Heat treatments to combat neurodegenerative diseases [Episode 7]
Episode notes
Featured Scientist: Dr Rossana R. Porto, School of Medicine; Translational Health Research Institute
Rossana studies heat shock proteins (HSP) and how they can help patients who suffer from Alzheimer's, Dementia, Parkinson's and other diseases. In 2023, she received a Hands-on Research Grant from the Research Theme Program and in this episode, Rossana explains what she did with the grant. A highly engaged conversation about the human brain, sauna and mice.
About the speaker
Rossana Rosa Porto graduated from UNISINOS – Brazil in 2008 with a Bachelor of Physical Education. She started her Masters in Neuroscience in 2012 at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil, supervised by Dr Paulo Ivo Homem de Bittencourt Jr. and Dr Denise Zancan, in the laboratory of Cell Physiology. Her project was to investigate the induction of the molecular chaperone HSP70 in the hypothalamus by different intensities of exercise and activation of adrenergic receptors. She also had a role as research assistant and worked in a variety of projects involving obesity, diabetes and inflammation. At the same University, Rossana commenced her PhD in Neuroscience in 2014 with Dr Lucas de Oliveira Alvares in the laboratory of Neurobiology of Memory. Here she investigated the role of HSP70 in the molecular basis of memory, and then with a grant from the Brazilian government, she undertook a year of her PhD at the University of Sydney. Supervised by Dr Damian Holsinger, her project was to explore the induction of HSP70 by heat shock, using infrared light, for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. She then worked as a research assistant for 3 years with Professor Tim Karl (2019-2022) investigating the validity of genetic mouse models and gene-environment interactions in brain disorders. She continues her research in the topic while in her first postdoctoral position, still in the laboratory of Behavioural Neuroscience, where she is starting her own project, using the heat shock as a non-pharmacological treatment for neurodegenerative diseases and schizophrenia.
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