Drug repurposing to treat childhood dementia

This project is suitable for Honours, Masters, MPhil, MD or PhD student.

Background

Childhood dementia is caused by a group of genetic disorders which have effects on infants and children that include dementia (loss of normal brain function). There are no cures, and treatments limited effects. We are collaborating with Prof. Eske Derks and Dr Zac Gerring at QIMR Berghofer to screen currently used drugs to determine if any have therapeutic effects on childhood dementia.

Aim/s

Drugs and drug targets are identified using computational approaches, and the leading drugs will be tested for effectiveness in pluripotent stem cell derived brain cell models of childhood dementia.

Method

Growth of human stem cell-derived brain cell cultures.

Project Potential

Potential to identify new drugs to treat childhood dementia.