Professor Simon Hawke
Professor M02 - Mallet Street Campus
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Biographical details
Prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob diseases in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or Mad Cow Disease) in cattle are fatal neurodegenerativie disorders without effective treatment. Underlying these disorders is the transformation of normal cellular protein into infections proteins or prions. Prof Hawke and his colleagues are attempting to harness the immune system to inhibit this transformation and the replication of prions. Already, they have shown that prion replication outside the brain can be substantially inhibited by passively transferring monoclonal antibodies specific for prion protein. Studies are in progress aiming to control replication in the central nervous system.
Current national competitive grants*
2009
The role of mutant TDP-43 in ALS.
Blair I, Nicholson G, Hawke S
NHMRC Project Grants ($455,375 over 3 years)
2008
Establishing an Australian Multiple Sclerosis Brain Bank
Hawke S
Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia Investigator Project Grants ($135,000 over 3 years)
* Grants administered through the University of Sydney