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Neuropathology Research

RPA Neuropathology performs basic and translational research into human neurological disease. As a specialist neuro-diagnostics unit we focus on tissue-based research for enhanced diagnostics as well as basic disease pathophysiology.

Our Research Team

Associate Professor Michael Buckland
BSc (Med), MBBS, PhD, FRCPA, FFSc (RCPA)
Head of Department
Clinical Associate Professor, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
Director, Australian Sports Brain Bank and Australian Veterans Brain Bank
Director, Neurological Brain Bank
Co-Director, MS Australia Brain Bank
Co-Director, Brainstorm at RPA
Dr Laveniya Satgunaseelan
MBBS, FRCPA
Staff Specialist Neuropathologist
Dr Andrew Affleck
BSc MPhil PhD
Senior Hospital Scientist, Biobanking
Manager, MS Australia Brain Bank
Manager, Australian Sports Brain Bank and Australian Veterans Brain Bank
Dr Kim Alexander
BMedSc(Hon) PhD
Head of Brain Cancer Research, Chris O'Brien Lifehouse
Honorary Senior Research Officer, Sydney Local Health District
Manager, Sydney Brain Tumour Bank
Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney
Danielle Davies
BSc
Biobanking Scientific Officer, MS Australia Brain Bank
Dr Susannah Hallal
BSc PhD
Postdoctoral Brain Cancer Research Fellow, Chris O'Brien Lifehouse
Honorary Research Officer, Sydney Local Health District
Associate Professor Catherine Suter
BSc PhD
Chief Scientist, Australian Sports Brain Bank
Dr Jennifer Cropley Senior Scientist, Australia Sports Brain Bank
Ella Tu Honours Student
Joanna New Research Assistant

Selected Grants

Amount awarded Grant and project details
$171,883 MS Australia, 2023-2025
MS Australia Brain Bank Assistant Positions.
Investigator: Buckland M.
$5,990,000 MRFF Australian Brain Cancer Research Infrastructure, 2023-2028
Supporting Australian Brain Cancer Research with an Integrated Network of Platforms.
Investigators: Jefree R, Day B, Gedye C, Koh E, Leonard R, Sim H, Varikatt W, Hansen D, Cossio D, Harrup R, Gan H, Zalcberg J, Simes J, O’Brien T, Drummond K, Pinkham M, Ormsby R, Gomez G, Alexander K, Buckland M, Good N, Sachchithananthan M, Scott A, Whitte J, Gately L, Ziegler D, Vajdic C, Lipwoth W, Dickson J, Quinn L, Atikin J, Lwin Z, Handsford J, Yuille A, Agar M, Kichenadasse G, Truran D, Francois G, Chin W, Kong B, Gabriel J, Lee A, Turner C, Evans S, Ng W, Sullivan R, Pitson S.
$50,000 SurFebruary Research Innovation, 2024-2025
A wolf in sheep’s clothing: is IDH-wildtype low-grade glioma the precursor to deadly glioblastoma or an entirely new tumour entity?
Investigators: Satgunaseelan L, Alexander A, Wong, Sutton, Shivalingam B, Sim H
$500,000 NSW OHMR Advanced Therapeutics Impact, 2024-2027
Blood ‘fingerprinting’ for accurate glioblastoma diagnosis and surveillance.
Investigators: Alexander K, Hallal S, Satgunaseelan L, Vafaee F, Sim H, Shivalingam B, Buckland M.

