Kids Neuroscience Centre are a team of over 100 doctors, scientists and allied health professionals that study and treat brain, muscle and nerve disorders. This includes, the muscular dystrophies, peripheral neuropathies and neurofibromatosis type 1, as well as acquired neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and autoimmune movement disorders. We integrate our clinical and laboratory research with the thousands of children who visit the hospital. This makes our research directly relevant to patients.
We operate a research-based diagnostic service that is closely aligned to the Neurogenetics Clinical Service, a multi-disciplinary team involving medical specialists, genetic counsellors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and psychologists, who care for over 1200 patients and their families. These children can access the latest treatments by participating in clinical trials and the diagnostic service provides families with accurate diagnosis and disease-specific treatment.
Led by Professor Russell Dale (Clinical Director) and Professor Sandra Cooper (Scientific Director), Kids Neuroscience Centre has ten distinct research programs.
Visit http://kidsneuroscience.org.au to find out more
Please contact Leigh Waddell for general enquiries
Research interests
Brain Autoimmunity - Aims to understand the role played by autoantibodies in neurological diseases including Autoimmune Encephalitis, demyelinating syndromes, movement disorders and early-onset psychosis.
Clinical Neuroimmunology - Aims to define the clinical features and best treatment of immune mediated brain conditions, including autoimmune encephalitis, autoimmune movement disorders and the immune contribution of common disorders such as epilepsy and neuropsychiatric conditions such as tics and obsess-compulsive disorder.
Clinical Trials and Clinical Research - Provides an interface between clinical care and scientific research for a range of conditions that affect the brain, nerve and muscle.
Genomic Medicine - Uses models to unlock the mechanisms causing nerve and muscle disorders to inform evidence-based therapies. Translates the latest innovations in genomics to provide families with a precise genetic diagnosis and identify novel genes causing disease.
Epilepsy and Movement disorders - Explores clinical care and research in complex epilepsy, epilepsy genetics and epilepsy surgery, and in movement disorders undertakes research in Tourette Syndrome and genetic dystonia. This includes collaboration in gene discovery projects and deep brain stimulation.
Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) - Focuses on the cognitive, psychosocial and learning aspects of children and adolescents with NF1.
Neuropathy - Aims to improve the lives of children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease through effective clinical trials.
Gait Lab - The Paediatric Gait Analysis Laboratory is a large clinical research space where clinicians and researchers can assess the function and physical capacity of children who are participating in research projects and clinic trials.
The research team
To find out more about the research group members, please visit the Kids Neuroscience Centre website here.
- Professor Russell Dale – Clinical Director and Head, Clinical Neuroimmunology
- Professor Sandra Cooper – Scientific Director and Head, Genomic Medicine
- Professor Joshua Burns – Head, Neuropathy and Gait Lab
- Associate Professor Fabienne Brilot – Head, Brain Autoimmunity
- Associate Professor Seo-Kyung Chung – Head, Translational Neurogenomics
- Clinical Associate Professor Kristi Jones – Head, Clinical Trials and Genomic Medicine
- Dr Belinda Barton – Head, Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF-1)
- Dr Deepak Gill – Head, Epilepsy
- Dr Wendy Gold – Head, Molecular Neurobiology
- Dr Manoj Menezes – Head, Neuropathy
- Dr Shekeeb Mohammad – Head, Movement Disorders
Key publications
For our latest publications and news, please visit Kids Neuroscience Centre here
Panosyan, F., Laura, M., Rossor, A., Pisciotta, C., Piscosquito, G., Burns, J., Li, J., Yum, S., Lewis, R., Day, J., et al (2017). Cross-sectional analysis of a large cohort with X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMTX1). Neurology, 89(9), 927-935
Wojciechowski, E., Sman, A., Cornett, K., Raymond, J., Refshauge, K., Menezes, M., Burns, J., Cooper, S., North, K., Sandaradura, S., O'Grady, G. (2017). Gait patterns of children and adolescents with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Gait and Posture
Harris, E., Bladen, C., Mayhew, A., James, M., Bettinson, K., Moore, U., Smith, F., Rufibach, L., Cnaan, A., Jones, K., et al (2016). The Clinical Outcome Study for dysferlinopathy: An international multicenter study. Neurology. Genetics, 2(4), 1-10
Cornett, K., Menezes, M., Bray, P., Halaki, M., Shy, R., Yum, S., Estilow, T., Moroni, I., Foscan, M., Pagliano, E., Burns, J., et al (2016). Phenotypic variability of childhood Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. JAMA Neurology, 73(6), 645-651
Mulroy, E., Ghaoui, R., Hutchinson, D., Rodrigues, M., Lek, M., MacArthur, D., Cooper, S., Clarke, N., Roxburgh, R. (2017). A 'limb-girdle muscular dystrophy' responsive to asthma therapy. Practical Neurology, 17(4), 327-331.
