GREVILLEA CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARD POST DOCTORAL RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP

Dr Alicia Spittle
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute – Victoria

THE BULLS & BEARS RESEARCHER POST DOCTORAL RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP

Dr Alicia Spittle
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute – Victoria

THE GALLAGHER FOUNDATION POST DOCTORAL RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP

Dr Catherine Gibson
University of Adelaide – South Australia

THE PAINT A RAINBOW FOUNDATION POST DOCTORAL RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP

Dr Catherine Gibson
University of Adelaide – South Australia

THE HENRY J COWAN GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS

Supports up to three students a year to the amount of $1500 per student, to pursue studies and encourage careers in the field of disability.

Physiotherapy: Emma Wilczek - University of Sydney, NSW
Occupational Therapy: Jessica Westover - University of Sydney, NSW
Speech Pathology: Berna Gurisik – University of Sydney, NSW

Clinical Associate Professor Nick Evans - $33,000 over three years
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital – Sydney, NSW
Severe Newborn Jaundice and Cerebral Palsy

Some children who develop cerebral palsy have had severe jaundice at birth or very soon after. International research shows that severe jaundice is becoming more common in many parts of the world. Is it so in Australia? Nobody knows.

Clinical Associate Professor Nick Evans and colleagues from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney are carrying out the first nationwide survey of paediatricians through the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU). The study hopes to find out if there is an opportunity to prevent some children from developing cerebral palsy.

Nick is Head of the Department of Newborn Care at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the University of Sydney. He is also chair of the NSW Perinatal Services Network NICU Managers Committee and on the executive of the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network.

Professor Alastair MacLennan - $145,900 over two years
University of Adelaide Women's & Children's Hospital North Adelaide – Adelaide, South Australia.
Genes and Cerebral Palsy

There is almost certainly not one single gene that causes cerebral palsy. However, genes play an important role in human development as well as in making us susceptible to infections, inflammation, and poor oxygen supply early in life. How we react to the latter may be as a result of our genes.

Professor Alastair MacLennan and colleagues are carrying out research involving children with cerebral palsy and their families. They are carrying out genetic analyses of samples of saliva and checking them against very comprehensive medical records. They hope to make connections between health of children with cerebral palsy and their genes.

Professor Alastair MacLennan is head of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Adelaide, and head of the South Australian Cerebral Palsy Research Group. His research interest lies in the apparent links between faulty genes and factors in the child’s environment, such as poor fetal growth and infections in the womb.

Dr Mary Tolcos - $284,882 over two years
The University of Melbourne
Preventing brain damage to prevent cerebral palsy

Some women develop infections in the lining of the uterus when pregnant. Some of those women become unwell due to this, while others do not.

It seems the inflammation caused by these infections is harmful to developing babies. Such inflammation before birth probably contributes to some children developing cerebral palsy after birth. Being able to prevent brain damage is one of the major challenges of research into the early years of life.

Dr Mary Tolcos and colleagues from the University of Melbourne will use animal models to study erythropoietin, or EPO, which is a naturally occurring hormone being closely examined for a range of potential uses. This research hopes to help prevent some children being born with cerebral palsy.

Mary is a medical researcher with the University of Melbourne. Her particular interest and expertise lies in examining what happens to the developing brain when it suffers potential harm from things like infections or poor blood supply.

Associate Professor David Walker - $137,040 over two years
Monash University - Melbourne, Victoria
Preventing brain damage to prevent cerebral palsy

The steady supply of oxygen throughout pregnancy is critical for the growth and development of a foetus. Recent research suggests that a poor oxygen supply at times during pregnancy can lead to particular problems with the blood vessels in the baby’s developing brain.

Associate Professor David Walker is researching whether the amino acid creatine can help prevent some of the damage to blood vessels in the brain caused by low oxygen. If the research is successful, it will be one step along the way towards preventing some forms of brain damage in children, which is very important in efforts to prevent cerebral palsy.

David is Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at Monash University, Melbourne. He is interested in fundamental questions like how the brain develops, how we sleep and wake, and how the brain regulates the heart and cardiovascular system. He is also interested in applying this research to diseases and conditions affecting the brain in an attempt to understand how these conditions come about, and how they may be prevented.

Dr Yvonne Wu - $155,310 over two years
The regents of the University of California, San Francisco campus, USA

Genetic basis of cerebral palsy in term and near term infants

Associate Professor Yvonne Wu and colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco are examining the genetic makeup of a large group of children with cerebral palsy. They will choose 12 genes which seem to be important in causing inflammation and problems with blood clotting, and see whether they are associated with cerebral palsy.

They will perform a detailed analysis of a gene known as the interleukin-6 gene, which research suggests might be important in the development of cerebral palsy and try to match particular brain abnormalities, as seen in CT scans and MRIs, and with particular genetic traits.

