Dr Kim Hemsley undertook her doctoral studies in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at The Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide. Following conferral of her degree in early 2000, she took up a position as a Research Officer in the Neuropharmacology Laboratory at Flinders University. She joined the Stem Cell Therapy Group in the Lysosomal Diseases Research Unit at the WCH in January 2002 and the focus of her research is the development of a stem cell therapy treatment for the lysosomal storage diseases - mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA (MPSIIIA) and a-mannosidosis.
We hypothesise that stem cells (without the enzyme defect), introduced into the brain of patients affected by a lysosomal storage disorder, will migrate throughout the brain and prevent the central nervous system pathology that is characteristic of these disorders. The defective brain cells in the recipient will be able to take up the lysosomal enzyme produced by the transplanted stem cells, by taking advantage of the mannose-6-phosphate receptor recycle pathway.
Hemsley, K.M. and Crocker, A.D. (2002) Atropine reduces raclopride-induced muscle rigidity by acting in the ventral striatum. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 434, 117-123.
Hemsley, K.M., Farrall, E.J. and Crocker, A.D. (2002) Dopamine receptors in the subthalamic nucleus are involved in the regulation of muscle tone. Neurosci. Letts.317, 123-126.
Hemsley, K.M. and Crocker, A.D. (2001) Antipsychotic drug-induced muscle rigidity and D2 receptor occupancy in the basal ganglia of the rat. (Invited submission for Basal Ganglia VI, Ed’s Graybiel, A. and Kitai, S., Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York). (In Press).
Crocker, A.D. and Hemsley, K.M. (2001) An animal model of extrapyramidal side effects induced by antipsychotic drugs: Relationship with D2 dopamine receptor occupancy. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry 25, 573-590.
Hemsley, K.M. and Crocker, A.D. (2001) Changes in muscle tone are regulated by D1 and D2 dopamine receptors in the ventral striatum and D1 receptors in the substantia nigra. Neuropsychopharmacol. 25, 514-526.
Alcock, S.A., Hemsley, K.M. and Crocker, A.D. (2001) Atropine acts in the ventral striatum to reduce raclopride-induced catalepsy. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 424, 179-187.
Hemsley, K.M. and Crocker, A.D. (1999). Raclopride and chlorpromazine, but not clozapine increase muscle rigidity in the rat: Relationship with D2 dopamine receptor occupancy. Neuropsychopharmacol. 21, 101-109.
Hemsley, K.M. and Crocker, A.D. (1998) The effects of an irreversible dopamine receptor antagonist, N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline (EEDQ), on the regulation of muscle tone in the rat: the role of the substantia nigra. Neurosci. Lett. 250, 1-4.
