Professor Kim Hemsley

Since establishing the Childhood Dementia Research Group in 2002, I have dedicated my research career to the study of disease pathogenesis in and treatment of brain disease in Sanfilippo syndrome, an group of inherited neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorders (LSD) that cause childhood dementia.

Here are some media interviews that explain what childhood dementia means for families:

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/childhood-dementia-aussie-kids-suffering-from-cruel-disease-families-want-awareness/07da92b7-2a79-415f-bed7-f608b3ea22bc

https://fb.watch/fDsqwaJ1Km/

Here is a link to the most recent 'State of Childhood Dementia' Report produced by the Childhood Dementia Initiative in 2024. I think you will agree that there is much we need to do to improve the longevity and quality of life for patients with these devastating disorders.

I presently lead and coordinate a multi-disciplinary team and a comprehensive, innovative translational research program that is seeking to:

• Develop tools for predicting the rate of symptom onset/disease progression in Sanfilippo and other childhood dementias
• Elucidate the biochemical basis of the symptoms experienced by patients, thereby providing targets for therapies
• Devise and evaluate novel treatments
• Provide biomarkers for monitoring therapeutic efficacy.

Our goal is to enable the implementation of existing technologies for newborn screening for neurodegenerative LSDs in Australia and beyond, therapeutic intervention at the earliest possible stage and thus the greatest improvement in patient quality and quantity of life to be achieved.