Carolyn Mary Sue is an Australian neurologist, scientist, professor and research director. She has been the executive director of the
Kolling Institute of Medical Research since 2019 and is also Director of
Neurogenetics
Neurogenetics studies the role of genetics in the development and function of the nervous system. It considers neural characteristics as phenotypes (i.e. manifestations, measurable or not, of the genetic make-up of an individual), and is mainly ba ...
at
Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in the suburb of St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, University of Technol ...
, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, and Director of the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research (Sydney Node).
Sue specialises in complex neurogenetic conditions and runs tertiary referral clinics for patients with diseases such as
Parkinson's
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become more prevalen ...
,
mitochondrial disease
Mitochondrial disease is a group of disorders caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are the organelles that generate energy for the cell and are found in every cell of the human body except red blood cells. They convert the energy o ...
s, and other inherited movement disorders.
Her research has identified several previously unknown mutations that cause neurogenetic disease.
Education and career
Sue completed a medical degree at the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949.
The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...
and a PhD at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
in 1997.
She then received an
NHMRC
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded res ...
Neil Hamilton Fairley Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of
Salvatore DiMauro at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in New York City.
In 2000, Sue returned to Sydney to direct her own research laboratory at the
Kolling Institute of Medical Research.
In 2011, she established the Centre of Excellence for Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders at
Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in the suburb of St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, University of Technol ...
.
Professor Sue holds multiple titles and was the inaugural Professor in Neurology at
Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in the suburb of St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, University of Technol ...
. She is also a Founding Director of the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, President-Elect for the Movement Disorder Society of Australia and New Zealand, and co-chair of the Education Committee for the International Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorder Society.
Biomedical research
Sue's research aims to improve our understanding of neurological disorders and develop new treatment options for patients.
Due to the
Kolling Institute's close proximity and strong collaboration with the hospital, her work is highly translational and her laboratory is able to study cells taken from patients and induced into a stem cell state to elucidate the unique genetic diagnosis for individual patients.
This may assist in family planning when patients have a known genetic mutation that causes disease.
Her laboratory currently runs several projects,
including:
* Identification of reliable biomarkers to assist in the diagnosis of mitochondrial diseases, working with Dr Ryan Davis
* Investigating the interactions between the gut microbiome and Parkinson's disease, and the impact of Parkinson's disease treatments on the gut microbiome. This work is being conducted with Dr Michal Lubomski and Dr Ryan Davis in collaboration with Professor Andrew Holmes and Professor
Jean Yang
Jean Yee Hwa Yang is an Australian statistician known for her work on variance reduction for microarrays, and for inferring proteins from mass spectrometry data. Yang is a Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of ...
at the University of Sydney.
* Investigating the Nix pathway as an alternative approach to activating mitophagy in neurons, to improve the maintenance of healthy mitochondrial populations in neurons. This project is being conducted with Dr Wen Li, and in collaboration with Dr YuHong Fu and Professor
Glenda Halliday at the University of Sydney.
* Using patient-derived cells to screen new drug therapies for hereditary spastic paraplegia, with Dr Gautam Wali and in collaboration with Professor
Alan Mackay-Sim at Griffith University
* Using easily-accessible patient samples to identify biomarkers of hereditary spastic paraplegia, with Dr Gautam Wali, Dr Sue-Faye Siow, and Dr Kishore Kumar
Sue has published on the potential of
mitochondrial donation as a potential strategy to tackle hereditary mitochondrial diseases.
Mitochondrial donation allows the replacement of defective mitochondria with healthy mitochondria in an unborn child, with requires the use assisted reproductive technologies to conceive a child from the genetic material of three persons.
However, as mitochondrial DNA contributes only to cellular bioenergetics and not any other characteristics of the child, the oocyte donor (i.e., the mitochondria donor) does not contribute to a child's unique genomic identity.
In 2022, Maeve's Law was passed by the Australian Parliament to legalise mitochondrial donation. Sue's future work will likely involve preparing and supporting her patients if they choose to undergo the procedure.
Awards and recognition
In 2016, Sue was awarded a Presidential Award by the International Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorder Society.
In 2019, Sue was part of the
Queen's Birthday Honours List and awarded a
Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
for significant services to medicine.
Sue is currently the executive director of the
Kolling Institute of Medical Research, board member for the
Brain and Mind Centre, and Professor of Neurology at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
. She is also Founder and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, Director of Neurogenetics, Director of the Mitochondrial Disease Clinic, Director of the Genetic Movement Disorders Clinic, Director of the Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia Clinic, and Director of the Advanced Therapies for Parkinson's Disease Clinic at the
Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in the suburb of St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, University of Technol ...
.
In 2020 Sue was awarded Academy elects 28 new Fellows. Carolyn Sue clinician scientist highly recognised with all the research work done. Prof. Carolyn Sue was awarded $1.2 million for work done in precision diagnosis & patients with mitochondrial disease.
See also
*Australia Mitochondrial Disease Foundation
AMDF
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sue, Carolyn
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Members of the Order of Australia
Australian women neuroscientists
Australian neuroscientists
Parkinson's disease researchers
University of New South Wales Medical School alumni
Sydney Medical School alumni
Columbia University people
Australian neurologists
Australian women medical doctors
Women neurologists