Promising research involving drug therapy to improve limb function after strokes is among several University of Otago projects boosted by nearly $390,000 in the latest Neurological Foundation grant round.
Dr Andrew Clarkson, an award-winning senior research fellow in the Otago anatomy department, has gained $182,835 to pursue this research.
Associate Prof John Reynolds, deputy director of the university's Brain Health Research Centre, and also an anatomy department member, gained $194,124 to undertake another project which aims to reduce tremors among patients with Parkinson's.
Dr Liana Machado, an Otago senior lecturer in psychology, received $12,000 for research involving aspects of transcranial direct current stimulation, a form of brain stimulation which has been used to improve cognitive performance, including memory and attention.
These Otago grants together amount to nearly $390,000, of the more than $820,000 provided by the foundation in its latest funding grant round.
Dr Clarkson will assess new drug compounds to see if they can be protective when given early after stroke and also promote functional recovery when given somewhat later.
He welcomed the funds, which had come after ''a difficult couple of years trying to get funding''.
His research has attracted international interest and in 2009 he received a Neurological Foundation Repatriation Fellowship to enable him to return to New Zealand to continue his research.
Foundation officials said injuries to the brain after a stroke impaired cognition and behaviour, ''typically with limited recovery''.
In New Zealand, there were about 45,000 stroke survivors, and a large percentage of them had some form of disability. But there was no current drug treatment to aid in the recovery of movement after stroke.
Dr Clarkson's laboratory had shown that inhibition within the brain is changed after stroke and silenced brain cells.
''By alleviating this inhibition, Dr Clarkson and his team can kick-start those silent brain cells and connections, which in turn give back functions previously impaired,'' officials said.
Prof Reynolds was ''overjoyed'' to gain the funding, which would allow an anatomy doctoral student, Lisa Smith, to continue key research after her doctorate is completed.
His research will focus on identifying specific molecular pathways as ''new targets for treatment of dyskinesias'', severe unwanted movements in patients with Parkinson's.
This debilitating disease affects about 11,000 New Zealanders.
