Zoe completed a Bachelor of Health Science from Swinburne University of Technology in 2022 where she developed a passion for biological processes relating to our neurological health, specifically neurodegenerative conditions. She decided to pursue this interest further by completing an honours year at the University of Melbourne investigating a novel mouse model of mitochondrial disease, specifically focusing on neurological complications.

After completing this year, Zoe wanted to connect her newfound knowledge of the mitochondria and link it with her passion for neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease leading Zoe to her current project. Zoe’s current project is characterising altered calcium activity in Parkinson’s Disease cell lines and determining if there is a connection with mitochondrial functions. Zoe is eager to acquire new knowledge and contribute new research to the Parkinson’s Disease discipline.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that can drastically decrease quality of life. Every 40 minutes, a person in Australia is diagnosed with PD. Despite this statistic and intensive research efforts there is still a lot unknown about PD.

There is a dire need to develop diagnostic tests so PD can be detected early and also to develop more effective treatments. Both these things however rely upon a greater understanding of the disease pathways. Two key physiological abnormalities reported in PD by ourselves and others are altered calcium signalling and altered energy production which is generated primarily by small cellular structures called mitochondria. However, how these altered activities result, how they influence each other or how they lead to PD are unknown.

This project aims to answer these remaining questions. Using cell lines generated from blood cells of PD patients it will confirm and characterise altered calcium activity. It will identify how the calcium signalling is altered, and which parts of the cell need to be targeted to repair this. It will also determine how altered calcium signalling is related to altered mitochondrial function and if one is causal of the other.

This project will have a significant impact on the current research in the field. We hope to improve our understanding of PD in cells outside of the brain and build upon pre-clinical knowledge for early diagnosis and developing potential therapeutic interventions.

Supervisors: Dr Sarah Annesley and Dr Daniel Missailidis