Angela Laird — Macquarie University

Personal profile

Biography

Dr. Laird studies the pathogenesis of movement disorders with a particular focus on identifying and testing potential disease treatments. Her group has been successful at producing and characterising the world’s first zebrafish model of spinocerebellar ataxia type-3 (also known as Machado Joseph Disease, MJD). They are currently testing the effect of various drugs on these zebrafish with the aim of identifying a treatment for the disease.

Dr. Laird's full CV, with all grants and activities, can be accessed here.

Research interests

Developing transgenic zebrafish models of neurodegenerative diseases such as spinocerebellar ataxia-3 and motor neuron disease
Role of proteolytic cleavage in the pathogenesis of spinocerebellar ataxia-3
Potential of autophagy induction for the treatment of spinocerebellar ataxia-3
Role of glutamate induced excitotoxicity in the pathogenesis of spinocerebellar ataxia-3

External positions

Senior Research Scientist, ANZAC Research Institute

Jan 2010 → Feb 2016

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Leuven

May 2008 → Oct 2010

Casual Admin/Research Assistant, The University of New South Wales

Jan 2002 → Jan 2007

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Projects 2013 2021

4 Finished
10 Active

Establishment of archival freezer storage bay

Chung, R., Atkin, J., Connor, M., Blair, I., Rizos, H., Phillips, J. & Laird, A.

1/01/19 → 31/12/19

Project: Research

Inducing autophagy to treat motor neuron disease

Laird, A., Don, E., Shahheydari, H., Cole, N. & Nicholson, G.

15/03/18 → 14/03/19

Project: Other

Calpeptin, and related candidates, for the treatment of Machado Joseph disease

Laird, A., Nicholson, G., Walker, A., Cole, N., Lee, A., Morsch, M., Davis, R., Guillemin, G., Atkin, J. & Ooi, L.

1/01/18 → 31/12/21

Project: Research

Novel therapeutics targeting neuronal transport pathways in MND

Atkin, J., Walker, A., Laird, A., Jonathan, B. & Abbott, B.

28/04/17 → …

Project: Research

Therapeutics based on the protective activity of protein disulphide in MND

Atkin, J., Walker, A., Laird, A., Heras, B., Anderson, M., Craik, D. & Bleackley, M.

28/04/17 → …

Project: Research

Research Output 2006 2018

355 Citations
7 h-Index
12 Article
1 Chapter
1 Review article

Neuronal cell culture from transgenic zebrafish models of neurodegenerative disease

Acosta, J. R., Watchon, M., Yuan, K. C., Fifita, J. A., Svahn, A. J., Don, E. K., Winnick, C. G., Blair, I. P., Nicholson, G. A., Cole, N. J., Goldsbury, C. & Laird, A. S. 1 Jan 2018 In : Biology Open. 7, 10, p. 1-7 7 p., bio036475

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Open Access

File

Neurodegenerative diseases

neurodegenerative diseases

Zebrafish

Danio rerio

Cell culture

Calpain inhibition is protective in Machado–Joseph disease zebrafish due to induction of autophagy

Watchon, M., Yuan, K. C., Mackovski, N., Svahn, A. J., Cole, N. J., Goldsbury, C., Rinkwitz, S., Becker, T. S., Nicholson, G. A. & Laird, A. S. 2017 In : Journal of Neuroscience. 37, 32, p. 7782-7794 13 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Machado-Joseph Disease

Calpain

Autophagy

Zebrafish

Ataxin-3