He kōrero whakapuaki | From the Director

Kia ora koutou,

Last week was Brain Awareness Week, part of Brain Awareness Month. I have been reflecting on the phrase itself: we are raising awareness for the very organ that gives us awareness.

The brain shapes who we are.

It allows us to become who we want to be and to live our lives as we choose. Quietly, it orchestrates everything we do, every single day.

Something so extraordinary, yet so familiar that we are rarely aware of it at all, until something goes wrong.

For many people in our communities, that moment comes far too soon.

When disease affects the brain, it touches the very things that define us: our memories, our movements, our emotions, even our sense of self. Every day, millions of people live with a brain that can no longer do what they wish it could.

At the Centre for Brain Research I have the privilege of seeing how many talented scientists dedicate their own brains every day to understanding the brain; working to protect it, repair it, and support it when things go wrong.

So this month, perhaps we raise awareness not only for the brain itself, but also for the remarkable people working tirelessly to understand it.

Hanneke
Director, Centre for Brain Research
Te Huinga Hinengaro
The University of Auckland

Searching for the brain's hidden fingerprints

Dr Christi Essex (right) has joined the CBR's research team studying the damage caused by repeated head injuries.

One of the brain’s most elusive diseases is linked to repeated head injury.

Called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), it can currently only be confirmed after death by examining brain tissue under a microscope.

Our researchers hope to change that. This year, research fellow Dr Christi Essex began a world-first project utilising brains with suspected CTE and healthy controls donated to the Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank.

Christi is scanning the brains with advanced, high-resolution MRI, first as a whole then by slice and region-of-interest.

By quantitatively comparing what appears on the MRI scans with what can be seen under a microscope, she hopes to identify the imaging “fingerprints” of the disease and determine whether advanced modelling techniques can help us to isolate these signals in specific locations that are diagnostic of the disease.

If successful, this work could one day allow doctors to diagnose CTE in living patients - something that is currently impossible.

“Right now we think MRI is picking up something meaningful,” Christi says. “But until we compare it directly with the tissue, we can’t be certain whether what we’re seeing is signal or noise.”

Christi’s project is funded for two years by a Neurological Foundation First Fellowship. She is mentored by New Zealand’s leading CTE expert Dr Helen Murray.

Honouring great New Zealanders

It was a remarkable honour to see Sir Richard Faull recognised as a finalist for New Zealander of the Year, a reflection of his lifelong contribution to neuroscience, advancing our understanding of the brain, and to improving the lives of people in Aotearoa.

We warmly congratulate this year’s winner, Sir Rod Drury, and fellow finalist Dame Julie Chapman (pictured left to right below).

Ngā mihi nui ki a Richard

Targeting 'rogue' cells in MND

Dr Molly Swanson is taking a new approach to understanding motor neuron disease (MND) - by focusing not just on the damaged neurons, but on the immune cells that are meant to protect them.

Molly, part of the CBR's Motor Neuron Disease Lab, recently featured in a NZ Listener magazine article highlighting the major contribution NZ research is making to developing therapies for MND.

Her work focuses on microglia, which are the immune cells that help to defend motor neurons. However, her earlier work has shown that microglia can suffer a sort of “caregiver fatigue” and start having a toxic rather than helpful impact on motor neurons.

Over the next three years, Molly will be growing disease-associated microglia in the lab from stem cells, and working with donated human brain tissue, to test if the microglia can be reverted back to being helpful.

“By the time you’re seeing symptoms, you’ve had quite a lot of neuronal damage and death,” says Swanson. “Even if you can target the neurons and repair them, the microglia are still going to be dysfunctional. So, we can’t ignore the supportive cells that are in the brain and spinal column.”

If her research proves these rogue microglia can be brought into line, the hope is an existing drug could be used, alongside other treatments, to support the health of motor neurons.

Meet the researcher: Dr Daiana Yedgey

Research Fellow Dr Daiana Yedgey is part of the Singh-Bains/Faull Lab Group where she is investigating the rare but devastating genetic condition known as X-linked dystonia parkinsonism (XDP).

Daiana’s research journey began at the CBR as a summer student after moving to New Zealand from Kazakhstan as a teenager. She has remained here ever since, aside from a PhD internship at the Max-Planck Institute’s Unit for Neurogenetics in Frankfurt.

While rare, XDP is a condition that has attracted a lot of interest from researchers at the CBR.

The devastating genetic disorder affects Filipino populations not only in the Philippines, but in other countries where there are significant Filipino communities.

