Neurodevelopment and Neuroprotection

Overview

The Neurodevelopment and Neuroprotection research group is embedded within the Fetal and Neonatal Health Neurodevelopment and Brain Injury Theme of The Ritchie Centre. The group provides a focus for experimental and clinical studies directed towards understanding, and inhibiting, the mechanisms that contribute to perinatal brain injury and functional deficits associated with cerebral palsy. We strive towards the implementation of treatments to decrease neonatal brain injury and that can be effectively administered either during pregnancy or in the neonatal period. Such treatments include antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, and stem cells obtained from the cord blood and placenta.

Associate Professor Suzie Miller’s group comprises more than 20 members with experts in fetal physiology, neuroscience, stem cells, cardiovascular physiology, clinical obstetrics, neonatology and paediatrics. This group provides a highly-regarded training platform for biomedical and clinical students.

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Diseases we research

Areas of focus

Stem cells to reduce perinatal brain injury – fact or fiction?
Protecting the intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) fetal brain with natural neurosteroids.
Treating neonatal seizures with ganaxolone
Can we modify neurovascular development in the IUGR brain with endothelial progenitor stem cells derived from cord blood?
Umbilical cord blood stem cells to improve brain structure and function after severe birth asphyxia, when to administer and how many?
Improving newborn wellbeing in a rural Indian community with a simple transdermal patch.

Research Group Head | Professor Suzanne Miller

Every 20 hours, an Australian baby is born with a brain injury that underlies cerebral palsy, a life-long condition with no cure. I am working towards new treatments that can be effectively administered, either during pregnancy or in the days after birth, to decrease neonatal brain injury and prevent cerebral palsy.