University of Tasmania, Australia

Course Coordinator, Associate Degree in Dementia Care

BSc(Hons), PhD

Biography

Dr Alison Canty is a research and teaching academic at the University of Tasmania. She has a strong research background in neuroplasticity, and is particularly interested in the how neuronal circuitry changes in response to trauma, in the process of ageing in disease states including dementia.

Dr Canty has spent time at various research institutes around the globe including the University of Melbourne, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, Imperial College of London and, more recently, at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania. In her current role as course coordinator for the new Associate Degree in Dementia Care, she combines her research expertise with her experience in university education to create an innovative approach to dementia care education.

Research Interests

• Neuroplasticity
• Synaptic plasticity
• In vivo imaging
• Neurotrauma
• Dementia
• Neuromodulation following repetitive trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

Research Projects and Roles

Dr Canty's primary role in the Wicking Centre is to coordinate the development and delivery of the Associate Degree in Dementia Care. She also teaches into the course and is involved in evaluating the outcomes of the course, both in terms of change in practice in dementia care and in the scholarship of learning and teaching (pedagogy). Alison also spends her time in the research laboratory conducting in vivo imaging experiments – watching changes in neuronal circuitry in the cerebral cortex in real time following an injury, in the healthy adult and the aging brain and after the application of repetitive trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

Teaching Responsibilities

Dr Canty predominantly teaches into the Bachelors of Nursing and Paramedic Studies as well as the Bachelor of Biotechnology and Medical Research (neuroscience major).

Units Taught

• CHP311 - Neuroscience A
• CXA107 - Foundations of Bioscience
• CXA204 - Bioscience 1
• CXA205 - Bioscience 2

Publications

• Canty, A. J., Dietze, J., Harvey, M., Enomoto, H., Milbrandt, J. & Ibanez, C. F. (2009). Regionalized loss of Parvalbumin interneurons in the cerebral cortex of mice lacking RET-independent GFRalpha1. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29(34), 10695-10705.
• Canty, A. J. & Murphy, M. (2008). Molecular mechanisms of axon guidance in the developing corticospinal tract. Progress in Neurobiology, 85(2), 214-235.
• Berghuis, P., Rajnicek, A. M., Morozov, Y. M., Ross, R. A., Mulder, J., Urbán, G. M., Monory, K., Marsicano, G., Matteoli, M., Canty, A., Irving, A.J., Katona, I., Yanagawa, Y., Rakic, P., Lutz, B., Mackie, K. & Harkany, T. (2007). Hardwiring the Brain: Endocannabinoids Control Axon Guidance, Science, 316(5828), 1212-1216.
• Canty, A. J., Greferath, U., Turnley, A. M., Murphy, M. (2006). Eph tyrosine kinase receptor EphA4 is required for the topographic mapping of the corticospinal tract, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(42), 15629-15634.

Web Access Research Portal (WARP) for Dr Alison Canty