“The Filipino population in New Zealand is one of the fastest-growing migrant groups, so XDP has the potential to affect a large community here,” Daiana says.

“As a condition that is more prevalent in Asian communities, XDP may also be overlooked and not as understood as other neurodegenerative conditions in Western societies.”

From a scientific perspective, XDP has features of both dystonia and Parkinson’s disease. Understanding what mechanisms malfunction in XDP could aid in our understanding of these other disorders.

Daiana’s research is supported by the Collaborative Center for XDP, the Neurological Foundation, and the Sunshine Care Foundation.

The eye can whisper long before the brain can shout - Dame Helen Danesh-Meyer

Dame Helen Danesh-Meyer has been featured in the iconic Woman’s Day, bringing her research into the eye as a pathway to understanding the brain into the national spotlight.

Dame Helen's remarkable journey to becoming New Zealand's only female Professor of Ophthalmology began in Iran, where her mother was among the first women to become a doctor. Her family relocated to the United States when she was a toddler, then to Aotearoa when she was a teenager.

Now an internationally recognised leader in ophthalmology, Dame Helen has shown that changes in the eye may reveal early signs of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis, well before symptoms appear.

Read the article here.

The smell test that could stop Parkinson's in its tracks

What if Parkinson’s disease could be detected years before symptoms appear, using something as simple as a smell test?

That’s the question driving research led by CBR neuroscientist Professor Maurice Curtis, who has shared his vision in a recent piece for Newsroom.

Maurice highlights growing evidence that the disease may begin not in the brain itself, but in the nose's olfactory system, which is responsible for smell. Loss of smell is often one of the earliest signs of Parkinson’s, sometimes appearing years before tremor or movement difficulties.

This insight is driving world-leading research at the CBR. Maurice and his team have created the first detailed 3D reconstruction of the human olfactory system, a breakthrough that is helping scientists understand how the disease may start and spread.

Inside the CBR

Supporting our emerging neuroscientists

Early career researchers are a vital part of the Centre for Brain Research.

Over the last 14 years, our youngest scientists have been supported by a dedicated Early Career Researchers (ECR) Committee.

The busy committee has become an increasingly dynamic part of the CBR, and this month launched its own website: https://www.cbr-ecr.auckland.ac.nz/

Dr Joan Leung is a postdoctoral research fellow who volunteers as a committee chair, alongside Dr Molly Swanson and Dr Kyrah Thumbadoo. She says that, similar to the CBR’s diverse profile, the ECR committee is made up of researchers from eight different lab groups representing three faculties.

“Bringing together researchers at similar career stages but from different fields encourages cross-fertilisation of ideas and sparks future collaborations,” Joan says. “Our aim is to help position the CBR’s emerging researchers to become impactful, well-rounded contributors to the future of brain health research."

The committee organises a range of initiatives to support young researchers, from collaboration and networking opportunities, outreach with schools, to fun social events – the annual Halloween quiz being a highlight!

Joan is a rising star in the field of hearing and auditory processing, and studies the challenges people face when this part of the brain does not work as well as it should, particularly in people with autism and older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

Dance as medicine for the brain

Alongside the search for new drug treatments, scientists at the Centre for Brain Research are also exploring activities such as dance to slow cognitive decline in people with early signs of Alzheimer’s.

Professor Suzanne Purdy (Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto) leads a research team investigating Dance Movement Therapy to stave off cognitive decline. Later this year, Suzanne’s team hopes to launch stage 2 of a study following the effectiveness of dance movement therapy for people with mild cognitive decline.

“Individuals with mild cognitive decline are at a greater risk of developing dementia disease or a related Alzheimer’s. They are at a transitional stage where early interventions are critical.

"Activities such as movement, music, and arts may enhance resilience and delay progression for those at risk."

Studies like this highlight the growing importance of non-pharmaceutical approaches that support brain health and promote dignity, inclusion and quality of life in late adulthood.

Suzanne (pictured below) is working alongside CBR early career researcher Dr Joan Leung and dance movement therapist Ann Way.

Research spotlight: the neurodivergent brain

Much of brain research focuses on disease but understanding how brains naturally differ is just as important.

Centre for Brain Research Professor Karen Waldie studies how variations in brain development shape the way people learn, think and experience the world.

Drawing on brain scans, genetics and long-term studies of child development, her research is helping scientists better understand neurodivergence and conditions such as dyslexia and ADHD.

“Neurodiversity reminds us that there are many ways for a brain to develop and function,” she says.

Insights from this work are helping researchers develop more personalised ways to support children whose brains learn and process information differently.