Griffith University ™s Professor Lyn Griffiths and her team at the Genomics Research Centre at the Gold Coast campus last year discovered that people who suffer from migraine might be genetically predisposed to suffering a stroke. Earlier, her team identified areas on chromosomes 1, 19 and X where migraine genes are found. The Genomics Research Centre is always seeking volunteer migraine sufferers to provide blood samples at its Southport clinic (opposite the Gold Coast Hospital) for its research purposes. Please contact Sharon Quinlan on 07 5509 7300 to find out how you can help the centre and its quest to find a cure for migraine.

Migraine facts:

Migraine affects the nervous system of the body, causing nausea, vomiting and debilitating headaches As many of 12 per cent of Australians suffer from migraine About 90 per cent of migraine sufferers turn to painkillers to ease their pain, sometimes in excessive amounts At present, the accurate diagnosis of migraine is difficult and current drug treatments only seem to be effective in some patients Migraine tends to worsen in the 20s, but begins to ease in the 30s and 40s before almost dropping off completely in the 50s With 10 years of migraine research behind them, Professor Griffiths and her team at the Genomics Research Centre are one of the world leaders in the field.

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