Our Publications

2024

Hallal SM, Tűzesi Á, Sida LA, Xian E, Madani D, Muralidharan K, Shivalingam B, Buckland ME, Satgunaseelan L, Alexander KL. Glioblastoma biomarkers in urinary extracellular vesicles reveal the potential for a 'liquid gold' biopsy. Br J Cancer. 2024 Mar;130(5):836-851. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02548-9. Epub 2024 Jan 11. 
Satgunaseelan L, Sy J, Shivalingam B, Sim HW, Alexander KL, Buckland ME. Prognostic and predictive biomarkers in central nervous system tumours: the molecular state of play. Pathology. 2024 Mar;56(2):158-169. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2023.11.003. 
Marinelli T, Masters J, Buckland ME, Lee M, Rawlinson W, Kim KW, Urriola N, van Hal S. Chronic and Neurotropic: A Paradigm-Challenging Case of Dengue Virus Encephalitis in a Patient With Advanced HIV Infection. Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Aug 16;79(2):498-501. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciae061.
Welsh JA, Goberdhan DCI, O'Driscoll L, Buzas EI, Blenkiron C, Bussolati B, Cai H, Di Vizio D, Driedonks TAP, Erdbrügger U, Falcon-Perez JM, Fu QL, Hill AF, Lenassi M, Lim SK, Mahoney MG, Mohanty S, Möller A, Nieuwland R, Ochiya T, Sahoo S, Torrecilhas AC, Zheng L, Zijlstra A, Abuelreich S, Bagabas R, Bergese P, Bridges EM, Brucale M, Burger D, Carney RP, Cocucci E, Crescitelli R, Hanser E, Harris AL, Haughey NJ, Hendrix A, Ivanov AR, Jovanovic-Talisman T, Kruh-Garcia NA, Ku'ulei-Lyn Faustino V, Kyburz D, Lässer C, Lennon KM, Lötvall J, Maddox AL, Martens-Uzunova ES, Mizenko RR, Newman LA, Ridolfi A, Rohde E, Rojalin T, Rowland A, Saftics A, Sandau US, Saugstad JA, Shekari F, Swift S, Ter-Ovanesyan D, Tosar JP, Useckaite Z, Valle F, Varga Z, van der Pol E, van Herwijnen MJC, Wauben MHM, Wehman AM, Williams S, Zendrini A, Zimmerman AJ; MISEV Consortium; Théry C, Witwer KW. Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches. J Extracell Vesicles. 2024 Feb;13(2):e12404. doi: 10.1002/jev2.12404. Erratum in: J Extracell Vesicles. 2024 May;13(5):e12451. doi: 10.1002/jev2.12451. 
Ng FJ, Wang W, Satgunaseelan L, Verma N. Rapid Vision Loss Due to Multifocal Glioma: A Diagnostic Challenge. Ophthalmol Ther. 2024 May;13(5):1399-1405. doi: 10.1007/s40123-024-00922-1. Epub 2024 Mar 18. 
Gongala S, Garcia JA, Korakavi N, Patil N, Akbari H, Sloan A, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Sun J, Griffith B, Poisson LM, Booth TC, Jain R, Mohan S, Nasralla MP, Bakas S, Tippareddy C, Puig J, Palmer JD, Shi W, Colen RR, Sotiras A, Ahn SS, Park YW, Davatzikos C, Badve C; ReSPOND Consortium. Sex-Specific Differences in Patients with IDH1-Wild-Type Grade 4 Glioma in the ReSPOND Consortium. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2024 Sep 9;45(9):1299-1307. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8319. 
Chang FC, Faull RL, Curtis MA, Chancellor AM, Buckland ME, Turner CP. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy-the first neuropathological report in New Zealand. N Z Med J. 2024 May 3;137(1594):75-78. doi: 10.26635/6965.6421. 
Satgunaseelan L, Lee M, Iannuzzi S, Hallal S, Deang K, Stanceski K, Wei H, Mason S, Shivalingam B, Sim HW, Buckland ME, Alexander KL. 'The Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated'-Evaluating the Effect of Necrosis on MGMT Promoter Methylation Testing in High-Grade Glioma. Cancers (Basel). 2024 May 16;16(10):1906. doi: 10.3390/cancers16101906. 
Patel SH, Lopes MB, Williams ES. A Note of Caution Regarding Single-Arm 1p or 19q Deletion in IDH-Mutant Gliomas. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2024 Jul 8;45(7):E22. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8201. 
Tiemensma M, Byard RW, Vink R, Affleck AJ, Blumbergs P, Buckland ME. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the context of longstanding intimate partner violence. Acta Neuropathol. 2024 Jul 8;148(1):1. doi: 10.1007/s00401-024-02757-3. 
Hallal SM, Sida LA, Tűzesi CÁ, Shivalingam B, Sim HW, Buckland ME, Satgunaseelan L, Alexander KL. Size matters: Biomolecular compositions of small and large extracellular vesicles in the urine of glioblastoma patients. J Extracell Biol. 2024 Nov 15;3(11):e70021. doi: 10.1002/jex2.70021. Erratum in: J Extracell Biol. 2024 Dec 18;3(12):e70026. doi: 10.1002/jex2.70026.