Lynette Tippett

Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 88551
Email: l.tippett@auckland.ac.nz
Room: HSB 635
Office hours: Please email for appointment

Lynette completed her PhD and Diploma of Clinical Psychology at the University of Auckland, in 1991. She then spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow, first at Carnegie-Mellon University, then the University of Pennsylvania, before returning to the University of Auckland late in 1994 to take up a lectureship in the Department of Psychology.

My research comprises two broad strands. The first strand involves understanding the clinical and neuropsychological effects of neurological disorders, and the neural bases of these effects with a strong emphasis on neurodegenerative disorders (particularly Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and Motor Neuron Disease). This research has a strong multi-disciplinary component and methods include neuropsychological and clinical measurements, in some cases neuroimaging techniques and correlations with neuropathological data. Research of this nature involves developing strong links with clinicians and clinical services both to facilitate reliable access to research participants, and to facilitate the feeding back of research findings results to the communities.

The second strand involves investigating the neural basis of cognitive functions, with a particular focus on memory, expertise (musical and computer-gaming) and effects of expertise on lateralisation of function. Methods include both behavioural and experimental paradigms and neuroimaging techniques, conducted in collaboration with other members of the Research Centre for Cognitive. Examples of these projects are investigations of the neural basis of memory, language and laterality via neuro-imaging (using a combination of DTI, fMRI and EEG). The long-term aim of this work is to develop these findings for use in clinical contexts (e.g. pre-surgical assessment of language and memory for temporal lobectomy patients).

• Clinical heterogeneity in Huntington’s Disease: Behaviour, Neuropsychology, Neuroimaging, Neuropathology, Environment (with Virginia Hogg, Richard Roxburgh, Richard Faull, John Davison and Sasha Moses).
• Recognition memory and Long Term Potentiation (LTP) in mild cognitive impairment, early Alzheimer’s Disease and normal aging: In search of a biomarker for early Alzheimer's Disease (AD) (with Ian Kirk, Phil Wood and Tina Koulikova).
• Dysfunction of ventromedial frontal cortex in Motor Neuron Disease (with Sandra Meier and Alison Charleston).
• Emotional processing in Parkinson’s Disease and its impact on social interactions (with Sharon Buxton and Lorraine MacDonald).
• Neuropsychological and neuroimaging deficits following cardiac surgery (with Alan Barber and Paget Milsom).
• Studying lateralisation, language and memory pathways using fMRI and DTI: Understanding normal pathways and changes associated with temporal lobe epilepsy (with Ian Kirk, Callum Thorpe, Sarina Iwabuchi and Peter Bergin).
• Autobiographical memory and sense of personal identity in Alzheimer’s Disease (with Donna Addis and Sally Prebble).
• The effect of musical expertise, computer-gaming expertise and training on lateralisation of visuospatial processing (with Lucy Patston).
• Disorders of awareness following right hemisphere stroke (with Alan Barber and Aileen Alegado).
• Factors influencing psychosocial adjustment following temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy (with Anna Clarkson).

• Meier, SL, Charleston, A., Tippett LJ (2010). Cognitive and behavioural impairments associated with orbitomedial prefrontal cortex in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Brain, 133(11), 3444-3457. doi.org/10.1093/brain/awq254
• Thu DCV, Oorschot DE, Tippett LJ, Nana AL, Hogg, VM, Synek B, Luthi-Carter R., Waldvogel HJ, Faull RLM. (2010). Cell loss in the motor and cingulate cortex correlates with symptomatology in Huntington's disease. Brain, 133, 1094-1110. doi.org/10.1093/brain/awq047
• Trembath KM, Horton ZA, TippettLJ, Hogg V, Collins VR, Churchyard A, Velakoulis D, Roxburgh R, DelatyckiI MB (2010). A retrospective study of the impact of lifestyle on age at onset of Huntington Disease. Movement Disorders, 25(10), 1414-50. doi.org/10.1002/mds.23108
• Barber PA, Hach S, Tippett LJ, Ross, L, Merry AF, Milsom P. (2008) Cerebral ischemic lesions on diffusion-weighted imaging are associated with neurocognitive decline following cardiac surgery. Stroke, 39, 1427-1433. doi.org/10.1161/strokeaha.107.502989
• Tippett, LJ, Waldvogel, HJ, Thomas, SJ, Hogg VM, Roon-Mom, W, Synek, BJ, Graybiel AM, Faull, RLM (2007) Striosome and mood dysfunction in Huntington’s disease. Brain, 130(1), 206-221. doi.org/10.1093/brain/awl243