Research projects

Showing all 156 projects

• Stroke
  The impact of motivation on stroke rehabilitation

  It remains a puzzle why some stroke survivors show great benefits from rehabilitation while others do not.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  The effect of blue light on post-stroke fatigue

  Debilitating fatigue is a problem that is experienced by more than 50% of stroke survivors. We still understand very little about why fatigue occurs, and lack interventions that can reduce post-stroke fatigue.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Improving recovery early after stroke: Can we make the hospital environment more stimulating?

  Many stroke survivors report being inactive, isolated and bored during their hospital stay.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Increasing physical activity in stroke rehabilitation units – towards an effective solution

  For decades, studies conducted worldwide have found that patient activity levels in stroke rehabilitation units are extremely low, with almost all activity occurring in physiotherapy sessions.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Stratifying stroke patients in rehabilitation and recovery trials

  Key questions in stroke rehabilitation research are who responds to rehabilitation interventions, who doesn’t and why?

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Stratifying stroke patients in rehabilitation and recovery trials

  Key questions in stroke rehabilitation research are who responds to rehabilitation interventions, who doesn’t and why?

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Accepting students
  Testing for ‘contamination’ of standard care in a trial of acute stroke rehabilitation

  Clinical trials of rehabilitation-based interventions are complex. Therapists delivering experimental interventions cannot be blinded to treatment group and treatments are often visible to other patients and staff within the hospital environment.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Improving outcome assessment in stroke rehabilitation trials

  Stroke rehabilitation is a multi-faceted process that typically involves a team approach. Post stroke interventions may address a range of impairments, functional deficits and challenges of participation.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Predicting the recovery of walking after stroke

  Who will recover the ability to walk after stroke is poorly understood, but is an important question for stroke survivors and clinicians.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Brain injuryMental HealthSTEM
  Physical and Social activity patterns in an acute neurological unit environment: an observational study

  It is currently unknown what impact the physical environment has on neurological populations. Research in adult mental health and acute care populations suggest positive outcomes of the physical environment on patient and staff user groups.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Altering the Rehabilitation Environment to Improve Stroke Survivor Activity (AREISSA): A Phase II Trial

  Despite higher levels of activity being associated with better stroke recovery, stroke patients on most rehabilitation units spend the majority of their day inactive and alone.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Changes in Physical Activity and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Early after Stroke: A Longitudinal Study

  It is not clear when exercise training should begin after stroke, who should receive it, and how fitness and participation in physical activity changes over time after stroke

  
  Supervisor: Dr Liam Johnson
• StrokeSTEM
  Is The SenseWear Armband a Valid and Reliable Tool to Measure Energy Expenditure Early after Stroke?

  Limited evidence is available about energy expenditure of stroke survivors early after stroke. Oxygen uptake as a measure of energy expenditure is typically measured by breath-by-breath analysis using a portable metabolic calorimeter and is accepted as the

  
  Supervisor: Ms Sharon Kramer
• StrokeSTEM
  Virtual Reality Cognitive Assessment in Aphasia

  For both clinicians and researchers, it is important to assess cognitive function after stroke. Yet stroke-related impairments, such as aphasia, often prevent completion of standard pencil-and-paper cognitive assessment tasks.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  The Missing Medians: Exclusion of Ordinal Data from Meta-Analyses

  Meta-analyses are considered the gold standard of evidence-based health care, guiding both clinical decisions and health policy. A major limitation of current meta-analytic techniques is their inability to pool ordinal data.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Toby Cumming
• Stroke
  Fatigue After Stroke Trial (FAST): A randomised controlled study

  Fatigue is experienced by more than 50% of stroke survivors, and leads to reduced independence and quality of life.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Toby Cumming
• Stroke
  Examining Exercise Preferences after Stroke

  Many stroke survivors are physically inactive, and this contributes not only to decline in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength and functional independence but also increases the risk of recurrent stroke.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  The Effect of Very Early Mobilisation after Stroke on Cognitive Outcome

  Most stroke rehabilitation studies focus on physical outcomes as measures of recovery. Little is known about ways to improve cognitive function after stroke.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Toby Cumming
• Stroke
  Exploring the Implementation of Early Rehabilitation for Patients with Acute Stroke

  Recommended rehabilitation practices are poorly implemented in Australia’s acute stroke units.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Julie Luker
• Stroke
  Building Patient Centred Concepts into Stroke Rehabilitation

  Despite recommendations for rehabilitation to be patient centred, this concept is poorly implemented in stroke settings and poorly considered in stroke research designs.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Julie Luker
• Stroke
  Optimising stroke rehabilitation: Do short exercise sessions improve motor learning after stroke?

