Research aims to stem disability

A PRESTIGIOUS award was presented to a Dandenong North resident for her dedicated research into cerebral palsy (CP).
Dr Tamara Yawno, a research officer at the Monash Institute of Medical Research in Clayton, was the 2011/12 recipient of the Glyn White Research Fellowship from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG).
She received $60,000 to further her research into a potential cure for CP.
“My RANZCOG Scholarship will allow me to investigate whether the placental cells, if given intravenously, will differentiate into brain cells, reduce inflammation in a baby’s brain and protect against, or repair damage CP,” Dr Yawno said.
“Until treatment is developed to either protect a baby’s brain during compromised pregnancy, or repair the brain soon after birth, there will be no cure for most cases of CP.
“Currently, all postnatal therapies are designed to reduce the symptoms of CP rather than prevent its progression.”
Dr Yawno works with a team to investigate whether cells found in a healthy, full-term placenta following the birth of a baby could reduce inflammation in the foetal brain, and protect it against injuries such as CP.
She and her supervisor Dr Suzie Miller have shown that placental cells can differentiate, or become, different cells types. In the last five years, they have developed techniques to transform these cells into brain, liver, muscle, heart, bone and lung cells.
CP is the most common cause of childhood disability. In Australia, a baby is born with CP every 15 hours.
Worldwide, one in 400 children have CP.