The Kiernan Group was established in 2001, with research labs based at NeuRA, linked to the Prince of Wales Clinical School UNSW and The Institute of Neurological Sciences, Prince of Wales Hospital. The group works in close collaboration with Professor David Burke at the University of Sydney (combined ARC Discovery grant) and Professor Hugh Bostock FRS at The Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London UK (combined fellowships and program grant collaborations). Current projects are directed to:
- motor neurone disease: establishing the site of onset and mechanisms of progression
-spinal cord injury: prevention of neurological damage following injury
multiple sclerosis, demyelinating neuropathy, neuromuscular disease: delineating mechanisms of fatigue
-neurotoxicity: prevention of nerve damage associated with chemotherapies used in the treatment of cancer
-understanding the development of neurological symptoms associated with nerve crush and ischaemia
-epilepsy and pain-related states: improving the effects of anticonvulsant therapies in treatment
-understanding the process of plasticity of the nervous system in stroke patients and thereby finding ways to improve stroke outcome
We are also conducting clinical trials aimed at neuroprotective and physical therapies in neurological diseases. Our research is intrinsically linked to the provision of local clinical services, particularly the multidisciplinary motor neurone disease clinic; the hereditary nerve and muscle clinics run through Prince of Wales Hospitals; neurological consultation and clinical neurophysiological investigations.