  We are only just beginning to understand how rehabilitation after stroke may be optimised, and the need for better therapies is urgent. Promising new evidence suggests that exercise may help to ‘prime’ the brain for learning.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Tina Kaffenberger
• ImagingStroke
  Prediction of Long-Term Outcome after Stroke Using Clinically Available Acute Brain Imaging

  Predicting stroke outcome early in the course of disease is of major interest to guide therapies and remove the burden of uncertainty.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Tina Kaffenberger
• Stroke
  Characterising Arm Recovery in People with Severe Stroke (CARPSS)

  The prevalence and severity of stroke related upper limb disability is increasing and the prospect of optimal recovery is poor.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Stroke
  Accepting students
  Cerebral Haemodynamics and Orthostatic Response to Upright Posture in Acute Ischaemic Stroke (CHORUS)

  Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability and mortality in Australia. The majority of strokes are ischaemic in nature and occur when a blood vessel to the brain is occluded, usually by a clot.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Drug discovery targeting α1-adrenoceptors (α1-ARs)

  α1A- and α1B-adrenoceptors (α1A-AR and α1B-AR) are critical receptors that modulate the nervous system in response to binding adrenaline and noradrenaline, and are currently targeted by hypertension drugs.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Daniel Scott
• SchizophreniaSTEM
  Accepting students
  Designing allosteric modulators of the neurotensin receptor 1 (NTS1) as potential drugs for schizophrenia

  Neurotensin (NT) is a 13-residue peptide expressed in the central nervous (CNS) gastro-intestinal and cardiovascular systems.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Daniel Scott
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Enabling technologies for structure based drug design at G protein coupled receptors

  G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large family of proteins (>800 gene members) located on the surface of all cells in the body, particularly in the brain.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Daniel Scott
• Mental HealthSTEM
  Accepting students
  Control of complex behaviour by neuropeptides

  Our laboratory is part of the Neuropeptides Division of The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and our research is in the broad area of systems neuroscience.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Gundlach
• Mental HealthSTEM
  Accepting students
  Studies on G protein-coupled receptors; structure, function and drug development

  The largest single class of drug targets is the G Protein-Coupled Receptor (GPCR) family, which were targets for 13 of the top 50 prescription drugs sold in the U.S.A. in 2010 (26%).

  
  Supervisor: Professor Ross Bathgate
• DiabetesSTEM
  Accepting students
  Novel insulin mimetics for managing diabetes

  INSL3 is highly expressed in the Leydig cells of the testis and has a critical role in testis descent.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Akhter Hossain
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Novel insulin-like peptide 5 mimetics for controlling colon motility

  Constipation is a serious problem that accounts for ~8 million annual physician visits (USA) and is associated with significant morbidity and reduced quality of life.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Akhter Hossain
• Addiction
  Accepting students
  Novel relaxin-3 mimetics for controlling feeding and motivated behaviour

  Eating disorders and addictions, in particular obesity and excessive food consumption, are a major health concern in Australia and worldwide; and there is an urgent need to better and fully define the neurochemicals and neural circuits controlling motivate

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Akhter Hossain
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Novel single-chain peptide mimetics, B7-33, for the treatment of fibrosis

  Fibrosis and related disorders are among the leading causes of death worldwide highlighting the need for more direct and improved anti-fibrotic strategies.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Akhter Hossain
• Cardiovascular disease
  Accepting students
  Developing small peptidomimetics to target RXFP1 for the treatment of acute heart failure

