Assistant Professor Lindy Fitzgerald

Assistant Professor Lindy Fitzgerald is a Research Fellow at Experimental and Regenerative Neurosciences (EaRN) within the School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia (UWA). She is a cell biologist with a major career interest in preventing secondary degeneration after injury to the central nervous system (CNS).

Dr Fitzgerald was awarded her PhD in 1993 and gained experience for five years in leading vascular biology laboratories at the University of New South Wales, the University of Queensland and the Baker Medical Research Institute. Since returning to her research career in 2006 after parental leave, she has developed her interest in neuroscience with studies that have focussed around the prevention of spreading damage following partial injury to the CNS.

Dr Fitzgerald has developed and comprehensively characterised a model of secondary degeneration following partial injury to the optic nerve, which allows assessment of therapeutic strategies by testing recovery in visual function. Using the model she has assessed the mechanisms of death of neurons succumbing to secondary degeneration, the contributions of glia, infiltrating cells of the immune system and the importance of oxidative stress as a trigger for further damage. Together with her team, Dr Fitzgerald recently investigated the usefulness of a CNS-specific calcium channel blocker to treat secondary degeneration.

The NRP continues to fund several research projects that Dr Fitzgerald plays a key role in – exploring the roles of oxidative stress and myelination status in the spread of secondary degeneration and assessing a range of potential therapeutic strategies to modulate injury responses. Some of these treatments are being tested in combination with nanotechnology, in collaboration with scientists at UWA's Centre for Strategic Nanofabrication.

The NRP acknowledged Dr Fitzgerald's work recently by awarding her with the inaugural NRP Early-Career Research Fellowship to support and enable the expansion of her research activites during 2011-2013.

Current NRP Co-investigators:
Professor Sarah Dunlop, Professor Alan Harvey, Assistant Professor Jenny Rodger (UWA)
Professor Tom Salt (University College London)