A/Prof Andrew Gundlach

- A/Prof Andrew L Gundlach
BSc (Hons) Dip Ed (Mon) PhD (Melb)
Senior Research Fellow (NHMRC Australia)
Neuropeptides and Behavioural Neuroscience Divisions, Florey Neuroscience Institutes
Laboratory Head, Peptide Neurobiology Laboratory
Contact Details
Email: | |
Phone: | +61 (0)3 8344 7324 |
Fax: | +61 (0)3 9348 1707 |
Research Interests
- Investigation of the neural pathways, physiological functions and behaviours influenced by relaxin family peptide-receptor systems
- Investigation of the role of galanin in neural and non-neuronal cells in brain physiology and injury/repair
Current Projects
- Relaxin-3 and nucleus incertus regulation of septohippocampal theta rhythm and spatial memory - peptide- and viral-based studies
- Role of relaxin-3 systems in arousal/motivation, stress and circadian rhythms
- Cellular physiology of the nucleus incertus - a novel, ascending arousal system?
- Relaxin-3 signaling and complex behaviour – insights from peptide gene knockout and receptor transgenic mouse strains
- Relaxin hormone systems in brain – studies in a receptor-gene knockout reporter mouse
- Insulin-like peptide-3 systems in corticothalamic- basal ganglia- and limbic- circuits - effects on stereotypic and social behaviour
- Mapping relaxin-family peptide-receptor systems in human and primate brain - implications for current translation research
- Role of galanin in demyelinating disease - novel therapy for multiple sclerosis
Laboratory Techniques
- Neuroanatomy – biochemical and functional mapping of circuitry related to peptide pathways and associated behaviours
- Physiology/pharmacology - small animal surgery, whole animal telemetry recordings, in vivo recordings and behavioural tests after peptide treatment
- Behavioural neuroscience - motor, cognitive and affective test battery studies of gene-deletion mouse strains
- Molecular biology/histochemistry - immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and in vitro autoradiography of peptides, receptors and other markers; real time-, RT-PCR peptide/receptor gene analysis, viral vectors
Additional Information
A/Prof Gundlach has been a NHMRC Research Fellow since 1992 and has been at the Howard Florey Institute since 2000, after heading a laboratory in the Department of Medicine at the Austin & Repatriation Centre from 1989-1999. He undertook postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Sydney (1983-1988), and has been a visiting scientist in Cambridge (1989, 1996) and Paris (2000). He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles and since 1992 has supervised some 15 PhD graduates.
Dr Gundlach is currently:
- Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
- Chair of the Florey Neuroscience Institutes Postgraduate Matters Committee
- Member of the IBRO Return Home Programme Committee
- Editor for Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy and Neurosignals
Selected Publications
Burazin TCD, Bathgate RAD, Macris M, Layfield S, Gundlach AL, Tregear GW. (2002) Restricted, but abundant, expression of the novel rat gene-3 (R3) relaxin in the dorsal tegmental region of brain. Journal of Neurochemistry 82: 1553-1557.
Ma S, Roozendaal B, Burazin TCD, Tregear GW, McGaugh JL, Gundlach AL. (2005) Relaxin in the basolateral amygdala impairs consolidation of fear memory. European Journal of Neuroscience 22: 2117-2122.
Ma S, Shen P-J, Burazin TCD, Tregear GW, Gundlach AL. (2006) Comparative localization of RXFP1 mRNA and [33P]-relaxin binding sites in rat brain: Restricted somatic co-expression a clue to relaxin action? Neuroscience 141: 329-344.
Ma S, Bonaventure P, Ferraro T, Shen P-J, Burazin TCD, Bathgate RAD, Liu C, Tregear GW, Sutton SW, Gundlach AL. (2007) Relaxin-3 in GABA projection neurons of nucleus incertus suggests widespread influence on forebrain circuits via G-protein-coupled receptor-135 in the rat. Neuroscience 144: 165-190.
Banerjee A, Shen P-J, Ma S, Bathgate RAD, Gundlach AL (2009) Swim stress excitation of nucleus incertus and rapid induction of relaxin-3 expression via CRF1 activation. Neuropharmacology (in press).
Ma S, Sang Q, Lanciego JL, Gundlach AL (2009) Localization of relaxin-3 in brain of Macaca fascicularis – Identification of a nucleus incertus in primate. Journal of Comparative Neurology (in press).
Ma S, Olucha-Bordonau FE, Hossain MA, Lin F, Kuei C, Liu C, Wade JD, Sutton SW, Nunez A, Gundlach AL (2009) Modulation of hippocampal theta oscillations and spatial memory by relaxin-3 neurons of the nucleus incertus in the rat. Learning and Memory (in press).

