Lezanne Ooi is an Australian neuroscientist who is Professor and Head of Neurodevelopment at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

. Her research considers the development of cellular imaging techniques to understand neurodegenerative disease.

Early life and education

Ooi trained in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She studied biochemistry at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

, where she worked with GlaxoSmith Kline. When Ooi was studying neuroscience, her grandmother was diagnosed with dementia, which motivated her to purse a career studying neurodegenerative disease. She completed her doctoral research on the transcriptional repressor REST (Repressor Element 1-Silencing Transcription factor) at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. She remained there as a postdoctoral researcher, where she studied cardiac hypertrophy and developed cellular imaging techniques to understand neuronal function. Her research showed that

atrial natriuretic peptide Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) or atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) is a natriuretic peptide hormone secreted from the cardiac atria that in humans is encoded by the ''NPPA'' gene. Natriuretic peptides (ANP, BNP, and CNP) are a family of ho ...

(ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) became abnormally high in people with hypertrophy, and that an increase in REST could halt the rise of the other proteins.

Research and career

In 2012, Ooi joined the

as a professor of neuroscience. Her lab has characterised over 100 induced pluripotent stem cell lines. She has studied various neurological conditions, including motor neuron diseases and vanishing white matter disease, a form of

leukodystrophy Leukodystrophies are a group of, usually, inherited disorders, characterized by degeneration of the white matter in the brain. The word ''leukodystrophy'' comes from the Greek roots ''leuko'', "white", ''dys'', "abnormal" and ''troph'', "growth". ...

. She studied how

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

impacted the likelihood of contracting dementia. In 2022, Ooi was awarded funding from the

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American actor and activist. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ...

Foundation to study

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. Her research considers the neuronal changes that place during neurodegenerative disease. She believes that Parkinson's causes changes in cell lipids and metabolites; which could be used as biomarkers of disease.

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ooi, Lezanne Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian women neuroscientists Australian neuroscientists Alumni of the University of York Alumni of the University of Leeds Academic staff of the University of Wollongong 21st-century Australian scientists 21st-century Australian women scientists