Therapeutic development for neurodegenerative diseases is bridging into a new era, in particular with the emergence of gene and stem cell therapies. However, clinical trial design and efficiency remains hampered by insensitive outcome measures in slowly progressive, non-reversible neurological diseases. This issue is particularly problematic in rare diseases, where participant availability for trials is limited. Here, I will present work from our team using multimodal structural, diffusion, and susceptibility neuroimaging approaches to identify novel and sensitive in vivo outcome measures for disease characterisation and tracking in people with hereditary cerebellar ataxias.

Speaker bio: Associate Professor Ian Harding is Group Leader of the Cerebellum & Neurodegeneration Research Group at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia. His team uses MRI and PET brain imaging, biofluid assays, and digital tools to measure and track disease expression and progression at mechanistic, neurobiological, and behavioural scales. His research primarily focusses on neurological disorders that impact the cerebellum and cerebellar connections.