SEMINAR: Bayliss Seminar Series

Neurodegenerative diseases and disorders are a huge health and economic concern, for both developed and developing countries. Unfortunately, despite large research efforts, few successful therapies have been developed. In part, this is attributed to incomplete understanding of the chemical mechanisms of neurodegeneration, and incomplete understanding of the exact pathways through which potential therapies mitigate health benefit. To understand further the process of neurodegeneration and the biochemical action of potential therapies, new imaging technology is required. Despite the current availability of advanced imaging techniques such as PET and MRI, there are key components of normal and abnormal brain function that cannot be imaged at the sub-organ or sub-cellular level. Specifically, ion homeostasis (Cl-, K+, Ca++), metal homeostasis (Fe, Cu, Zn), thiol-redox, and macromolecular homeostasis (total lipids and total proteins, including formation and clearance of aggregates and proteinaceous deposits) can traditionally only be studied via ex-situ bulk assays or indirect methods. My research focusses on the development and application of novel-spectroscopic techniques to directly image in situ within ex vivo tissue sectons important parameters of cerebral biochemistry and physiology, to increase our understanding of brain disease. Specifically, techniques such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy are used in a multi-modal approach to reveal a greater biochemical “picture”. When combined with synchrotron light sources, this approach can probe the biochemistry of brain disease at the cellular and sub-cellular level. In addition to providing the ability of direct biochemical imaging, thus avoiding potential confounding artefacts that may be produced with indirect methods, spectroscopic imaging enables detection of several biochemical parameters that can not be imaged by any other method (i.e., are “silent”). Recently my research has used this multi-modal approach to reveal new mechanistic information about brain damage that occurs following stroke, brain haemorrhage and cerebral malaria. In this seminar I will discuss these recent findings in addition to future directions for this area of research.