Toxic Protein Clearance in Neurological Disorders

Most neurological disorders, e.g. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease, etc.. are associated with the build up of toxic proteins, which can lead to cell death. It has recently emerged that removal of waste products in the brain is facilitated by the glymphatic system, which consists of fluid filled spaces lining the blood vessels called perivascular spaces (PVS). When these spaces become obstructed, they enlarge and become visible on MRI. This project will involve characterising the perivascular spaces from MRI in patients with a variety of brain diseases, including Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke. Potential Roles of Students: 1) Aggregating MRI data from disease groups from the Alfred Hospital. 2) Manual characterisation of PVS 3) Assisting with development of machine learning approaches to characterise PVS 4) Data analysis correlating PVS and brain disease.