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News archive 2018

Otago researchers discover a promising therapy for improving heart attack survivorship

Tuesday, 4 December 2018 9:14am

In pre-clinical trials, University of Otago researchers have discovered a promising new therapy that has the potential to be used clinically for improving survival rates for people who suffer a heart attack.

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Project puts a spotlight on the causes of epilepsy

Friday, 28 September 2018 10:39am

The primary goal of BHRC researcher Dr Lynette Sadleir's work is to improve the treatment of epileptic children by providing faster diagnosis and a better understanding of what causes their seizures.

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Future hope for people with Parkinson's Disease

Wednesday, 26 September 2018 11:01am

For the last 11 years, Brain Health Research Centre researcher Professor Dr John Reynolds has been working on a treatment that would reverse the crippling impacts of Parkinson's.
Now, a device that would be implanted underneath a patient's scalp, injecting medicine more precisely, brings promise.

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BHRC researchers gain NFNZ funding

Friday, 3 August 2018 10:31am

Four of the five University of Otago researchers who received some of the $1.5 million in funding recently awarded by the Neurological Foundation are members of the Brain Health Research Centre.

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"Your Brain is the Boss" Artwork competition winners

Friday, 27 July 2018 11:07am

Announcing the winners of the 2018 Brain Health Research Centre artwork competition "Your Brain is the Boss"

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Free Public Talk on the Future of Medicine in Queenstown

Wednesday, 25 July 2018 11:12am

Can we get ahead of getting sick? Gene therapy and editing are the future of medicine. Chronic conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease may one day be cured by a single injection.

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BHRC at the University of Otago Science Expo

Friday, 29 June 2018 12:36pm

Come along to the University of Otago Science Expo Saturday 7 July 10am - 4pm, and Sunday 8 July 10am - 2pm to explore a range of research taking place at the university, including at the Brain Health Research Centre's stand. 

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Your Brain is the Boss artwork competition for young people

Tuesday, 26 June 2018 2:14pm

The Brain Health Research Centre is holding an artwork competition in connection with our 2018 theme “Your Brain is the Boss of Your Body”.

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$5 million boost for Otago team’s quest to restore fertility in women with disabling ovary disorder

Friday, 22 June 2018 9:58am

A University of Otago research team whose ultimate goal is to restore fertility in women suffering Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), has received a significant boost with an almost $5 million grant from the Health Research Council.

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Almost $19 million awarded to Otago researchers in Health Research Council funding

Monday, 18 June 2018 10:21am

A new study investigating for the first time the health of occupants of leaky homes in New Zealand is one of many University of Otago-led projects being funded this year by the Health Research Council to the tune of almost $19 million.

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History and future of epilepsy treatment

Monday, 18 June 2018 9:40am

Associate Professor Lynette Sadleir spoke on the history and future of epilepsy treatment at a public lecture, which was the official start of the 12th annual Brain Health Research Centre conference in Dunedin.

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Ageing Well

Thursday, 31 May 2018 10:50am

Growing older doesn’t just affect our bodies, it also changes our brains.

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Giant Brain visits Temuka School

Wednesday, 23 May 2018 2:04pm

BHRC researchers teach St Joseph School pupils about the brain in an all-day visit to the Temuka school.

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Public talk on Epilepsy in Dunedin

Thursday, 3 May 2018 9:18am

Associate Professor Lynette Sadleir will give a public talk on epilepsy, covering its history as well as her most recent work on understanding its causes and possible new treatments.

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How to get better at anything

Tuesday, 1 May 2018 2:35pm

What does neuroscience say is the best way to get better at anything?

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Ultrasound for Alzheimer's disease

Tuesday, 1 May 2018 1:30pm

Professor Jürgen Götz, from the University of Queensland, believes that ultrasound may be the future of Alzheimer’s treatment.

