Melinder Gill

Melinder is a PhD candidate specialising in altered metabolism in motor neuron disease (MND).

​Motor Neuron Disease (MND) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease causing death of motor neurons in the central nervous system. This leads to eventual deinnervation of muscle which leads to eventual paralysis and death, averaging at 27 months following diagnosis. There is currently no effective treatment or cure for MND. Our group is interested in better understanding the mechanisms which underlie the pathology of MND. In particular, we are interested in the altered metabolic output and mitochondrial dysfunction in MND. Melinder is currently investigating an enzyme which may play a role in the altered metabolic output of patients. She aims to understand the potential mechanisms that this may play in mitochondrial dysfunction of MND patients.

Melinder Gill graduated from the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2020 with a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Honours). During her honours, Melinder investigated the agrin acetylcholine clustering pathway and subsequent muscle pathology of MND patients . In 2022, she began her PhD in the Ngo group where she continues to work on altered metabolism and subsequent mitochondrial dysfunction in muscle of MND patients. Her project focuses on work in mouse models of MND, clinical patient data, and in-vitro primary cultures of the disease. 

Key Publications

1. Ding Q, Kesavan K, Lee KM, Wimberger E, Robertson T, Gill M, Power D, Chang J, Fard AT, Mar JC, Henderson RD. Impaired signaling for neuromuscular synaptic maintenance is a feature of Motor Neuron Disease. Acta neuropathologica communications. 2022 Dec;10(1):1-24