
Overview
Background
Neurologist
Dr McCombe graduated in Medicine from UQ and completed a Science degree for medical students. She then trained as a neurologist in Sydney, at Prince Henry and Prince of Wales Hospitals. She obtained a PhD from the University of Sydney. She obtained experience in Neurophysiology in Cleveland and then returned to UQ as a post-doctoral fellow. She worked for some years as a research fellow in Neuroimmunology and was an NHMRc SRF. Later she resumed clinical practice as a neurologist, and contimued her research as an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow. She is currentlyProfessor and Head of the Royal Brisbane Clinical school in the School of Medicine and Co-head of the Brain and Mental Health Theme at the UQ Centre for Clinical Research.
Availability
- Professor Pamela McCombe is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science, The University of Queensland
- Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and Medical Science, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sydney
- Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Royal Australasian College of Physicians
Research interests
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Biomarkers and heterogeneity in ALS
One of the challenges of ALS is understanding disease heterogeneity. Our work studies the variability of patients by detailed clinical, laboratory and genetic studies, and by identifying biomarkers that are associated with disease. We use a range of techniques including neurophysiology, MRI, metabolic studies, genetic studies, immune markers and biochemical studies including proteomics. We are using this information to analyse whether patients can be assigned into subgroups and to correlated with survival.
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Inflammatory neuropathy studies
This is an ongoing study of the immunological basis and genetic basis of acute and chronic inflammatory neuropathy
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Pregnancy and MS
This study is exploring the short and long term effects of pregnancy in multiple sclerosis. This includes the clinical effects of pregnancy and the effects on gene expression and methylation
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Immunology of stroke
This study involves documenting the immune responses after human stroke and determining the significance of these responses.
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Neuromuscular disease
This work is based at the Neuromuscular clinic at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and involves correlation of genotype and phenotype of inherited neuromuscular disease
Works
Search Professor Pamela McCombe’s works on UQ eSpace
2017
Conference Publication
The risk of relapse following on-treatment clinically silent lesions in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
Brown, J. W. L., Lugaresi, A., Horakova, D., Havrdova, E., Jokubaitis, V., Lechner-Scott, J., Trojano, M., Min, M., Shaw, C., Shuey, N., Slee, M., Mccombe, P., Van Pesch, V., Van Wijmeersch, B., Prevost, J., Moore, F., Prat, A., Girard, M., Duquette, P., Ayrignac, X., Sempere, A. Perez, Sanchez-Menoyo, J. L., Ramo-Tello, C., Csepany, T., Hutchinson, M., De Luca, G., Bergamaschi, R., Granella, F., Curti, E. ... Kalincik, T. (2017). The risk of relapse following on-treatment clinically silent lesions in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. 7th Joint European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS), Paris, France, 25-28 October 2017. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications. doi: 10.1177/1352458517733228
2017
Conference Publication
Hypermetabolism in Motor Neurone Disease Is Associated with a Greater Functional Decline But Not Weight Loss
Ioannides, Zara A., Ngo, Shyuan T., Henderson, Robert D., McCombe, Pamela A. and Steyn, Frederik J. (2017). Hypermetabolism in Motor Neurone Disease Is Associated with a Greater Functional Decline But Not Weight Loss. Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian-and-New-Zealand-Association-of-Neurologists (ANZAN), Gold Coast, Australia, May 09-12, 2017. LONDON: BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2017-316074.18
2017
Conference Publication
Alemtuzumab demonstrated durable efficacy and safety in CARE-MS I patients switching from SC IFNB-1a: 5-year follow-up after alemtuzumab (TOPAZ study)
Oreja-Guevara, C., Alroughani, R., Brassat, D., Boyko, A. N., McCombe, P., Steingo, B., Van Wijmeersch, B., Margolin, D. H., Daizadeh, N., Rodriguez, C. E. and Vermersch, P. (2017). Alemtuzumab demonstrated durable efficacy and safety in CARE-MS I patients switching from SC IFNB-1a: 5-year follow-up after alemtuzumab (TOPAZ study). 7th Joint European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS), Paris, France, 25-28 October 2017. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications. doi: 10.1177/1352458517731406
2017
