TNTP (Translational Neuroscience & Therapeutic Program), led by Dr. Richard Gordon is a multi-disciplinary, industry-partnered research program in Translational Neuroscience which integrates immunology, drug development, pharmacology, metabolomics and microbial metagenomics. His group aims to understand and therapeutically target key pathological mechanisms which drive the onset and progression of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Their work combines target validation studies in human patients with mechanistic insights from disease models to develop and test novel therapeutic strategies that can be translated towards clinical trials.
Key research themes within this program include:
- Understanding how chronic immune and inflammasome activation contribute to neurodegeneration in the CNS
- The role of gut dysbiosis and gastrointestinal dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease pathophysiology
- Therapeutic targeting of the gut-brain axis for neuroprotection
- Drug discovery, development and repositioning for novel therapeutic targets
- Discovery and validation of clinical biomarkers for PD and ALS
- Clinical trials for disease-modifying therapeutic strategies.
Research interests
- Understanding and targeting the gut-brain axis in neurodegeneration
- Targeting immune and inflammatory mechanisms for neuroprotection
- Novel therapeutic approaches for regeneration of the central nervous system
- Clinical bio-markers for early detection of Parkinson’s disease
- In silico approaches for therapeutic development
- Drug repositioning to accelerate new treatments for progressive neurodegenerative disorders
Research impacts
Dr. Gordon’s research has contributed to ground-breaking advances in the field of neuroinflammation and Parkinson’s disease, including discovery of a novel signalling paradigm for prokineticin signalling during neurodegeneration, and inflammasome activation as a driver of synuclein pathology and disease progression in PD. He established the Queensland Drug Repurposing Initiative (QDRI) which aims to accelerate new treatments for neurological diseases through drug repositioning.