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Research and Publications

Research Interests

A bio-spectroscopic investigation of the role of hypoxia and peroxidative stress during the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria

Cerebral malaria and acute bacterial meningitis are devastating illnesses prevalent in developing countries (and developed countries in the case of bacterial meningitis), resulting in greater than 1 million and 180 000 deaths each year, respectively. However, due to the presentation of similar symptoms and the common occurrence of both the malaria parasite and meningitis causing bacterium in a patient’s blood, diagnosis and discrimination between these diseases presents a significant clinical challenge. As such, there is a significant need for the development of a method to aid in the diagnosis of these diseases in developing countries.

Using animal (mouse models) of cerebral malaria, severe malaria anaemia, uncomplicated malaria, acute bacterial meningitis and viral meningitis, a routine diagnostic method was developed to diagnose the above diseased based on the biochemical information contained within a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum.

A crucial aspect of research aimed at understanding further the mechanistic processes of disease pathogenesis is the integration of multiple biochemical analytical techniques in inter-disciplinary investigations. A significant challenge to achieve the above, is the understanding of the effects of sample preparation and the utilisation of suitable methods that allow multi-modal analyses of the same sample.

Investigation of the chemical alterations induced through a range of sample preparation methodologies (i.e., formalin fixation, cryofixation), was undertaken, and the nature of chemical information retained/lost during specific sample preparation procedures, was determined. Further, these studies focused on sample preparation procedures applicable to brain tissue, and identified the regions of the brain (i.e., specific tissue layers) most affected by each preparation method.

Publications

Journal Articles

  1. Hackett, M. J., McQuillan, J. A., El-Assaad, F., Aitken, J. B., Levina, A., Cohen, D. D., Seigele, R., Carter, E. A., Grau, G. E., Hunt, N. H., Lay, P. A., Chemical Alterations to biological samples induced by formalin fixation implications for biospectroscopic studies of disease pathogenesis and diagnosis, Analyst (2010) Accepted DOI:10.1039/C0AN00269K.
  2. Aitken, J. B., Carter, E. A., Eastgate, H., Hackett, M. J., Harris, H. H., Levina, A., Lee, Y-.C., Chen, C.-I., Lai, B., Vogt, S., Lay, P. A., Biomedical applications of X-ray absorption and vibrational spectroscopic microscopies in obtaining structural information from complex systems, Radiation Physics and Chemistry (2010), 79(2), 176-184, doi:10.1016/j.radphyschem.2009.03.068

Conference Proceedings

  1. Siegele, R., Hackett, M. J., El-Assad, F., Mc Quillan, J. A., Carter, E. A.,Grau, G. E., Hunt, N. H., Cohen, D. D., Lay, P. A., Investigation of Cerebral Malaria Using STIM and ยต-PIXE (#64), 12th International Conference on Nuclear Microprobe Technology and Applications, July 26–30, 2010 – Leipzig, Germany, p 74.
  2. Hackett M; El-Assad F; McQuillan JA; Carter EA; Grau GE; Hunt NH, and Lay PA. Hypoxia, micro blood vessels and cerebral malaria pathogenesis: New investigations using FPA-FTIR spectroscopic imaging. Poster presentation at ICAVS5 Melbourne 2009.