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Dr Meghan Thomas

Dr Meghan Thomas

Dr Meghan Thomas

Post Doc Research Fellow

Telephone: (61 8)  6304 3551  
Email: m.thomas@ecu.edu.au   
Campus: Joondalup  
Room: JO21.540  

 

Background

  • 2008-present: Founding Co-ordinator, Parkinson’s Centre (ParkC), Edith Cowan University
  • 2007-present: Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Neurological Cell Replacement Therapies), Edith Cowan University
  • 2007-present: Adjunct Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Experimental and Regenerative Neuroscience), University of Western Australia

Professional Memberships

  • Member, International Cellular Medicine Society Cellular Medicine Treatment Oversight Committee.
  • Treasurer, Combined Biological Sciences Meeting

Awards and Recognition

Other

  • 2009: Awarded the ECU Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research by Early Career Researchers

Research Areas and Interests

  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Stem Cells
  • Developmental Genetics
  • Pax genes
  • The role and regulation of transcription factors in development, adult and injury
  • Stem cell differentiation
  • Subtyping Parkinson’s disease

Staff Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science Honours, The University of Western Australia .
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Western Australia, 2005 .

Research

Recent Research Grants

  • Comparative anatomy of the Caudal Zona Incerta Deep Brain Stimulation Region,  Parkinsons Association of WA Inc,  Scholarship(**),  2010,  $7,000.
  • Neurological cell replacement therapies: improving outcomes by matching developmental profiles of transplanted cells with the damaged brain area. ,  Australian Research Council,  Grant - Discovery,  2009,  $14,938.
  • Saving the substantia nigra? A novel role for the gene Pax6,  Parkinsons Association of WA Inc,  Grant,  2008,  $5,455.
  • Neurological cell replacement therapies: improving outcomes by matching developmental profiles of transplanted cells with the damaged brain area. ,  Australian Research Council,  Grant - Discovery,  2008,  $13,456.
  • Neurological cell replacement therapies: improving outcomes by matching developmental profiles of transplanted cells with the damaged brain area. ,  Australian Research Council,  Grant - Discovery,  2007,  $89,782.
  • Matching the developmental transcription factor profiles of transplanted cells and host injured brain regions is crucial for successful cell transplant therapies,  Western Australian Institute for Medical Research Inc,  Grant,  2005,  $60,000.

Recent Publications (within the last five years)

Journal Articles

  • Thomas, M., Stone, L., Evill, L., Ong, S., Ziman, M., Hool, L., (2011), Bone marrow stromal cells as replacement cells for Parkinson's disease: generation of an anatomical but not functional neuronal phenotype. Translational Research, 157(2), 56-63, DOI: 10.1016/j.trsl.2010.11.001.
  • Lam, MF., Thomas, M., Lind, CR., (2011), Neurosurgical convection-enhanced delivery of treatments for Parkinson's disease. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 18(9), 1163-1167, DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2011.01.012.
  • Lam, MF., Thomas, M., Lind, CR., (2011), Neurosurgical convection-enhanced delivery of treatments for Parkinson?s disease. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 18(9), 1163-1167, DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2011.01.012.
  • Bucks, RS., Cruise, K., Skinner, TC., Loftus., AM., Barker, RA., Thomas, M., (2011), Coping processes and health-related quality of life in Parkinson's disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 26(3), 247-255, DOI: 10.1002/gps.2520.
  • Cruise, K., Bucks, R., Loftus, A., Newton, R., Pegoraro, R., Thomas, M., (2010), Exercise and Parkinson's: benefits for cognition and quality of life. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 123(1), 13-19, United States, DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2010.01338.x.
  • Bucks, R., Cruise, K., Skinner, TS., Loftus, A., Barker, R., Thomas, M., (2010), Coping processes and health-related quality of life in Parkinson?s disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 26(3), 247-255, United Kingdom, DOI: 10.1002/gps.2520.
  • Thomas, M., (2010), Role of transcription factors in cell replacement therapies for neurodegenerative conditions. Regenerative Medicine , 5(3), 441-450, United Kingdom, DOI: 10.2217/RME.10.17.
  • Thomas, M., Tyers, P., Lazic, S., Barker, R., Beazley, L., Ziman, M., (2009), Graft outcomes influenced by co-expression of Pax7 in graft and host tissue. Journal of Anatomy, 214(3), 396-405, United Kingdom, DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01049.x.
  • Blake, J., Thomas, M., Thompson, J., White, R., Ziman, M., (2008), Perplexing Pax: From Puzzle to Paradigm. Developmental Dynamics, 237(10), 2791-2803, USA.
  • Thomas, M., Barker, R., Beazley, L., Ziman, M., (2007), Pax7 expression in the adult rat superior colliculus following optic nerve injury. Neuroreport, 18(2), 105-109.