I am one of those people with salt water in my blood and need to be in or around the water to retain my harmony and balance.

The sense that my research would be able to help people with MS, through the discovery of ways to measure and promote myelin repair. My expertise is in the biochemistry of lipids, and the brain is particularly rich in lipids. In fact, myelin - the important membrane structure that surrounds our nerve cells and is destroyed in people with MS - is comprised around 80% of lipids. Many lipids are unique to myelin and this will allow us to identify circulating lipid signatures that serve as a proxy for myelin health. It will also allow us to develop new neuroprotective and remyelinating therapeutics.

I think to date the most exciting development in MS research has been the series of immunomodulatory therapies that have made relapsing MS a treatable condition rather than a progressively-worsening decline in neurological functions. My understanding is that MS has gone from being untreatable to treatable within the past 2 decades. That success is attributed to research across the spectrum from basic biomedical through to clinical trials, making international MS research a big success story so far.

In MS, the immune system attacks and depletes the myelin sheaths that insulate and protect neurons. The demyelination that occurs in MS causes loss of nervous system function and eventually nervous system degeneration. Myelin is comprised mostly of lipids, a large and diverse set of molecules that form biological membranes. Using mass spectrometry technology, we can quantify hundreds of lipid molecules in the blood, and have shown that levels of particular lipids can not only differentiate people with MS from healthy controls, but might also provide a readily-accessible and accurate read-out of disease activity. In this project we will determine firstly if levels of specific lipids in the blood serve as indicators of ongoing demyelination and disease progression in people with MS, and secondly if specific lipids serve as useful indicators of therapeutic response in MS.

Through this project we aim to produce a blood test that will allow the treating physician to determine if a particular therapeutic is working effectively. This would supplement the current brain scans (MRI) and tests of neurological function that can be administered less frequently than a blood test and can only detect deterioration once it has already occurred. If there is evidence of disease reactivation or progression, action could be taken sooner to adjust medications and prevent further damage. Our proposed test will be suitable for implementation on mass spectrometers that are already used in diagnostic pathology labs. In addition, our proposed blood lipid test is needed to assess outcomes in clinical trials of therapies that aim to regenerate myelin and restore neurological function in people with MS.

The great thing about working in a lab and running a research group is the excitement of scientific discovery and tackling complex biological and medical problems at the molecular level. The job is challenging, but always interesting when the focus is on the science. You have to keep your eyes open and be prepared for the unexpected – in my experience that is when you find something new and important. Challenges arise from the highly competitive nature of international research. It is well known that research funding is underdone in Australia, particularly for the fundamental biomedical research that underpins all medical advances. We compete by being highly innovative in our research, but it doesn't take long for well-funded international teams to adopt new ideas and they are able to develop their research more rapidly.