News & Events

Purple Day
At just 12 months old, Bronte had her first seizure. It was a febrile convulsion with a very high fever, which isn’t uncommon for babies. However, from that time on she continued having seizures and some would go for over an hour. At five years old Bronte was diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome. Dravet Syndrome starts in early infancy and is characterised by frequen...
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Purple Day
With over 50 subtypes and 400 known genes, epilepsy is one of the most genetically studied disorders. It affects one in 200 children in Australia and one in 20 children will have at least one seizure during their childhood. Currently, there is no cure. Dedicated to delivering hopeful outcomes for these children are the teams across Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN). It’s an effort nee...
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International Women's Day
Sarah Alshammery is a PhD student at the Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. She is based at the Kids Neuroscience Centre, Kids Research at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Her role involves investigating the immune response and epigenetics in children with neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders and she does this through de...
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  • 16 August 2021
Neuroscience
A new international treatment guideline for the most common single form of encephalitis in children is set to change clinical practice and impact children worldwide. The study led by Professor Russell Dale, Clinical Director of Kids Neuroscience Centre, brought 25 experts together from 5 continents around the world, with a goal to standardise treatment for Paediatric NMDA receptor antibody enceph...
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  • 25 March 2021
Epilepsy
World Purple Day is celebrated on the 26th March, a day aimed at raising awareness of epilepsy. What is Epilepsy? Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorder that affects the brain, often causing seizures. Around 65 million people in the world have epilepsy and although epilepsy can develop at any stage of life, it is more common in children, adolescents and people over 60....
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  • 24 February 2021
Rare Diseases
Background The 28 of February is International Rare Disease Day, an opportunity to raise awareness around rare diseases and improve access to treatment and medical representation for individuals with rare diseases and their families. There are over 300 million people living with one or more of over 6000 identified rare diseases around the world. Although individually uncommon, there ar...
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Grant Success
Kids Research, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network is happy to announce that our researchers were awarded a total of more than $2.17M through the University of Sydney in the latest National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grants round. The grants awarded will fund research into neurology, clinical nutrition and gene therapy. NHMRC’s Ideas Grant scheme aims to support innovati...
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  • 22 September 2020
Neuroscience
Spinal cord inflammation in children can cause many different health complications, such as paralysis from motor and sensory loss, and loss of bladder and bowel control. One cause of spinal inflammation relates to the antibody MOG (myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein). Recent studies by the Kids Neuroscience Centre have highlighted the clinical significance of these antibodies in several diseases...
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Grant Success
Kids Research, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network is delighted to announce the tremendous success of our researchers in the latest National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) round. Together with University of Sydney (USYD) and University of New South Wales (UNSW), more than $13.8...
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  • 20 January 2020
Movement Disorder
Affecting 1 in 100 children in Australia, tic disorders are the most prevalent movement disorder in children. Children with tics suffer from repeated, sudden, rapid, non-rhythmic movements which can also include sounds or vocalizations. 80-90% of children with tic disorders, are afflicted by other coexisting conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity d...
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