Assessing novel compounds for diagnostic retinal imaging
Project Details
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease exhibit hallmark protein changes in the brain. In Alzheimer’s disease amyloid-beta and tau deposit in the cortex and in Parkinson’s disease alpha-synuclein is pathognomic of the disease. Interestingly these protein changes have also been found in the retina which is much easier to visualise than cortical tissue. Indeed, retinal photography which is commonly used in optometric and ophthalmic clinics enables inexpensive and simple visualisation of the retina as opposed to expensive PET and MRI imaging required in cortical imaging. However, it is difficult to distinguish protein changes from surrounding retinal tissue in a standard retinal photo and hence application of contrast agents which selectively highlight protein changes would prove useful here. This project will assess novel fluorescent compounds for their diagnostic ability in animal models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.Researchers
- Dr Vickie Wong
- Mr Jeremiah Lim (PhD student)
Funding
ARC Linkage LP160100126Research Group
Faculty Research Themes
School Research Themes
Key Contact
For further information about this research, please contact the research group leader.
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