Professor Alastair MacLennan – $600,000 over three years
University of Adelaide
A genomic basis for cerebral palsy: studies on a large Australian cohort

Genes play an important role in human development and they also play a role in making us susceptible to things like infections, inflammation, and poor oxygen supply early in life. However, we don’t all react in the same way to infections. It may be our genes that makes the difference.

Alastair MacLennan and colleagues are carrying out research involving children with cerebral palsy and their families. They are carrying out genetic analyses of samples of saliva and checking them against very comprehensive medical records. They hope to make connections between health of children with cerebral palsy and their genes.

Dr Henry Chambers – $10,000
The Regents of the University of California, San Diego, USA
 One World CP Website development
A website devoted to linking professional organisations and their members, epidemiologists and grassroot organisations to improve communication and foster cooperation in research and effect policy and funding changes in countries throughout the world.

John Gilroy - $34,968
Centre for Disability Studies, Sydney

Alicia Spittle - $116,450
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne
Development and prevention in cerebral palsy

A child born prematurely is about 50 times more likely to develop cerebral palsy as a child born at full term. There are many reasons for this – some known and others unknown. Dr Alicia Spittle is carrying out research with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute of Victoria to look at two important questions arising from this observation. The first question relates to how the brain of a child born very prematurely develops. What are the differences between the brain development of those children who develop cerebral palsy and those who don’t?

Dr Spittle will be looking at MRI scans and developmental testing of children at various ages to see what she can learn. The second question asks: can early intervention make a difference to the motor development of premature children? If children born prematurely receive intensive support, does it make them less likely to develop cerebral palsy? Or if they do develop it, are their difficulties with walking and coordination less severe?

Dr Alicia Spittle is now continuing her post doctoral studies and has been awarded a Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2009 Grevillea Career Development / The Bulls and Bears Researcher Post Doctoral Scholarship of $116,250 over 3 years.

Catherine Gibson - $76,93
University of Adelaide, Adelaide

CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATION INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Dr Suzanne Miller - $82,154 over one year
Monash University – Melbourne, Victoria
Melatonin and prevention of cerebral palsy

All treatments for cerebral palsy involve treating the child after birth. Wouldn’t it be good to have a treatment before birth? A treatment that could avert, or reduce, the permanent damage to the baby’s brain?

Dr Suzanne Miller and colleagues are using sheep’s brains to see whether or not melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone, can reduce the brain damage caused by infections before birth. This is preliminary research from which Dr Miller hopes to learn enough to see whether, and how, melatonin could be trialled with humans.

CP Foundation 2008 Innovative Research Grant recipient: $82,154 over one year.

Other sources of funding: National Health and Medical Research Council.

Suzanne Miller works at Monash University, Melbourne, where she is a senior research officer in the Department of Physiology. Her main interest is in the growth and wellbeing of the foetus before birth. She has worked in London as well as Melbourne.

CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATION INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Associate Professor Dinah Reddihough AO - $145,000 over three years
Royal Children’s Hospital – Melbourne, Victoria
Brain scans for greater understanding of cerebral palsy

Different children with cerebral palsy have different brain injuries.

Associate Professor Dinah Reddihough and colleagues will carry out MRIs, which are a sophisticated form of brain scan, on 800 children with cerebral palsy. This will help them understand which brain injuries cause which problems.

This information will be useful for many researchers and clinicians around the world in their efforts to prevent and treat cerebral palsy.

Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2008 Innovative Research Grant recipient: $145,375 over three years.

Dinah Reddihough AO is a paediatrician and director of developmental medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. She has worked for more than 15 years to improve the care of children with disabilities, including cerebral palsy. Her research has looked at many aspects of disability, including causes, treatments and outcomes of care. She became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2005.

INTERNATIONAL CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATION INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Dr Jacques-Olivier Coq – $100,000 over three years
National Centre for Scientific Research, University of Marseille, France and USA
Greater understanding of cerebral palsy

Much medical research depends on understanding how the body works. One way of approaching this is to study animals such as rats, rabbits and sheep, then to apply that knowledge to humans.

Dr Jacques-Olivier Coq and colleagues plan to create conditions very similar to cerebral palsy in laboratory animals. If they do this, it will greatly help them, and other researchers around the world, in many aspects of cerebral palsy. It would help with understanding causes, with providing treatment and, ultimately, with prevention of cerebral palsy.

Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2008 Innovative Research Grant recipient: $100,000 over three years.

Jacques-Olivier Coq is associate researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Marseille, France. He works mainly with animals, studying the effects of neurological conditions such as stroke and cerebral palsy.

CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATION INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Professor George Mendz - $55,449 over one year
The University of Notre Dame – Sydney, New South Wales
Bacterial infections and prevention of cerebral palsy

About 10 per cent of babies around the world are born prematurely, and these babies have a higher than average chance of having cerebral palsy. Why? That is not known, but one thing is clear – the mothers of some of these babies will have had bacterial infections in their uterus.

