Menzies announces arrival of leading neuroscientist

Menzies announces arrival of leading neuroscientist

Menzies Research Institute Tasmania is delighted to welcome aboard Dr Kaylene Young as a new research fellow.

Menzies Research Institute Tasmania is delighted to welcome aboard Dr Kaylene Young as a new research fellow.

Dr Young brings with her an impressive amount of experience and expertise in neurodegenerative disease. Her work has been published in a number of prestigious international journals including; Journal of Neuroscience, Nature Neuroscience and Neuron

Dr Young's career has progressed from strength to strength. After completing her PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (University of Melbourne) she spent 18 months assisting in the successful establishment of the Queensland Brain Institute (University of Queensland). In 2004 she moved to the United Kingdom to work as a postdoctoral research fellow at University College London (UCL), and was awarded a career development award in stem cell research in 2008.

Dr Young initially joined Menzies in 2011, but having been successful in her application for an international project grant, spent the first year of this position conducting electrophysiological experiments at UCL. 

She touched down in Hobart in May this year and since then has been busy establishing the Glial Research Team at Menzies, working alongside the current Neurodegenerative Research Group. Together the teams will form the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology. 

Dr Young's research team at Menzies will focus on understanding the plasticity inherent within the adult central nervous system (CNS), and investigating possible ways to harness brain stem cells for CNS repair. 

"We have a number of projects underway that examine the addition of new cells to the adult brain. We are mostly looking at replacing cells that die or are damaged as a result of brain injury (stroke or trauma) or neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer's disease or multiple sclerosis, Dr Young explains.

"Nerve cells in the brain have long processes that span large distances in order to transfer information between brain regions.  As the brain is electrically active, these processes are insulated, much like an electrical cable."

"Our recent work has opened a new and exciting avenue for our research, by demonstrating that the pattern of brain insulation changes over our lifetime. Changes of this sort can alter information transfer speeds, and may represent a novel, previously neglected form of brain plasticity (remodelling) that could be as significant to brain function as the addition of new cells."  

Dr Young, who is originally from Hobart, says she is delighted to be returning home after moving away 15 years ago.

"I am excited to be joining Menzies.  The quality of the research being carried out here is outstanding, and neuroscience really is one of the Institute's major strengths," Dr Young said.

Contact:

Phone:

Email: