Sydney neuroscientist Professor Glenda Halliday.
Their research, published this month in the prestigious journal Brain, presents a paradigm-shifting discovery. For decades, scientists believed that the primary culprits behind MSA's devastating effects were oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce a protective sheath around nerve fibres. In MSA patients these cells were known to accumulate clumps of a protein called α-synuclein. The findings, which Victor says represent a new direction for the battle against MSA, were reported in the NZ Herald.
Parkinson's gene more common in NZ's Pacific population
Another important study published this month by Dr Victor Dieriks, with PhD candidate Eden Paige Yin as the lead author, has found that PINK1-linked Parkinson’s is far more common in specific Polynesian communities than previously thought, challenging the assumption that it is a rare genetic condition.
PINK1 is an early-onset form of Parkinson's. The findings emphasise the need for broader genetic testing and a more inclusive approach to Parkinson's research to better care for Pacific people.
The study in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease is Eden's first published paper. Congratulations!
Victor and Eden co-wrote a thought-provoking piece about why this matters for people with the PINK1 gene for The Conversation.
Headline-grabbing head injury research
Pictured: Chelsie Osterman
The CBR is a world-leader when it comes to research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated head impacts.
Developing upcoming academic talent is important to the longevity of our core research strengths such as CTE. Chelsie Osterman is one such talent, who is completing her PhD under the supervision of Dr Helen Murray, Head of the Brain Injury & Neurodegeneration Research Lab.
Chelsie recently published her first paper as lead author in the prestigious journal Acta Neuropathologica, revealing new pathological features of CTE. Her work even captured the attention of TVNZ, who are preparing a story about the findings.
Ka whakanuia koe e te whānau o Te Huinga Hinengaro, Chelsie!
Ngā kawepūrongo
In the news
Family finds joy in song
Radio NZ recently featured a deeply personal piece about 92-year-old Gordon Nicholson and the joy of his involvement in the CeleBRation Choir.
The story highlighted the power of singing and music therapy to help those with neurological conditions. Gordon's daughter Margo said:
"It's really hard for people who have had brain injuries to go to places and feel safe, and this place is full of love and safety but most importantly we have a lot of fun and joy and connection."
The CeleBRation Choir was co-founded by music therapist and doctoral candidate Alison Talmage and has been instrumental in helping dozens of individuals with neurological conditions.
Headlines hits the shelves
The latest edition of the Neurological Foundation's magazine Headlines has just landed. Two of our researchers feature in the magazine: Dr Blake Highet (on his mahi as a Brain Bank Research Fellow) and Dr Jessie Jacobsen (who leads the new Autism Research Clinic.
A study published by Dr Victor Dieriks identifies a genetic form of early-onset Parkinson’s disease that can affect children as young as 11. Although previously considered rare, this study is relatively common in Western Pacific nations.
In Dec 2024, University of Auckland pharmacology researcher, Amy Smith received almost $600,000 from a HRC Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship to study brain immune cell connections in mate wareware dementia.
Dementia affects about eight percent of New Zealanders aged over 65 and new treatments are urgently needed for dementia, says Smith.
Professor Sir Richard Faull, director of the Centre for Brain Research, awarded prestigious honour from University of Otago.
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Fellowship offers freedom to study dementia A $600,000 award gives University of Auckland researcher Catherine Morgan the freedom to focus full-time on research to predict dementia. Morgan, based at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, won a Health Research Council Sir Charles Hercus health research fellowship for research on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict dementia in Aotearoa. |
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Miniature marvels to support brain research Miniature Marvels is a scale model exhibition opened in Auckland earlier this year by Mark Davies. It is his own personal collection of more than 440 pieces. Mark was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2013. With his modelling abilities declining, Mark decided to open his collection to the public, by appointment. While admission is free, visitors are encouraged to make donations to the Neurological Foundation to support brain research. |
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
Our people
Get to know the people who make the work we do at the Centre for Brain Research possible. In each edition of Te Huinga Hinengaro, we shine the spotlight on one of our incredible team members.
This month we talk to Mr Jason Correia, a highly skilled neurosurgeon at Auckland City Hospital who specialises in brain tumour resection.
Jason helps to facilitate tissue collection for CBR research, and has a special interest in artificial intelligence to predict brain tumour growth and spread.
What is your role within the CBR?
I’m Co-director of the Neurosurgery Research Unit (NRU) and a member of the Hugh Green Biobank, working alongside incredible neuroscientists such as Professor Mike Dragunow and Dr Thomas Park. My role is to expand the arms of our translational research, into the clinical side of neurosurgery and into artificial intelligence and machine learning, in collaboration with Dr Hamid Abbassi from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute.
What do you enjoy about your work?
As a clinician it’s especially meaningful to be able to do something that will improve a person’s life, sometimes dramatically. Part of that is having clear communication with families to make good treatment decisions together. I’m then able to weave that into my research, exploring novel techniques for better outcomes and targets for those patients.
What are you excited about for the future?
The advances we are making in predicting how a brain tumour is likely to invade surrounding tissue will improve the accuracy of surgery and give patients much better outcomes. The interplay between biology and computational methods will help to drive a lot of change over the next 20 years.
Ngā takunetanga
Upcoming events
Early Career Researcher (ECR) Committee Presents...
The CBR Early Career Researcher (ECR) Committee is hosting a welcome event for all CBR members. PIs are encouraged to bring along your students, both new and returning. Whether you’re here for a semester, a year, or the long haul, you are now part of the CBR whānau. Our diverse, University-wide network brings together researchers from all disciplines interested in brain research and health. Join us for kai and connection as we kick off what promises to be an exciting year.
When: Thursday 27 March
Where: CBR social space, 5th floor FMHS Grafton Building 501
When: from 3pm
Other ECR events planned for March include a Find a Mentor session, pairing early-career researchers with established academics, and an informal lunchtime seminar with Dr Lenore Tahara-Eckl. As an ambassador for the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART), Lenore will discuss how ISTAART membership can open doors to international collaborations and career opportunities.
More details to come!
He karanga tēnei ki ngā tauira Māori o Waipapa Taumata Rau - Join our new rōpū for tauira Māori
The CBR is committed to upholding the mana of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by centring Māori in conversations about Māori brain health. As part of this commitment, we are establishing a rōpū within CBR for Māori students interested in neuroscience. This rōpū is open to Māori students from any discipline or faculty with a connection to brain health.
Our initial hui will focus on shaping the tikanga of this rōpū—deciding on a name, the kaupapa of our rōpū, how often we meet, and the format of our gatherings. The space will be informal, social, and a place for students to connect, kōrero, and support one another.
By fostering a supportive community, we aim to strengthen connections, share knowledge, and empower each other to bring a te ao Māori perspective into brain health research.
If you are keen to connect please contact Meikyla Mason on m.mason@auckland.ac.nz or Makarena Dudley on m.dudley@auckland.ac.nz
Nau mai haere mai!
Whakapā mai
Contact us
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