Research Fellow
Overview
In her current postdoctoral position at AIBN she liaises directly with patients and clinicians to investigate rare neuronal diseases. By using patient derived iPSCs to generate neuron and brain organoid models, she focuses on the molecular mechanisms driving neuronal disease and conducts drug screening of known therapeutics to inform and assist clinicians in their treatment options. She is currently exploring AAV9 gene therapy options for patients of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia 56 (SPG56) and is working on mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress perturbances in stem cell and neuronal cultures derived from both SPG56 and Ataxia Telangiectasia patients. She also has a strong focus on malformations of cortical development and drug resistant epilepsies, using multi-electrode array platforms to monitor seizure-like events in brain organoid models, screen potential drug combinations, and reduce the time required to find the appropriate treatment for a patient. Collectively, this work contributes to the development of personalised medicine approaches and facilitates improvements in clinical practice for patients of neurological diseases.
Dr Leeson is an early career researcher (PhD awarded in 2018) and is focused on the fields of stem cell and neurobiology. She has extensive experience in stem cell culture and iPSC generation, having reprogrammed over 40 iPSC lines for neurological diseases, and is well experienced in neuronal differentiation techniques. During her PhD, she investigated how purinergic signalling may influence adult neural stem cell niches, impacting proliferation, maturation and phagocytic properties of resident progenitor populations. Since commencing her postdoctoral position, she has been involved in numerous projects exploring the molecular mechanisms of neurological disease and aging. Since 2018, Dr Leeson has authored 16 publications and achieved $1.3 million in total funding. Currently, she has been awarded a Brain Foundation grant as a sole CI to study cortical dysplasia in brain organoid models, is a recipient of philanthropic funding from Genetic Cures for Kids, and is CI on an MRFF using brain organoids to develop a patient specific drug treatment platform for drug resistant epilepsy.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Griffith University
Publications
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Journal Article: Deconstructing heterogeneity of replicative senescence in human mesenchymal stem cells at single cell resolution
Taherian Fard, Atefeh, Leeson, Hannah C., Aguado, Julio, Pietrogrande, Giovanni, Power, Dominique, Gómez-Inclán, Cecilia, Zheng, Huiwen, Nelson, Christopher B., Soheilmoghaddam, Farhad, Glass, Nick, Dharmaratne, Malindrie, Watson, Ebony R., Lu, Jennifer, Martin, Sally, Pickett, Hilda A., Cooper-White, Justin, Wolvetang, Ernst J. and Mar, Jessica C. (2023). Deconstructing heterogeneity of replicative senescence in human mesenchymal stem cells at single cell resolution. GeroScience, 46 (1), 1-17. doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00829-y
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Journal Article: Generation of iPSC lines from hereditary spastic paraplegia 56 (SPG56) patients and family members carrying CYP2U1 mutations
Leeson, Hannah C., Goh, Denise, Coman, David and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2022). Generation of iPSC lines from hereditary spastic paraplegia 56 (SPG56) patients and family members carrying CYP2U1 mutations. Stem Cell Research, 64 102917, 1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2022.102917
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Journal Article: The hallmarks of aging in ataxia-telangiectasia
Aguado, Julio, Gómez-Inclán, Cecilia, Leeson, Hannah C., Lavin, Martin F., Shiloh, Yosef and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2022). The hallmarks of aging in ataxia-telangiectasia. Ageing Research Reviews, 79 101653, 1-15. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2022.101653
Grants
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Moon's Mission: creating a replicable therapeutic framework for hereditary spastic paraplegias.
(2023–2025) NHMRC MRFF Stem Cells Therapies Mission
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Transforming the paradigm of epilepsy care with precision medicine
(2021–2024) NHMRC MRFF Stem Cells Therapies Mission
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(2021–2023) Brain Foundation
Supervision
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Disease modelling of epilepsy using patient-derived brain organoids
Doctor Philosophy
Publications
Journal Article
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Taherian Fard, Atefeh, Leeson, Hannah C., Aguado, Julio, Pietrogrande, Giovanni, Power, Dominique, Gómez-Inclán, Cecilia, Zheng, Huiwen, Nelson, Christopher B., Soheilmoghaddam, Farhad, Glass, Nick, Dharmaratne, Malindrie, Watson, Ebony R., Lu, Jennifer, Martin, Sally, Pickett, Hilda A., Cooper-White, Justin, Wolvetang, Ernst J. and Mar, Jessica C. (2023). Deconstructing heterogeneity of replicative senescence in human mesenchymal stem cells at single cell resolution. GeroScience, 46 (1), 1-17. doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00829-y
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Leeson, Hannah C., Goh, Denise, Coman, David and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2022). Generation of iPSC lines from hereditary spastic paraplegia 56 (SPG56) patients and family members carrying CYP2U1 mutations. Stem Cell Research, 64 102917, 1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2022.102917
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The hallmarks of aging in ataxia-telangiectasia
