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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, Neuropathology Tumour Tissue 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 Csilla- Ágota T'zesi
PhD
Molecular Hospital Scientist, Brainstorm at RPA and Australian Sports 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
Ella Tu Honours Student
Joanna New Research Assistant

Selected Grants

Amount awarded Grant and project details
$60,000 BrainStorm Brain Cancer Research Stipend, 2020-2023
Developing a blood test for brain cancer
Investigators: Kaufman K.
$100,000 NSW Health Biospecimen Collection Grant, 2021-2024
Sydney Brain Tumour Bank and GlioNET Observational study
Investigators: Varikatt W, Alexander-Kaufman K,  Buckland M
$171,883 MS Australia, 2023-2025
MS Australia Brain Bank Assistant Positions.
Investigator: Buckland M.

Our Publications

2023

Affleck AJ, Sachdev PS, Halliday GM. Past antihypertensive medication use is associated with lower levels of small vessel disease and lower Aβ plaque stage in the brains of older individuals. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2023 Aug;49(4):e12922. doi: 10.1111/nan.12922.
Bogumil H, Sill M, Schrimpf D, Ismer B, Blume C, Rahmanzade R, Hinz F, Cherkezov A, Banan R, Friedel D, Reuss DE, Selt F, Ecker J, Milde T, Pajtler KW, Schittenhelm J, Hench J, Frank S, Boldt HB, Kristensen BW, Scheie D, Melchior LC, Olesen V, Sehested A, Boué DR, Abdullaev Z, Satgunaseelan L, Kurth I, Seidlitz A, White CL, Ng HK, Shi ZF, Haberler C, Deckert M, Timmer M, Goldbrunner R, Tauziède-Espariat A, Varlet P, Brandner S, Alexandrescu S, Snuderl M, Aldape K, Korshunov A, Witt O, Herold-Mende C, Unterberg A, Wick W, Pfister SM, von Deimling A, Jones DTW, Sahm F, Sievers P. Glioneuronal tumor with ATRX alteration, kinase fusion and anaplastic features (GTAKA): a molecularly distinct brain tumor type with recurrent NTRK gene fusions. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 May;145(5):667-680. doi: 10.1007/s00401-023-02558-0. Epub 2023 Mar 18.
Gupta R, Strbenac D, Satgunaseelan L, Cheung VK, Narayanappa H, Ashford B, Mitchell J, Thind A, Palme CE, Ch'ng S, Low TH, Wykes J, Willet CE, Chew T, Yang J, Ranson M, Clark JR. Comparing Genomic Landscapes of Oral and Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: Quest for Novel Diagnostic Markers. Mod Pathol. 2023 Aug;36(8):100190. doi: 10.1016/j.modpat.2023.100190. Epub 2023 Apr 18.
Henden L, Fearnley LG, Grima N, McCann EP, Dobson-Stone C, Fitzpatrick L, Friend K, Hobson L, Chan Moi Fat S, Rowe DB, D'Silva S, Kwok JB, Halliday GM, Kiernan MC, Mazumder S, Timmins HC, Zoing M, Pamphlett R, Adams L, Bahlo M, Blair IP, Williams KL. Short tandem repeat expansions in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. Sci Adv. 2023 May 5;9(18):eade2044. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ade2044. Epub 2023 May 5.
Kaivola K, Chia R, Ding J, Rasheed M, Fujita M, Menon V, Walton RL, Collins RL, Billingsley K, Brand H, Talkowski M, Zhao X, Dewan R, Stark A, Ray A, Solaiman S, Alvarez Jerez P, Malik L, Dawson TM, Rosenthal LS, Albert MS, Pletnikova O, Troncoso JC, Masellis M, Keith J, Black SE, Ferrucci L, Resnick SM, Tanaka T; American Genome Center; International LBD Genomics Consortium; International ALS/FTD Consortium; PROSPECT Consortium; Topol E, Torkamani A, Tienari P, Foroud TM, Ghetti B, Landers JE, Ryten M, Morris HR, Hardy JA, Mazzini L, D'Alfonso S, Moglia C, Calvo A, Serrano GE, Beach TG, Ferman T, Graff-Radford NR, Boeve BF, Wszolek ZK, Dickson DW, Chiò A, Bennett DA, De Jager PL, Ross OA, Dalgard CL, Gibbs JR, Traynor BJ, Scholz SW. Genome-wide structural variant analysis identifies risk loci for non-Alzheimer's dementias. Cell Genom. 2023 May 4;3(6):100316. doi: 10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100316.
