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Tobias David Merson

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Laboratory Head, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health

Dr Merson completed his PhD at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in 2006, demonstrating the critical role of epigenetics in the regulation of neural stem cell function and adult neurogenesis. He then took up a postdoctoral position within the Multiple Sclerosis Group at the Howard Florey Institute and was awarded a Betty Cuthbert Training Fellowship (2007-2010) jointly funded by the NHMRC and Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia. In 2013, he established his own laboratory within the Multiple Sclerosis Division at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and in the same year, was awarded a Melbourne Neuroscience Institute Fellowship. His research examines the life cycle of the oligodendrocyte, the cell type responsible for myelination within the central nervous system focusing on how oligodendrocytes are generated during development, how they are regenerated after injury and their role in supporting the function of axons.

Experience

  • –present
    Adjunct Research Fellow, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute
  • –present
    Laboratory Head, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health

Education

  • 2006 
    The University of Melbourne, PhD
  • 1999 
    The University of Queensland, BSc(Hons)
  • 1998 
    The University of Queensland, BA/BSc

Publications

  • 2014
    Adult neural precursor cells from the subventricular zone contribute significantly to oligodendrocyte regeneration and remyelination, The Journal of Neuroscience
  • 2013
    Nanodiamonds with silicon vacancy defects for non-toxic photostable fluorescent labeling of neural precursor cells, Optics Letters
  • 2012
    Targeted ablation of oligodendrocytes induces axonal pathology independent of overt demyelination, The Journal of Neuroscience
  • 2012
    The early postnatal nonhuman primate neocortex contains self-renewing multipotent neural progenitor cells, PLoS One

Grants and Contracts

  • 2014
    Prevention of axonal pathology in early Multiple Sclerosis
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:
    National Health and Medical Research Council
  • 2014
    Functional Neurogenesis in the Injured Neocortex of the Nonhuman Primate
    Role:
    CIB
    Funding Source:
    National Health and Medical Research Council
  • 2014
    A new approach to prevent loss of neuronal function in Multiple Sclerosis
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:
    CASS Foundation
  • 2012
    Understanding oligodendrocyte turnover: the key to functional re-myelination
    Role:
    CIC
    Funding Source:
    Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia
  • 2010
    Cellular responses to oligodendrocyte apoptosis: modeling the early pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:
    National Health and Medical Research Council
  • 2010
    Magnetic resonance and optical imaging to study the dynamics of neural stem cell responses in situ using nanodiamonds
    Role:
    CIB
    Funding Source:
    The University of Melbourne
  • 2009
    Characterisation of cellular responses to oligodendrocyte apoptosis in vivo
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:
    Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia

Research Areas

  • Central Nervous System (110903)
  • Cellular Nervous System (110902)
  • Cell Development, Proliferation And Death (060103)