The research carried out within my group focuses on the mechanisms that result in the selective death of the pigmented neurons in Parkinson's disease, a common neurodegenerative disorder. An understanding of these mechanisms is critical for the development of more effective treatments for the disease. We are also developing new methods to diagnose Parkinson's disease earlier and more accurately than is currently possible. In other research we are studying how the brain controls the birth of new brain cells (stem cells) and how this changes with ageing and in disease. This information will be critical for the development of stem cell-based treatments for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr Kay Double is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and heads a research group investigating the neurochemistry of neurodegenerative disorders, with a particular focus on Parkinson's disease. Her research aims to further our understanding of the mechanisms controlling brain cell death in the healthy brain and in neurodegenerative diseases. She also has strong interests in developing improved diagnostic methods for neurodegenerative diseases and understanding the regulation of stem cells in the healthy and diseased brain. Dr Double teaches both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University New South Wales where she is a Conjoint Senior Lecturer, and also at the University of Wþrzburg, Germany where she holds the postdoctoral degree of the Habilitation.
Control of metals in the brainA series of studies is being carried out in collaboration with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France to study the regulation of metals and other elements in the healthy brain |
Diagnosis of Parkinson's diseaseWe are developing methods to diagnose Parkinson's disease earlier and more accurately than currently possible. |
Lipid changes in Parkinson's diseaseA series of studies is investigating how lipid pathways are changed in the brain and body in Parkinson's disease and the implications of these changes for brain cell survival. |
Stem cell researchA new project is investigating how neurogenesis, or the birth of new brain cells, is controlled in the adult mammalian brain and how this changes with aging and in disease. |
Tyrosine hydroxylase regulationWe are investigating how the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme for dopamine production, is regulated in the healthy brain and how this is changed in Parkinson's disease. |