Krishnan A, Wu K, Girgis L, Pamphlett R, Tomlinson S, Muthiah K. A mitochondrial cytopathy presenting with persistent troponin elevation: case report. Eur Heart J Case Rep. 2023 Apr 17;7(4):ytad132. doi: 10.1093/ehjcr/ytad132.
Lee MD, Patel SH, Mohan S, Akbari H, Bakas S, Nasrallah MP, Calabrese E, Rudie J, Villanueva-Meyer J, LaMontagne P, Marcus DS, Colen RR, Balana C, Choi YS, Badve C, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Sloan AE, Booth TC, Palmer JD, Dicker AP, Flanders AE, Shi W, Griffith B, Poisson LM, Chakravarti A, Mahajan A, Chang S, Orringer D, Davatzikos C, Jain R; ReSPOND Consortium. Association of partial T2-FLAIR mismatch sign and isocitrate dehydrogenase mutation in WHO grade 4 gliomas: results from the ReSPOND consortium. Neuroradiology. 2023 Sep;65(9):1343-1352. doi: 10.1007/s00234-023-03196-9. Epub 2023 Jul 19. 
Low JP, Satgunaseelan L, Wright D. Biallelic MGMT loss in a case of IDH-wild-type adult glioblastoma: a case for concurrent epigenomic and molecular karyotype testing. Pathology. 2023 Jun;55(4):551-554. doi: 10.1016/j.pathol.2022.10.015. Epub 2023 Jan 20.
Pamphlett R, Bishop DP. The toxic metal hypothesis for neurological disorders. Front Neurol. 2023 Jun 23;14:1173779. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1173779.
Pamphlett R, Buckland ME, Bishop DP. Potentially toxic elements in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis. Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 12;13(1):655. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-27169-9.
Stewart W, Buckland ME, Abdolmohammadi B, Affleck AJ, Alvarez VE, Gilchrist S, Huber BR, Lee EB, Lyall DM, Nowinski CJ, Russell ER, Stein TD, Suter CM, McKee AC. Risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in rugby union is associated with length of playing career. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 Dec;146(6):829-832. doi: 10.1007/s00401-023-02644-3. Epub 2023 Oct 24.
Suter CM, Affleck AJ, Pearce AJ, Junckerstorff R, Lee M, Buckland ME. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a female ex-professional Australian rules footballer. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 Sep;146(3):547-549. doi: 10.1007/s00401-023-02610-z. Epub 2023 Jun 30. 
Tűzesi Á, Hallal S, Satgunaseelan L, Buckland ME, Alexander KL. Understanding the Epitranscriptome for Avant-Garde Brain Tumour Diagnostics. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Feb 15;15(4):1232. doi: 10.3390/cancers15041232. 
Watson CJG, Lawlor M, Sy J, Krishnaswamy M, Buckland ME, Brennan JW, Satgunaseelan L. Anaplasia and age of onset in desmoplastic infantile ganglioglioma: Case report and review of the literature. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2023 Jan;70(1):e29808. doi: 10.1002/pbc.29808. Epub 2022 Jun 7.
Yuile A, Satgunaseelan L, Wei JQ, Rodriguez M, Back M, Pavlakis N, Hudson A, Kastelan M, Wheeler HR, Lee A. CDKN2A/B Homozygous Deletions in Astrocytomas: A Literature Review. Curr Issues Mol Biol. 2023 Jun 22;45(7):5276-5292. doi: 10.3390/cimb45070335.