Shyuan Ngo

Biography

 I completed my undergraduate and PhD training at UQ. After completing my PhD in 2009, I took up a postdoctoral position at UQCCR to introduce a translational edge to my research program. In 2012, I was awarded a Bill Gole Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia (MNDRIA). I returned to the School of Biomedical Sciences with this fellowship to continue my research program in motor neuron disease (MND). In 2015, I was awarded the Scott Sullivan MND Research Fellowship. In this position, I conduct research between the Queensland Brain Institute and the School of Biomedical Sciences at UQ and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital to address how changes in energy metabolism affects the course of MND, whilst working to develop therapies for MND. My primary research focus is to understand the causes and consequences of metabolic dysfunction in MND. I am particularly interested in identifying which metabolic pathways are disrupted in MND/ALS and how targeting these pathways might correct for defective energy balance, and prolong survival. I collaborate with international researchers and neurologists in Paris, Strasbourg, and Utrecht, and with a strong clinical team at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s hospital with the broader goal of translating basic research to the clinic. In collaboration with researchers in China, I am also interested in investigating how induced pluripotent stem cells may be used as a therapeutic avenue in MND.

Research Interest

  Metabolic Dysfunction in Motor Neuron Disease/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Biomarkers in Motor Neuron Disease/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Neuromuscular Junction Formation, Maintenance and Stability