Conference Publication
Pregnancy incidence, therapy exposure and post-partum relapse risk: a 12-year retrospective multicentre analysis
Jokubaitis, Vilija, Ai-Lan Nguyen,, Kalincik, Tomas, van der Walt, Anneke, Lechner-Scott, Jeannette, Barnett, Michael, McCombe, Pamela, Vucic, Steve, Hodgkinson, Suzanne, Slee, Mark, Skibina, Olga, Shaw, Cameron and Butzkueven, Helmut (2017). Pregnancy incidence, therapy exposure and post-partum relapse risk: a 12-year retrospective multicentre analysis. Progress in MS Research Conference, Sydney, Australia, 11-13 October 2017. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications. doi: 10.1177/1352458517734699
2017
Journal Article
Assessment of motor units in neuromuscular disease
Henderson, Robert D. and McCombe, Pamela A. (2017). Assessment of motor units in neuromuscular disease. Neurotherapeutics, 14 (1), 69-77. doi: 10.1007/s13311-016-0473-z
2017
Conference Publication
The risk of overestimating fatness in motor neurone disease: longitudinal assessments of body composition
Ioannides, Zara A., Steyn, Frederik J., Henderson, Robert D., McCombe, Pamela A. and Ngo, Shyuan T. (2017). The risk of overestimating fatness in motor neurone disease: longitudinal assessments of body composition. Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian-and-New-Zealand-Association-of-Neurologists (ANZAN), Gold Coast, Australia, 9-12 May 2017. London, United Kingdom: B M J Group. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2017-316074.35
2017
Conference Publication
Cladribine versus fingolimod, natalizumab and interferon beta for multiple sclerosis
Kalincik, T., Jokubaitis, V., Spelman, T., Horakova, D., Havrdova, E., Trojano, M., Lechner-Scott, J., Lugaresi, A., Prat, A., Girard, M., Duquette, P., Grammond, P., Solaro, C., Grand'Maison, F., Hupperts, R., Prevost, J., Sola, P., Ferraro, D., Terzi, M., Butler, E., Slee, M., Kermode, A., Fabis-Pedrini, M., McCombe, P., Barnett, M., Shaw, C., Hodgkinson, S. and Butzkueven, H. (2017). Cladribine versus fingolimod, natalizumab and interferon beta for multiple sclerosis. 7th Joint European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS), Paris, France, 25-28 October 2017. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications. doi: 10.1177/1352458517731406
2017
Conference Publication
Persistence to fingolimod compared with other disease modifying therapies in the Australian real-world setting using the MS base registry
Spelman, T., Schulz, M., Arora, B., Chung, E., Juneja, P., Walker, R., Verhaeghe, S., Butzkueven, H., Hodgkinson, S., Lechner-Scott, J., McCombe, P., Slee, M., Butler, E., Barnett, M., Skibina, O., Vucic, S., Macdonell, R., Shuey, N., Taylor, B. and Broadley, S. (2017). Persistence to fingolimod compared with other disease modifying therapies in the Australian real-world setting using the MS base registry. 7th Joint European-Committee-for-Treatment-and-Research-in-Multiple-Sclerosis (ECTRIMS)-Americas-Committee-for-Treatment-and-Research-in-Multiple-Sclerosis (ACTRIMS), Paris, France, 25-28 October 2017. London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications.
2016
Journal Article
Higher latitude is significantly associated with an earlier age of disease onset in multiple sclerosis
Tao, Chunrong, Simpson, Steve, van der Mei, Ingrid, Blizzard, Leigh, Havrdova, Eva, Horakova, Dana, Shaygannejad, Vahid, Lugaresi, Alessandra, Izquierdo, Guillermo, Trojano, Maria, Duquette, Pierre, Girard, Marc, Grand'Maison, Franois, Grammond, Pierre, Alroughani, Raed, Terzi, Murat, Oreja-Guevara, Celia, Sajedi, Seyed Aidin, Iuliano, Gerardo, Sola, Patrizia, Lechner-Scott, Jeannette, Van Pesch, Vincent, Pucci, Eugenio, Bergamaschi, Roberto, Barnett, Michael, Ramo, Cristina, Singhal, Bhim, Spitaleri, Daniele L. A., Slee, Mark ... Taylor, Bruce V. (2016). Higher latitude is significantly associated with an earlier age of disease onset in multiple sclerosis. JNNP Online, 87 (12), 1343-1349. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2016-314013
2016
Journal Article
Neurofilaments as biomarkers for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Xu, Zhouwei, Henderson, Robert David, David, Michael and McCombe, Pamela Ann (2016). Neurofilaments as biomarkers for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE, 11 (10) e0164625, e0164625. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164625
2016
Journal Article
Identification and outcomes of clinical phenotypes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease: Australian National Motor Neuron Disease observational cohort
Talman, Paul, Thi Duong, Vucic, Steve, Mathers, Susan, Venkatesh, Svetha, Henderson, Robert, Rowe, Dominic, Schultz, David, Edis, Robert, Needham, Merrilee, Macdonnell, Richard, McCombe, Pamela, Birks, Carol and Kiernan, Matthew (2016). Identification and outcomes of clinical phenotypes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease: Australian National Motor Neuron Disease observational cohort. BMJ Open, 6 (9) e012054, e012054. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012054