Professor George Mendz and his team will examine the bacteria found in 60 mothers and babies. They hope to discover which bacteria are associated with premature births and possibly, which ones are associated with cerebral palsy. They hope this will lead, down the track, to the prevention of some premature births, and the prevention of cerebral palsy for some babies.

Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2008 Innovative Research Grant recipient: $55,500 over one year.

George Mendz is professor of medicine at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney. A microbiologist by training, his laboratory work aims to understand the bacteria that live in the gut. Outside the laboratory, he works to broaden the education of university students and to awaken their social responsibilities. He has worked in Puerto Rico and Spain as well as Australia.

CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATION INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Professor Enrico Coiera - $120,000 over three years
Centre for Health Informatics, University of NSW – Sydney, New South Wales
Using computers to sort the pieces of the cerebral palsy puzzle

Researchers around the world are finding new pieces in the puzzle that is cerebral palsy. But it can be very hard to keep all the pieces of the puzzle in mind while researchers are working through their own small piece of it.

Professor Enrico Coiera and colleagues are working to develop computer systems that are powerful enough, and simple enough, for researchers to use, saving time and effort globally. Ideally, these computer systems would be able to pull together data from many different published researcher projects, cerebral palsy registers and databases. Then, by asking the right questions, new answers concerning the causes of cerebral palsy may appear.

This research project is unique in the world of cerebral palsy.

Professor Enrico Coiera was a recipient of a Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2007 Innovative Research Grant of $120,000 over three years. He is director of the Centre for Health Informatics at the University of New South Wales. The Centre is the largest, longest-running and most successful academic research group in this new field of applying computer science and technology to health care.

CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATION INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Professor Alastair MacLennan - $115,000 over two years
The University of Adelaide; Women's & Children's Hospital North Adelaide – Adelaide, South Australia
Searching for causes of cerebral palsy

The causes of cerebral palsy are not yet known. Previous theories about difficult births have been shown to be inaccurate in most cases. Much work needs to be done to understand why some children, and not others, develop cerebral palsy.

Professor Alastair McLennan and colleagues from the South Australian Cerebral Palsy Research Group have been searching for the causes of cerebral palsy for some time. They have analysed a large number of births details from the South Australian Cerebral Palsy Register and made many significant discoveries. These include, for example, the link between Factor V abnormalities and quadriplegia in children born before 32 weeks gestation).

This research project continues that work, but with an important extra step. They will also look at the health and genetic backgrounds of the mothers of children born with cerebral palsy, which will allow an even greater level of understanding.

Professor Alastair MacLennan was a recipient of a Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2007 Innovative Research Grant of $115,000. He is head of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Adelaide, and head of the South Australian Cerebral Palsy Research Group.

Professor MacLennan’s research interest lies in the apparent links between faulty genes and factors in the child’s environment, such as poor foetal growth and infections in the womb.

HENRY H ROTH FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP – NHMRC CO-FUNDED

Liora Ballin $40,500 over three years
University of Sydney – Sydney, NSW
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Training with experienced AAC users as volunteer AAC therapy aides

This doctoral research identifies important aspects of an AAC training program; observes clinical sessions; develops and implements a training program for experienced AAC users to be volunteer therapy aides; develops and implements AAC training with new users paired with experienced users.

SUNDELL FOUNDATION RESEARCH GRANT– NHMRC CO-FUNDED

Abbey Eeles $40,500 over three years
University of Melbourne – Melbourne, Victoria
Sensory outcomes and profiles over the first two years for infants born less than 30 weeks' gestation

The sensory experiences preterm infants encounter early in life lay the foundations for future neurodevelopment. While the literature suggests that sensory experiences have an impact on development little is known about the development of sensory functioning in early childhood or the extent to which sensory profiles/outcomes affect the neuro behavioural outcomes of this vulnerable population. This doctoral research aims to examine this relationship and provide direction for future practices.

CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATION INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Sarah Love - $25,000 over one year
Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth – Western Australia
Different types of cerebral palsy - towards different types of prevention and treatment?

There are different sub-types of cerebral palsy – spastic, ataxic and so on. It is possible that some of these sub-types might actually be the result of different conditions, with different causes.

But it is hard for researchers to work this out, because there is no strong agreement about what constitutes one sub-type of cerebral palsy, and what constitutes another.

Sarah Love and colleagues have taken a very important step back to look at the big picture. They are working to gain agreement on the different sub-types of cerebral palsy. Once that happens, researchers will hopefully find it much easier to look for causes of cerebral palsy and the path towards prevention and treatment will be clearer.

Sarah Love was a recipient of a Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2007 Innovative Research Grant of $25,000 over one year. She is a physiotherapist at Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth. Sarah Love is considered an Australian expert in the assessment of people with cerebral palsy. She is a highly respected teacher, and is a keen collaborator with the Australian Cerebral Palsy Register network. The Australian Cerebral Palsy Register was established in 2007 is a comprehensive database collecting information about individual with cerebral palsy who are born or reside in Australia.