Our paper entitled "Disruption of mitochondrial dynamics affects behaviour and lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans" has been accepted by Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences!!

Fundamental to the function of mitochondria is their ability to divide and fuse. Mutations in the genes that control these events are associated with neurodegenerative disease, including Charcot-Marie Tooth type 2A. We mutated these genes in C. elegans to define their roles in animal behaviour and lifespan. Our results demonstrate the vital importance of mitochondrial dynamics for normal behaviour and lifespan, and highlight differing roles for fusion and fission over an animals’ lifespan, with fusion required throughout life and fission more important later in life, likely to combat ageing-associated stressors.

Our paper describes new methods for quantifying mitochondrial morphology in C. elegans tissues, and identifies surprising tissue-specific differences in morphology in the absence of fusion or fission proteins. We show that loss of the mitochondrial fusion or fission proteins induces age-dependent and progressive deficits in animal movement, and in neuronal and muscle function. From ultrastructural analysis, we reveal a novel role for the fusion protein FZO-1 / Mitofusin 2 in regulating the structure of the inner mitochondrial membrane. Furthermore, we find that loss of the individual fusion/fission proteins all significantly reduce median lifespan, but maximal lifespan remains unchanged.  

Congratulations to all involved!

Today we welcome Samiksha Dhananjay into the lab!

Sam will be completing an Honours project with in the area of tissue regeneration. She joins us prior to the start of her Honours degree in order to gain some experience in our lab and to get to know our worms a little better.

​Welcome Sam!!

Today we welcome Sanket Chiplunkar into the Neumann lab. Sanket joins us as a PhD student and will be focused on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. More specifically, he will be studying the function of the mitochondrial outer membrane protein Mitofusin 2, as well as identifying drugs for combatting CMT2A, which is caused by mutations in Mitofusin 2.

You can find more information on Sanket, on his page here.

Welcome Sanket!!

Brent is attending the 2018 ANS meeting in Brisbane from Dec 3-6.

Brent is presenting a talk at the meeting as part of a successful symposium submission (titled Degeneration or Regeneration, Choice After Axon Injury) that is entitled "MEC-17/ATAT1 is essential for maintaining neuronal integrity and nervous system repair".

He will also be chairing Oral session 3: Neurodegeneration 1.

As a new member of the ANS Media and communications sub-committee, and the new ANS newsletter co-editor, Brent is attending the ANS Council Meeting, and the ANS AGM.

Photos from Brent's symposium session are here below:

Brent's review on axonal fusion has been accepted for publication!!

The review titled "Axonal fusion: an alternative and efficient mechanism of nerve repair", has been accepted for publication in Progress in Neurobiology.

The manuscript will now proceed to the copy editing process, and hopefully be published soon.

Today we welcome Arwen Vernon to the Neumann lab.

Arwen will begin a 5 week Summer Research Scholarship position with us, before starting an Honours research project in 2019.

Welcome Arwen!

Our funding from the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Association (CMTAA) was made possible by the local fundraising efforts in the town of Deniliquin.

The local community's fundraising led to a donation to the CMTAA, which was then used to support our research searching for the first therapeutic for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

This has led to significant local media interest in the town of Deniliquin, which more than a dozen news sites featuring the story. These include the Deniliquin Pastoral Times, Shepparton News, and McIvor Times.

We are very appreciative of the Deniliquin community!

We have a review article under review at Progress in Neurobiology!

In collaboration with members of Massimo Hilliard's lab, we have written a review on regenerative axonal fusion.

This article covers covers our current knowledge around this highly efficient mechanism of nervous system repair. Our previous work on this in C. elegans, observations in other invertebrate species, and the use of similar paradigms in mammals (including one study in humans) is all covered in our comprehensive review.

Hoping for a positive response from the reviewers!

This week we have a visitor in the lab - Dr Ramesh Narayanan from Marina Kennerson's lab at the ANZAC Research Institute in Sydney.

Welcome Ramesh!

Brent is attending the Rare Disease: Australian Functional Genomics Conference at the Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne.

The goal of the conference is to facilitate the clinical interpretation of genetic variants and how researchers using model organisms can help with the identification of disease causing genetic mutations.

Brent is presenting some of the Neumann labs research on CMT in a poster entitled: Understanding the role of Mitofusin-2 in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

The poster session was combined with drinks and canapes adjacent the dinosaur exhibition at Melbourne Museum - an amazing and unique location for the event (see pic below)! 

Information on the conference can be found here.