Research Forums
Join our Virtual Research Forums to learn more about our research agenda and the studies we are currently funding.
We will be hosting these forums regularly and sharing the current research we are funding, progress being made and new discoveries. Each month we will invite a guest research team to outline their study rationale, what they are hoping to achieve and any progress they have made.
There will also be an opportunity to ask questions of the researchers after their presentation.
October Research Forum
Researcher: Associate Professor Cedric Bardy
Research Institute: Flinders University
Watch the recording Below
Therapeutic Potential of Natural Venoms in Parkinson’s Disease
Associate Professor Cedric Bardy’s study uses live human neurons (brain cells) in a petri dish to examine the biological basis of Parkinson’s disease. The neurons are generated in the lab with non-invasive stem cell technologies. The idea is to prevent overload of electrical activity occurring in patient’s neurons to rescue energy levels, protect further neuronal losses and halt the progression of the disease.
Cedric says, “When talking to people living with Parkinson’s disease, I often hear complaints of exhaustion. This got me thinking. In Parkinson’s disease, fewer dopamine cells are left behind to do the work of thousands of cells that died too early. That creates a huge energetic burden, which we know can become damaging if not stopped. Artificially raising the energy in brain cells is not easy, but what if we could give the cells a break from too much activity? A few hours break each day, just enough to give these brain cells a chance to restore their energy levels and repair themselves from all the extra work? We could use natural venoms to our advantage to do just this. There is so much untapped therapeutic potential from natural venom peptides, and Australia is a gold mine for it.”