Aguado, Julio, Gómez-Inclán, Cecilia, Leeson, Hannah C., Lavin, Martin F., Shiloh, Yosef and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2022). The hallmarks of aging in ataxia-telangiectasia. Ageing Research Reviews, 79 101653, 1-15. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2022.101653
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Hunter, Zoe L., Leeson, Hannah C., Shaker, Mohammed R., Wolvetang, Ernst J. and Vadlamudi, Lata (2022). Human induced pluripotent stem cells generated from epilepsy patients for use as in vitro models for drug screening. Stem Cell Research, 60 102673, 102673. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2022.102673
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Neural epidermal growth factor-like like protein 2 is expressed in human oligodendroglial cell types
Shaker, Mohammed R., Kahtan, Amna, Prasad, Renuka, Lee, Ju-Hyun, Pietrogrande, Giovanni, Leeson, Hannah C., Sun, Woong, Wolvetang, Ernst J. and Slonchak, Andrii (2022). Neural epidermal growth factor-like like protein 2 is expressed in human oligodendroglial cell types. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 10 803061, 803061. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.803061
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Leeson, Hannah C., Hunter, Zoe, Chaggar, Harman Kaur, Lavin, Martin F., Mackay-Sim, Alan and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2021). Ataxia Telangiectasia iPSC line generated from a patient olfactory biopsy identifies novel disease-causing mutations. Stem Cell Research, 56 102528, 102528. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2021.102528
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Hunter, Zoe L., Leeson, Hannah C., Shaker, Mohammed R., Wolvetang, Ernst J. and Vadlamudi, Lata (2021). Generation of induced pluripotent stem cell lines from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of three drug resistant and three drug responsive epilepsy patients. Stem Cell Research, 56 102564, 102564. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2021.102564
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Leeson, Hannah C., Hunter, Zoe, Chaggar, Harman Kaur, Mackay-Sim, Alan and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2021). Reprogramming of human olfactory neurosphere-derived cells from olfactory mucosal biopsies of a control cohort. Stem Cell Research, 56 102527, 102527. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2021.102527
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Aguado, Julio, Chaggar, Harman K., Gómez‐Inclán, Cecilia, Shaker, Mohammed R., Leeson, Hannah C., Mackay‐Sim, Alan and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2021). Inhibition of the cGAS‐STING pathway ameliorates the premature senescence hallmarks of Ataxia‐Telangiectasia brain organoids. Aging Cell, 20 (9) e13468, 1-16. doi: 10.1111/acel.13468
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Ovchinnikov, Dmitry A., Withey, Sarah L., Leeson, Hannah C., Lei, U. Wang, Sundarrajan, Ashmitha, Junday, Keerat, Pewarchuk, Michelle, Yeo, Abrey J., Kijas, Amanda W., Lavin, Martin F. and Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2020). Correction of ATM mutations in iPS cells from two ataxia-telangiectasia patients restores DNA damage and oxidative stress responses. Human Molecular Genetics, 29 (6), 990-1001. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddaa023
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P2X7 receptor signaling during adult hippocampal neurogenesis
Leeson, Hannah, Chan-Ling, Tailoi, Lovelace, Michael, Brownlie, Jeremy, Gu, Ben and Weible, Michael (2019). P2X7 receptor signaling during adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Neural Regeneration Research, 14 (10), 1684-1694. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.257510
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Leeson, Hannah C., Chan-Ling, Tailoi, Lovelace, Michael D., Brownlie, Jeremy D., Weible, Michael W. and Gu, Ben J. (2019). Real-time live-cell flow cytometry to investigate calcium influx, pore formation, and phagocytosis by P2X7 receptors in adult neural progenitor cells. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2019 (146) e59313, e59313. doi: 10.3791/59313
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Leeson, Hannah C., Kasherman, Maria A., Chan-Ling, Tailoi, Lovelace, Michael D., Brownlie, Jeremy C., Toppinen, Kelly M., Gu, Ben J. and Weible, Michael W. (2018). P2X7 Receptors Regulate Phagocytosis and Proliferation in Adult Hippocampal and SVZ Neural Progenitor Cells: Implications for Inflammation in Neurogenesis. Stem Cells, 36 (11), 1764-1777. doi: 10.1002/stem.2894
Conference Publication
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Withey, Sarah, Gerrard, Dave, Leeson, Hannah, Atkinson-Dell, Rebecca, Harrison, Sean, Baxter, Melissa, Al-Anbaki, Ali, Hanley, Karen Piper, Wolvetang, Ernst and Hanley., Neil (2020). Thyroid hormone and TGF-? inhibition drive functional maturation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocytes. EASL: The Digital International Liver Congress, Online, 27-29 August 2020. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/s0168-8278(20)31000-x
Grants (Administered at UQ)
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Moon's Mission: creating a replicable therapeutic framework for hereditary spastic paraplegias.
(2023–2025) NHMRC MRFF Stem Cells Therapies Mission
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Transforming the paradigm of epilepsy care with precision medicine
(2021–2024) NHMRC MRFF Stem Cells Therapies Mission
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(2021–2023) Brain Foundation
PhD and MPhil Supervision
Current Supervision
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Disease modelling of epilepsy using patient-derived brain organoids
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
