Dr Rebecca Nisbet

One of the main hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is the formation of large tau protein tangles within brain cells. Tau has an important transport function in healthy brain cells. However, in Alzheimer’s disease, a process called phosphorylation causes the tau proteins to become tangled which results in neuronal degeneration. The biggest challenge in developing a treatment to prevent tau phosphorylation is to generate molecules which are capable of entering the brain cells where tau is predominantly localised. 

Dr Nisbet’s research seeks to address this challenge using small, intracellular antibody fragments called intrabodies which are highly specific for phosphorylated tau within the neuron. These intrabodies will be engineered to prevent the aggregation of tau and to promote its removal from brain cells, and will be tested in the first instance in mice that have been genetically engineered to develop tau pathology similar to that observed in human Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Nisbet participated in a Dementia News podcast.

Nisbet RM, Van der Jeugd A, Leinenga G, Evans HT, Janowicz PW, Gotz J (2017). Combined effects of scanning ultrasound and a tau-specific single chain antibody in a tau transgenic mouse model. Brain, doi: 10.1093/brain/awx052. [Epub ahead of print]. Available from here.

Dr Nisbet is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. She began her two year AADRF funded fellowship in early 2014.