2016
Journal Article
Defining secondary progressive multiple sclerosis
Lorscheider, Johannes, Buzzard, Katherine, Jokubaitis, Vilija, Spelman, Tim, Havrdova, Eva, Horakova, Dana, Trojano, Maria, Izquierdo, Guillermo, Girard, Marc, Duquette, Pierre, Prat, Alexandre, Lugaresi, Alessandra, Grand'maison, Francois, Grammond, Pierre, Hupperts, Raymond, Alroughani, Raed, Sola, Patrizia, Boz, Cavit, Pucci, Eugenio, Lechner-Scott, Jeanette, Bergamaschi, Roberto, Oreja-Guevara, Celia, Iuliano, Gerardo, Van Pesch, Vincent, Granella, Franco, Ramo-Tello, Cristina, Spitaleri, Daniele, Petersen, Thor, Slee, Mark ... Kalincik, Tomas (2016). Defining secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Brain, 139 (9), 2395-2405. doi: 10.1093/brain/aww173
2016
Journal Article
Altered metabolic homeostasis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: mechanisms of energy imbalance and contribution to disease progression
Ioannides, Z. A., Ngo, S. T., Henderson, R. D., McCombe, P. A. and Steyn, F. J. (2016). Altered metabolic homeostasis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: mechanisms of energy imbalance and contribution to disease progression. Neurodegenerative Diseases, 15 (5-6), 382-397. doi: 10.1159/000446502
2016
Journal Article
Predictors of long-term disability accrual in relapse-onset multiple sclerosis
Jokubaitis, Vilija G., Spelman, Tim, Kalincik, Tomas, Lorscheider, Johannes, Havrdova, Eva, Horakova, Dana, Duquette, Pierre, Girard, Marc, Prat, Alexandre, Izquierdo, Guillermo, Grammond, Pierre, Van Pesch, Vincent, Pucci, Eugenio, Grand'Maison, Francois, Hupperts, Raymond, Granella, Franco, Sola, Patrizia, Bergamaschi, Roberto, Iuliano, Gerardo, Spitaleri, Daniele, Boz, Cavit, Hodgkinson, Suzanne, Olascoaga, Javier, Verheul, Freek, McCombe, Pamela, Petersen, Thor, Rozsa, Csilla, Lechner-Scott, Jeannette, Laura Saladino, Maria ... Trojano, Maria (2016). Predictors of long-term disability accrual in relapse-onset multiple sclerosis. Annals of Neurology, 80 (1), 89-100. doi: 10.1002/ana.24682
2016
Journal Article
Interleukin 6 promoter 174 G/C polymorphisms in acute ischemic stroke: G allele is protective but not associated with IL-6 levels or stroke outcome
Yan, J., Greer, J. M. and McCombe, P. A. (2016). Interleukin 6 promoter 174 G/C polymorphisms in acute ischemic stroke: G allele is protective but not associated with IL-6 levels or stroke outcome. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 293, 22-27. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2016.02.001
2016
Journal Article
Contribution of different relapse phenotypes to disability in multiple sclerosis
Stewart, Tamasine, Spelman, Tim, Havrdova, Eva, Horakova, Dana, Trojano, Maria, Izquierdo, Guillermo, Duquette, Pierre, Girard, Marc, Prat, Alexandre, Lugaresi, Alessandra, Grand'Maison, Francois, Grammond, Pierre, Sola, Patrizia, Shaygannejad, Vahid, Hupperts, Raymond, Alroughani, Raed, Oreja-Guevara, Celia, Pucci, Eugenio, Boz, Cavit, Lechner-Scott, Jeannette, Bergamaschi, Roberto, Van Pesch, Vincent, Iuliano, Gerardo, Ramo, Cristina, Taylor, Bruce, Slee, Mark, Spitaleri, Daniele, Granella, Franco, Verheul, Freek ... Kalincik, Tomas (2016). Contribution of different relapse phenotypes to disability in multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 23 (2), 266-276. doi: 10.1177/1352458516643392
2016
Conference Publication
Pregnancy Outcomes in Patients with RRMS Who Received Alemtuzumab in the Clinical Development Program
Oh, Jiwon, Achiron, Anat, Chambers, Christina, Fox, Edward, McCombe, Pamela, Otero, Susana, Margolin, David, Kasten, Linda and Compston, D. Alastair (2016). Pregnancy Outcomes in Patients with RRMS Who Received Alemtuzumab in the Clinical Development Program. AAN 68th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, 15 - 21 April 2016. Philadelphia, PA United States: Wolters Kluwer. doi: 10.1212/wnl.86.16_supplement.s24.008
2016
Conference Publication
Prospectively tracking disease course and treatment changes in Neuromyelitis Optica using NMOBase, a global online registry
Kister, Ilya, Bacon, Tamar, Shaygannejad, Vahid, Hor, Jyh Yung, Alroughani, Raed, Haas, Shannon, Terzi, Murat, Boz, Cavit, Olascoaga, Javier, McCombe, Pamela, Fragoso, Yara, Lugaresi, Alessandra, Sola, Patrizia, Vucic, Steve, Pucci, Eugenio, Al-Harbi, Talal, Sajedi, Seyed Aidin, Rojas, Juan Ignacio, Patrucco, Liliana, Cristiano, Edgardo, Suarez, Jose Alberto, Tsolaki, Magdalini, Taylor, Bruce, Iuliano, Gerardo, Devranis, Paschalis, Marriott, Mark and Butzkueven, Helmut (2016). Prospectively tracking disease course and treatment changes in Neuromyelitis Optica using NMOBase, a global online registry. AAN 68th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, 15 - 21 April 2016. Philadelphia, PA United States: Wolters Kluwer. doi: 10.1212/wnl.86.16_supplement.p5.307
2016
Journal Article
