Rate My Professor Simon Murray

Associate Professor Simon Murray serves as Senior Lecturer, Laboratory Head of the Murray Laboratory for Myelin Biology, and Anatomy Discipline Coordinator in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience within the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He holds qualifications including a BAppSc in Physiotherapy obtained in 1992, BSc (Hons), and a PhD completed in 2000 from Monash University. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted three years of postdoctoral research at a New York institution before establishing his career at the University of Melbourne. In his teaching role, he contributes to the Human Structure and Function major, explaining human body structure and function based on anatomical and physiological principles. His career trajectory reflects a progression from clinical physiotherapy to academic leadership in neuroscience research and education.

Simon Murray's research focuses on myelin biology, oligodendrocyte development and differentiation, central nervous system myelination, and myelin repair mechanisms, with particular emphasis on neurotrophins such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and TrkB signaling. His laboratory investigates novel strategies for promoting myelin repair in demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis, including environmental enrichment effects on axon remodeling and oligodendrocyte differentiation, and the therapeutic potential of BDNF mimetics. Key publications include 'Brain-derived neurotrophic factor in central nervous system myelination: a new mechanism to promote myelin plasticity and repair' (2016), 'Targeting TrkB with a Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Mimetic Promotes Myelin Repair in the Mouse Spinal Cord' (2018), 'Remodelling of myelinated axons and oligodendrocyte differentiation is stimulated by environmental enrichment' (2022), 'Activity-dependent remodeling of myelinated axons and oligodendrocyte differentiation' (year not specified), and 'Neuroprotection in demyelinating diseases: the therapeutic potential of the neurotrophins'. His scholarly work has accumulated over 3,250 citations on Google Scholar. Funding support includes MS Australia project grants for 'Understanding how myelin is generated' (2023), incubator grants for multiple sclerosis research innovations (2023), and earlier awards such as a 2014 project grant. These contributions advance therapeutic approaches for neurological disorders involving myelin pathology.