Graduate Research Degree Awarded - Matthew Coleman

Congratulations to Matthew Coleman - Graduate Research Degree Awarded 2 January 2024.

Degree: PhD
Supervisors: Prof Paul Lockhart (primary), Prof Rick Leventer, Dr Katherine Howell, Dr Sarah Stephenson
Advisory Committee: Dr Ann Frazier (chair), Dr Peter Houweling

Thesis Title: Investigating the molecular basis of brain malformations causing severe infantile epilepsies.

Thesis Summary: Brain malformations are associated with infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (IESS), the most common severe epilepsy of infancy. This thesis aimed to better understand the molecular bases of brain malformations causing IESS using genomic, histopathologic, proteomic and single-cell transcriptomic analyses of surgical brain tissue. This thesis contributed to our understanding of brain malformations causing severe infantile epilepsy and in particular, a newly classified disorder called MOGHE, and provided genetic diagnoses to more than 40 children at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Date awarded: 2 January 2024