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Researcher Profile - Assoc Prof Christine Jasoni

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 2:15pm

Associate Professor Christine Jasoni is a developmental biologist focused on understanding the developing brain. “What we’re primarily interested in, in my lab, is how early life challenges affect the development of the brain,”

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Researcher Profile - Prof Allan Herbison

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 2:12pm

Professor Allan Herbison in a neuroendocrinologist working with some of the strangest cells in the human body; gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons.

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Researcher Profile - Dr Alex Tups

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 2:07pm

Dr Alex Tups, is a neuroendocrinologist investigating how our bodies control our weight.

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Researcher Profile  - Prof Colin Brown

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 2:00pm

Professor Colin Brown is a neuroendocrinologist; he examines how hormones, generated in the brain, impact brain and body functions.

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Musicophilia - with Professor David Bilkey

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 1:56pm

Humans are obsessed with music. It exists on every continent, in every society, with roots reaching back at least forty thousand years to the earliest discovered instruments. But what is it about sound and music that we are so drawn to?

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Researcher Profile - Assoc Prof Greg Anderson

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 11:50am

Associate Professor Greg Anderson has an eye on most aspects of neuroendocrinology; metabolism, fertility, stress.

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Researcher Profile - Dr Richard Piet

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 11:40am

Dr Richard Piet is the latest researcher to become a principal investigator in the Centre for Neuroendocrinology. “My research focuses on the neurophysiological regulation of the circadian clock,” Richard says, “and how that rhythm might impact reproduction.”

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Researcher Profile - Dr Karl Iremonger

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 11:43am

Dr Karl Iremonger has spent his academic career examining how neurons in the hypothalamus function.

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Researcher Profile - Assoc Prof Stephen Bunn

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 11:27am

“Essentially what I’m interested in,” Stephen says, “is cell signalling, and how cells respond to external signals.”

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Researcher Profile - Prof Dave Grattan

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 11:29am

Professor Dave Grattan’s work centres around the pituitary hormone prolactin, “so, that’s the control of prolactin secretion, and increasingly more focused around the actions of prolactin in the brain.”

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Researcher Profile - Assoc Prof Rebecca Campbell

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 11:23am

Associate Professor Rebecca Campbell’s work focuses on the neural circuits that control ovulation.

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Precocious Puberty

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 11:02am

For some children puberty starts far too early, Professor Ursula Kaiser explores why this might be occuring

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Listening to your body clock

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 10:15am

Every cell in your body runs on a clock. Joe Takahashi talks about what can go wrong when you get out of sync.

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LiLACS - Living well in later life

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 9:44am

Living well in later life - seminar by Professor Ngaire Kerse

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Living to 100 with all your marbles

Wednesday, 4 April 2018 9:00am

Living to 100 with all your marbles – with Professor Ngaire Kerse, Professor Cliff Abraham, and Associate Professor Liana Machado

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Keeping Your Marbles

Tuesday, 6 March 2018 3:23pm

The Otago Daily Times looks forward to Brain Awareness Week 2018 in a feature on how to keep cognitively sharp as you age.

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Publicity for Flicker: Your Brain on Movies

Tuesday, 20 February 2018 11:19am


Visiting academic Prof Jeff Zacks, from University of Washington at St Louis, had some interesting things to say about how our brains understand movies. If you missed his public talk last week, catch up with media reports about his research.

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Brain Awareness Week 2018

Thursday, 8 February 2018 1:21pm

Come along to a week of free talks, workshops, and activities as part of the international Brain Awareness Week 2018, supported by the Brain Health Research Centre in conjunction with Neurological Foundation of New Zealand, Brain Research New Zealand and Otago Museum.

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The Chemical Changes of Ageing

Tuesday, 16 January 2018 11:03am

BHRC researchers have found that certain brain chemicals change with age and in disease.

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Free public talk about how your brain reacts to movies

Tuesday, 16 January 2018 5:24pm

Prof Jeff Zacks is a neuroscientist with a deep interest in movies - how our prehistoric brains react to flickering light as though what we were seeing was real, and the tricks film makers play on our brains.

He will be giving a public talk "Flicker: Your Brain on Movies" at the St David St Lecture Theatre at 5.30pm on Monday 12 February.