’20 MOMENTS’ FOR THE 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
1. 1991 Mitre 10 commits to supporting the Neurological Foundation’s Annual Appeal campaign - and here begins a remarkable journey! In addition to funding the production of the envelopes and print material, staff at Mitre 10 rolled their sleeves up to help raise awareness during the first Mitre 10 sponsored campaign, and to this day they are an integral part of Appeal week. Without the continued support of Mitre 10, the Neurological Foundation could simply not sustain the production costs to take the campaign ‘live’ each year.
2. 1990 – 1999 named The Decade of the Brain. Then-US president George H W Bush designated a national campaign that ran throughout the nineties to enhance public awareness of the benefits to be derived from brain research.
3. 1993 The gene responsible for Huntington’s disease is identified. Neurological Foundation Philip Wrightson Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Jessie Jacobsen is currently studying Huntington’s disease in the Boston laboratory of Professor Marcy MacDonald who was part of the celebrated 1993 team.
4. 1993: The Neurological Foundation’s Annual Appeal includes a television commercial designed to shock – click here for the story!
5. In 1994, University of Auckland neuroscientists Dr Mike Dragunow, Dr Richard Faull and colleagues were the first in the world to show that the nerve cell death in Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases occurs not randomly, but by the process they call ‘programmed cell death’.
6. 1994: The Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank was set up. Founded by the Neurological Foundation, the Bank was founded in collaboration with Professor Richard Faull who continues to direct the Bank today. The Human Brain Bank now houses one of the most extensive collections of human brain tissue in the southern hemisphere with tissue from nine different neurological diseases and tissue from over 70 normal brains. Research on this tissue provides vital clues about neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease, epilepsy and schizophrenia.
7. 1998: US scientists discover a method to derive stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in a laboratory.
8. In 2006, another group of researchers made another breakthrough by identifying conditions that would allow some specialised adult brain cells to be ‘reprogrammed’ genetically to assume a stem-cell like state.
9. 2006: A team of scientists at the University of Auckland make a critical breakthrough in adult stem cell transplants: for the first time in neuroscience, the team successfully transplanted a viable number of adult stem cells, enabling brain cells destroyed by Huntington’s to be replaced. A member of the team and one of New Zealand’s top neuroscientists, Dr Bronwen Connor, said at the time the study clearly demonstrated what stem cells are capable of doing. The study was funded by the Neurological Foundation, and Dr Connor’s highly respected work on stem cell research continues at the university in the new Centre of Brain Research.
10. 2003: Professor Richard Faull and his team at the University of Auckland make the ground-breaking discovery that adult brains create new cells and can repair themselves.
11. 2003: The Neurological Foundation’s research funding allocation reaches $1 million! A long way from the figure of $450,000 allocated in the 1990s and an outcome made achievable by the Foundation’s continued support from partners like Mitre 10 and the unwavering commitment from thousands of donors all around New Zealand.
12. 2005: The Neurological Foundation brings global public health initiative Brain Awareness Week to New Zealand. The initiative has become a much-celebrated event held in March each year and features Brain Days in major cities and a large programme of public lectures, providing the opportunity for the public to meet New Zealand’s top scientists and clinicians and hear about the incredible neuroscience and clinical work being carried out right here in Aotearoa!
13. 2007: A new Neurological Foundation Annual Appeal marketing campaign is developed featuring real neuroscientists from around various universities around the country washing cars to raise money for brain research – the campaign poses the satirical question “how many cars would need to be washed the fund our research?” – the campaign is greatly received by the public and continues to feature in 2011. All ‘actors’ dedicated their valuable time to film the television commercials which will go to air on Sunday 3 July this year.
14. 2009: University of Auckland scientists Dr Tom Brittain and Dr Joanna Skommer make the breakthrough discovery that a small protein called neuroglobin may protect the brain from damage in Alzheimer’s and stroke patients. This discovery also opens exciting new avenues for future treatments for these and several other neurological disorders including Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases. This important research is continuing in collaboration with the University of California, and is supported by the Neurological Foundation.
15. 2009: The University of Auckland launches the Centre for Brain Research bringing together the wealth of incredible neuroscience research brains at the university under the directorship of Professor Richard Faull. The Centre complements the work of other focused brain research institutions around the country including the Brain Health Research Centre at the University of Otago, and the Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson’s Disease and Brain Research in Christchurch. The Neurological Foundation funds research across all of these world-leading centres.
16. 2010: Neurological Foundation Repatriation Fellow and University of Otago Research Fellow Dr Andrew Clarkson and his team make headlines with one of the most exciting neuroscience breakthroughs in years – a new drug compound that holds the potential to unlock the paralysed limbs of stroke and brain injury patients, and help them to regain movement. This important research is continuing in collaboration with the University of California and clinical trials may be as close as two years away.
17. 2010 Mitre 10’s 19 years of support to 2010 reaches the magic $1 MILLION of campaign funding!
18. 2010: Mitre 10’s support of the Neurological Foundation Annual Appeal campaign helps to distribute a record one million envelopes into letterboxes and newspapers around New Zealand!
19. 2010: The Neurological Foundation’s research funding allocation reaches $2 million!
20. The Neurological Foundation is thrilled to celebrate its 20-YEAR partnership with Mitre 10. A BIG thanks to the team at Mitre 10 and all staff throughout the country who share our vision.