Cooper, S. (2017). Ca2+ and mitochondrial ROS: Both hero and villain in membrane repair. Science Signaling, 10(495), 1-3.
Schofield, D., Alam, K., Douglas, L., Shrestha, R., MacArthur, D., Davis, M., Laing, N., Clarke, N., Burns, J., Cooper, S., Sandaradura, S., O'Grady, G., et al (2017). Cost-effectiveness of massively parallel sequencing for diagnosis of paediatric muscle diseases. Genomic Medicine, 2(4), 1-7.
Piper, A., Ross, S., Redpath, G., Lemckert, F., Woolger, N., Bournazos, A., Greer, P., Sutton, R., Cooper, S. (2017). Enzymatic cleavage of myoferlin releases a dual C2-domain module linked to ERK signalling. Cellular Signalling, 33, 30-40.
Gascoigne, M., Smith, M., Barton, B., Webster, R., Gill, D., Lah, S. (2018). Accelerated long-term forgetting and behavioural difficulties in children with epilepsy. Cortex.
Chen, K., Didsbury, M., van Zwieten, A., Howell, M., Kim, S., Tong, A., Howard, K., Nassar, N., Barton, B., Lah, S., Lorenzo, J., Strippoli, G., Teixeira-Pinto, A., Craig, J., Wong, G., et al (2018). Neurocognitive and Educational Outcomes in Children and Adolescents with CKD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 13(3), 387-397.
Ramanathan, S., Mohammad, S., Tantsis, E., Nguyen, T., Merheb, V., Fung, V., White, O., Broadley, S., Lechner-Scott, J., Vucic, S., Henderson, A., Barnett, M., Reddel, S., Brilot-Turville, F., Dale, R. (2018). Clinical course, therapeutic responses and outcomes in relapsing MOG antibody-associated demyelination. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 89(2), 127-137.
Waak, M., Mohammad, S., Coman, D., Sinclair, K., Copeland, L., Silburn, P., Coyne, T., McGill, J., O’Regan, M., Selway, R., Dale, R., et al (2018). GNAO1-related movement disorder with life-threatening exacerbations: movement phenomenology and response to DBS. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 89(2), 221-222.
Mohammad, S., Dale, R. (2018). Principles and approaches to the treatment of immune-mediated movement disorders. European Journal of Paediatric Neurology, 22(2), 292-300.
Graham, D., Gill, D., Dale, R., Tisdall, M. (2018). Seizure outcome after corpus callosotomy in a large paediatric series. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 60(2), 199-206.
Weissert, R., Brilot-Turville, F. (2017). Editorial: Induction of central nervous system disease by the adaptive immune response. Frontiers in Immunology, 8(1218), 1-2.
Pilli, D., Zou, A., Tea, F., Dale, R., Brilot-Turville, F. (2017). Expanding Role of T Cells in Human Autoimmune Diseases of the Central Nervous System. Frontiers in Immunology, 8, 1-17.
Chen, K., Brilot-Turville, F., Dale, R., Lafferty, A., Andrews, P. (2017). Hashimoto's encephalopathy and anti-MOG antibody encephalitis: 50 years after Lord Brain's description. European Journal of Paediatric Neurology, 21(6), 898-901.
