Scott Kolbe
Email: scott.kolbe(at)florey.edu.au
Qualifications: BSc. (Hon), University of Melbourne
Position: Postgraduate Student, Howard Florey Institute and Centre for Neuroscience.
Research Interests
My main research interests involve neuroimaging techniques for assessing neuropathology in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In particular, I am interested in diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) which can reveal microstructural alterations in brain tissue by measuring the diffusion of water molecules in the tissue. The biological underpinnings of the DWI signal are still being explored but the technique is highly sensitive to pathological processes operative in the MS brain.
Together with collaborating neurologists at the Royal Melbourne and Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospitals I have been using DWI to study changes to the visual pathway in patients with optic nerve relapse presenting as optic neuritis. Optic neuritis can lead to severe loss of vision which in some cases is non-recoverable. Our studies are assessing the hypotheses that poor recovery is associated with optic nerve axonal degeneration, and DWI is sensitive to such axonal degeneration. We also use techniques such as visual evoked electrophysiology and retinal imaging to assess optic nerve injury after optic neuritis.
I am also interested in secondary neurodegeneration resulting from optic neuritis. I have been using DWI to assess microstructural tissue alterations in secondary neurons of the optic radiations after optic neuritis. Preliminary evidence suggests that optic nerve injury is associated with significant axonal degeneration in the optic radiations.