Andrew Thompson specialises in Development of vascularised brain organoids for analysis of the neural stem cell niche
Accumulating evidence suggests that a decline in the function of stem cells throughout the body may be responsible for the increased risk of disease and disability associated with the ageing among individuals. Of particular burden to society is the risk of dementia and cognitive decline in the elderly, which is associated with a decline in the regenerative capacity of the neural stem cell niche. My research aims to develop a model system to examine the neural stem cell niche using human induced pluripotent stem cells. I will use innovative tissue engineering, microfluidics and bioinformatics technologies to examine miniature replicas of the human neural stem cell niche in vitro using brain organoids. I will then investigate the changes associated with ageing in these cells and identify strategies to rejuvenate their regenerative capacity.
I have previously worked in the Computatonal Neuroscience laboratory at the Queensland Brain Institute and examined the mechanisms of axon guidance during neuronal development and regeneration, and in the laboratory for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at the University of Queensland to investigate the how populations of cells in the brain act together to encode and process sensory information. I have been a member of the Australasian Neuroscience Society and The Society for Neuroscience, and been awarded the 2014 Paxinos Watson Award for ‘the most significant neuroscience paper published in the previous calendar year by a full member of the Australasian Neuroscience Society’.