Wei Luan

Dr Luan is an enthusiastic neuroscientist at Queensland Brain Institute.Dr Luan's research covers a unique range of human neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. His previous research in rodent models provides first-hand in vivo evidence that vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy significantly disrupts the neurodevelopment of dopamine neurons, essential to the normal brain and involved in a variety of human neuropsychological disorders. Dr Luan's follow-up studies utilising a dietary form of vitamin D in pregnant rodent models successfully prevents the behavioural abnormalities of high relevance to schizophrenia and autism, suggesting a promising strategy in the prevention of offspring from adverse psychiatric outcomes. Dr Luan has recently joined the worldly-recognised neurodegeneration pathobiology lab led by Dr Adam Walker at QBI. He has been actively employing cutting-edge biochemistry, microscopy and well-established mouse model systems to investigate the molecular causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)/motor neuron disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Dr Luan's research focuses on the cell stress response that is activated rapidly in mice of MND/FTD and will characterise new protein targets to prevent, treat, and cure these devastating diseases.