What our staff members do in their spare time!

NeuroPAD staff member, Luke, is not only interested in the human brain, but also studies the canine brain as part of his PhD research.

Listen to an interview Luke did with ABC Radio Brisbane by following the link below.

http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/dogs-1.mp3

Robinson Foundation Launch Video

View the video and learn a bit about our research.

COOL BRAINS, COOL BABIES

More babies are being born preterm and this means that more babies are at risk of neurological damage. This can range from very mild to severe. In this video, Nature reporter Erika Check Hayden talks with researchers and clinicians who are developing ways to help these babies, at the Children’s Hospital of the University of California, San Francisco.

http://www.youtube.com/user/NatureVideoChannel#p/a/u/0/-J28tY7KBQI

Interestingly the idea of cooling babies suspected of experiencing neurological damage (e.g. from lack of oxygen) has been around at least since the 1960's. But work by researchers in New Zealand lead to the development of a cooling cap that can be used in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Researchers are still working out the best way to use cooling to minimise the damage from these types of brain injuries. For example, how long should the baby/brain be cooled for, at what temperature, and how slowly should they be "rewarmed" afterwards?

The full story appeared in the journal Nature and can be read at:

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100113/full/463154a.html

Professor Donna Ferriero, who appears in the video, is head of Paediatric Neurology at Children's Hospital and also founded the Newborn Brain Research Institute at UCSF. She visited Australia and Adelaide in 2009 as the guest of the Paediatric Society of Australia and New Zealand. She met with the NeuroPAD team and was very interested in the PREMOCODE study.

We have moved!

On Friday December 11, we officially opened our new laboratories and offices in the Robinson Institute at 77 King William Road, North Adelaide.

Many of you will have visited us at the Women's and Children's Hospital in the Samuel Way Building. Well, we have not moved far - the Robinson Institute is directly over King William Road from the WCH - but we have certainly moved up a peg or two in terms of space and design!

Julia Pitcher and Mike Ridding kick off NeuroPAD's opening in style

Instead of one crowded office-come-waiting area, one lab and a dingy assessment room, we now have a big open plan office, 4 smaller private offices, 4 laboratories and a separate Movement and Cognitive assessment room.

There is a spacious and comfortable reception area, a baby feeding and changing room and toilets.

Ashleigh and Martin try out one of the new labs

You will also have noticed a name change. We are now called Neuromotor Plasticity and Development or NeuroPAD for short (and much easier to say on the telephone!).

We hope to see some of you here in 2010!!


The open plan office area

PREMOCODE - named one of the best research projects of 2009!

The NeuroPAD team is happy to announce that the National Health and Medical Research Council named Dr. Julia Pitcher's "PREMOCODE" study as one of the ten best research projects of 2009.

Ten Australian health and medical research projects were chosen from among the 8,000 vital medical research projects underway in Australia today.

Read more by downloading "Ten of the Best Research Projects 2009" using the following link -

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/publications/synopses/r44_tenofthebest2009.pdf

Listen to the interview with Dr. Pitcher using the following shortcut -

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/media/podcasts/09/Julia_Pitcher_5min14sec.mp3

Read the transcript here -

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/media/podcasts/pod09/julia_pitcher.htm

National Physical Activity Guidelines for Australians

The National Physical Activity Guidelines for Australians outline the minimum levels of physical activity required to gain a health benefit and ways to incorporate incidental physical activity into everyday life.


http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines#rec_5_12

Welcome to the NeuroPAD blog!

Welcome to the NeuroPAD blog! Thank you for your interest in the research currently being conducted by members of our team.

Through this blog we hope to keep you up to date with all the latest news and information to come out of our laboratory. You can also expect to see periodical updates of the results and findings of our studies, as well as other items of interest. Interesting links will also be posted from time to time.

This blog is a work in progress, but do check back often!