A case series of patients with autoimmune myasthenia gravis in association with invasive thymoma
McCombe, Pamela, Raj, Meenakshi, Henderson, Robert and Blum, Stefan (2016). A case series of patients with autoimmune myasthenia gravis in association with invasive thymoma. Journal of Clinical Neuromuscular Disease, 17 (3), 129-134. doi: 10.1097/CND.0000000000000101
2016
Conference Publication
Durable Effect of Alemtuzumab on Clinical Outcomes Over 5 years in Treatment-Naive Patients With Active Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Despite Most Patients Not Receiving Treatment for 4 Years: CARE-MS I Extension Study
McCombe, P. A., Hartung, H-P, Havrdova, E., Selmaj, K. W., Margolin, D. H., Kasten, L. and Compston, D. A. S. (2016). Durable Effect of Alemtuzumab on Clinical Outcomes Over 5 years in Treatment-Naive Patients With Active Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Despite Most Patients Not Receiving Treatment for 4 Years: CARE-MS I Extension Study. 8th Congress of the Pan-Asian-Committee-for-Research-and-Treatment-of-Multiple-Sclerosis (PACTRIMS), Seoul South Korea, Nov 19-21, 2015. LONDON: SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD.
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Pamela McCombe is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Studies of neurophysiology of motor neurone disease
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson
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Doctor Philosophy
Survival and heterogeneity in Motor Neurone Disease
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson
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Doctor Philosophy
The Role of Neutrophils in Motor Neuron Disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Trent Woodruff, Dr Jenny Fung, Dr John Lee, Dr Cedric Cui
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Doctor Philosophy
The potential role of CXCR2 activation in motor neuron disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Trent Woodruff, Dr Jenny Fung, Dr John Lee
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Doctor Philosophy
Studies of myasthenia gravis using MGBase.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Stefan Blum
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Doctor Philosophy
The role of Epstein-Barr virus infection in multiple sclerosis
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Judith Greer
Completed supervision
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Defining the Clinical Phenotype of Autoantibody Associated Epilepsy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Honorary Professor Kristen Radford
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2022
Master Philosophy
Studies of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson
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2018
Doctor Philosophy
Clinical and laboratory features of ALS
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson, Dr Aven Lee
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2017
Master Philosophy
Energy metabolism in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Assessment of body composition and energy expenditure
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson, Associate Professor Shyuan Ngo, Associate Professor Frederik Steyn
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2017
Doctor Philosophy
Measuring the progression of upper motor neuron disease using diffusion MRI and its correlation with Clinical phenotype
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson, Dr Nyoman Kurniawan, Dr Kerstin Pannek
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2014
Doctor Philosophy
Pathogenesis of Guillain-Barre syndrome and chronic inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Judith Greer
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2012
Doctor Philosophy
Biomarkers of Motor Neurone Disease : Neurophysiological studies of lower motor degeneration
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson
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2007
Doctor Philosophy
EXAMINATION OF SURFACE-RECORDED MOTOR UNITS AND A NEW APPROACH TO MOTOR UNIT NUMBER ESTIMATES
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Judith Greer
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2003
Doctor Philosophy
IMMUNOSUPPRESSION IN EXPERIMENTAL AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALOMYELITIS
Principal Advisor
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Multimodal evaluation of autoimmune encephalitis in Queensland
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Stefan Blum
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Asymmetry and Vulnerability in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson
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2013
Doctor Philosophy
Molecular analysis of the motor neuron disease-associated protein, TDP-43
Associate Advisor
Media
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