2007 Media Releases
Wednesday 07 November, 2007
Prize for research into mitochondrial disease - Sensitive alarm may signal cell sickness
La Trobe University Head of Microbiology, Professor Paul Fisher, has won the 2007 Australasian Science Prize for discoveries which may lead to new drug therapies for mitochondrial diseases.
The Australasian Science Prize, announced today, recognises scientific originality, breadth of impact and communication to the scientific and broader communities.
Mitochondrial diseases are genetic disorders that can cause combinations
of symptoms, from deafness, blindness, epilepsy and stroke, to diabetes, heart failure and kidney disease.
Defects in the mitochondria are also thought to play a central role in many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.
Professor Fisher’s work has been hailed as a major breakthrough of enormous scientific and medical potential. It provides a completely new understanding of the mechanisms that cause mitochondrial diseases – namely that such diseases may result from a signalling disorder that damages the cells, rather than an energy insufficiency in cells, as previously thought.
Professor Fisher and his research team have discovered how an alarm protein that senses energy levels in cells can also damage cells in mitochondrial diseases. He says this discovery may provide a way to treat these currently incurable diseases.
The findings have attracted international attention, both in scientific publications and following the State Government announcement of the new mitochondrial theory at the BIO2007 biotechnology conference in Boston this May.
The results come after 15 years of research into signalling pathways in mitochondrially diseased cells by Professor Fisher and members of his laboratory.
Their work has shown that the energy-sensing ‘alarm’ protein, known as AMPK, is permanently activated in mitochondrially diseased cells. When energy supplies drop, it begins signalling and interfering with other signalling pathways, causing cell functions to shut down.
‘AMPK acts like an oversensitive smoke alarm that goes off every time you cook toast. Imagine an alarm that locked every window and door to stop the fire spreading and turned off the water, electricity and gas. This would be worse than the problem it tried to solve.’
Professor Fisher’s work has used an amoeba called a slime mould – the scientific name is Dictyostelium discoideum, Dicty to its friends, – as a model to study mitochondrial disease.
By genetically inhibiting the production of the alarm protein, he and his team have managed to suppress all ‘symptoms’ of mitochondrial disease in Dicty.
‘If we can suppress the symptoms in humans as well, this research may provide the first possibility of treating mitochondrial diseases,’ Professor Fisher says.
About 1,000 people at any one time suffer from genetic defects of the mitochondria in Australia. More than 50 children develop these conditions annually, and more than half die before adulthood.
‘All of the major neurodegenerative diseases – such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s – also involve mitochondrial defects,’ Professor Fisher says. ‘They might also be turning on this alarm protein.’
Public Lecture
Professor Fisher will speak about his work – and introduce his experimental slime moulds via stunning time-lapse video – to a wider audience at the Australasian Science Prize Presentation and Public Lecture, titled: Animal, vegetable or miracle? Lessons from a slime mould on mitochondrial disease.
The lecture will be held at 6 pm, Thursday 15 November 2007, La Trobe University R&D Park Conference Centre (Waterdale Road entry), on the main Melbourne campus, Bundoora, Melway reference J 10. The lecture is jointly sponsored by Australasian Science, La Trobe University and ANZAAS.
Further information
Further details about Professor Fisher’s work and the Australasian Science Prize can be found on the following websites:
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/bulletin/archive/0607/research1.html
http://www.australasianscience.com.au
Contacts:
For media interviews and further information – Professor Paul Fisher Tel: (03) 9479 2229; Email: p.fisher@latrobe.edu.au
Inquiries about the lecture – Margaret Botterill, Tel: (03) 9479 2059; Email: m.botterill@latrobe.edu.au