Uploaded September 2018 | Updated September 2026, 13 hours ago
Dr Sean Coakley from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute tonight won a Queensland Young Tall Poppy Award for his work on both neural injuries and science communication.
“Our brains and nervous system contain billions of neurons which communicate with one another using long, thin, cable-like structures called axons,” Dr Coakley said.
“Damage and degeneration of these axons occurs in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, motor neuron diseases and in brain and spinal cord injuries.
“I study the axons of a tiny, microscopic roundworm called C. elegans, which allows me to observe these axons in living, moving animals that and study how they are protected from damage in exquisite detail.”
Dr Coakley, who works in the laboratory of Associate Professor Massimo Hilliard, was awarded an NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellowship in 2016 to discover new genes that regulate axon degeneration in C. elegans.
“I’m particularly interested in how axons respond to force, such as the force of movement, and how despite being so fragile, they normally are resilient to these sheer strains,” Dr Coakley said.
Queensland Brain Institute | http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au
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Dr Sean Coakley from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute tonight won a Queensland Young Tall Poppy Award for his work on both neural injuries and science communication.
“Our brains and nervous system contain billions of neurons which communicate with one another using long, thin, cable-like structures called axons,” Dr Coakley said.
“Damage and degeneration of these axons occurs in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, motor neuron diseases and in brain and spinal cord injuries.
“I study the axons of a tiny, microscopic roundworm called C. elegans, which allows me to observe these axons in living, moving animals that and study how they are protected from damage in exquisite detail.”
Dr Coakley, who works in the laboratory of Associate Professor Massimo Hilliard, was awarded an NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellowship in 2016 to discover new genes that regulate axon degeneration in C. elegans.
“I’m particularly interested in how axons respond to force, such as the force of movement, and how despite being so fragile, they normally are resilient to these sheer strains,” Dr Coakley said.
Queensland Brain Institute | http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au
Facebook | fb.me/qldbraininstitute
Twitter | twitter.com/qldbraininst
Instagram | instagram.com/qldbraininstitute
SoundCloud | soundcloud.com/qldbraininstitute
LinkedIn | linkedin.com/company/queensland-brain-institute