  Florey patented H2 relaxin was recently granted a “breakthrough therapy” designation by the FDA for the treatment of acute heart failure.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Akhter Hossain
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Developing novel chemical methods to produce insulin mimetics

  Central to the successful clinical use of new and improved insulin analogues is the availability of efficient methods to prepare them in high overall yield and purity.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Akhter Hossain
• Mental HealthSTEM
  Accepting students
  Developing peptidomimetics of insulin-like peptide 5, a novel orexigenic gut hormone, to target its GPCR, RXFP4

  Obesity has been termed a “worldwide epidemic” by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Conversely, anorexia and cachexia are significant health problems that cause high mortality.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Akhter Hossain
• Autism
  Accepting students
  Understanding autism

  Our group aims to understand the molecular cause of autism and to discover therapeutic interventions.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Wah Chin Boon
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Presynaptic dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders

  Neurodevelopmental disorders are a devastating group of conditions characterised by developmental impairments, which usually manifest in infants and children.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Sarah Gordon
• Parkinson’s
  Accepting students
  Presynaptic dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease

  Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting 7 million people worldwide.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Sarah Gordon
• Parkinson’s
  Accepting students
  Overcoming the sprouting limit of axons in the brain - using biomaterials for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease

  Current pharmacological or surgical therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD) offer only symptomatic relief.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Finkelstein
• Parkinson’s
  Accepting students
  Does early life exposure to iron represent a risk for Parkinson’s disease?

  Brain iron increases with age; a phenomenon that is further accelerated in Parkinson’s disease.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Finkelstein
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  Uncovering the role of exosome derived lipids in Alzheimer’s disease

  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive dementia affecting more than 40 million people worldwide.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Laura Vella
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  Discovering how toxic proteins traffic from cell to cell in Alzheimer’s disease

  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and unremitting neurodegenerative disorder characterized by impairments in cognition and memory.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Laura Vella
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  Are exosomes driving Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis?

  Neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and prion disease have distinct clinical manifestations and molecular pathology; however they share common features such as aggregation of disease specific proteins.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Laura Vella
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseParkinson’s
  Accepting students
  The role of tau protein in olfactory processes

  The structural protein tau is implicated in a number of debilitating neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

  
  Supervisor: Professor Kevin Barnham
• Depression
  Accepting students
  The role of peroxinitrite in depression

  Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous messenger molecule involved in the regulation of signalling of a number of neurotransmitter systems, including serotonin and dopamine, which are systems underlying the neurochemical basis of mood and emotion.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Kevin Barnham
• Parkinson’s
  Accepting students
  The influence of alpha-synuclein on olfaction

  Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Kevin Barnham
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseParkinson’s
  Accepting students
  Effect of tau phosphorylation on exosome release in cell culture systems

  The structural protein tau is implicated in a number of debilitating neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Kevin Barnham
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  Effect of Abeta on excitotoxic signalling pathways

  The NMDA receptor (NMDAR) is a ligand-gated ion channel essential for normal synaptic function and is vital in learning and memory processes. However, when overstimulated, NMDARs are also responsible for a cascade of toxic events, termed “excitotoxicity”,

  
  Supervisor: Professor Kevin Barnham
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseSTEM
  Accepting students
  Bioanalytical tools to investigate the role of metalloproteins in Alzheimer’s disease and Motor Neuron Disease.

  Trace elements are an essential requirement for life. Transition elements, including copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), are used to catalyse a wonderful array of reactions throughout all kingdoms of nature.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Blaine Roberts
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseSTEM
  Accepting students
  What causes a neuron to die? Investigating the essential role of selenium nutrition in neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s

  Selenium is an essential trace element required for normal development. Curiously, out of the entire human genome of ~22,000 genes we only have 25 genes that encode for selenium containing proteins.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Blaine Roberts
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  Understanding the natural biology of Aß peptides in human brain.

  Alzheimer’s disease involves a significant loss of neurons and a resulting loss in cognitive ability. The defining pathological characteristic of the disease is the formation of plaques of aggregate protein in the cortex of the brain.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Blaine Roberts
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Biomarker discovery for Neurodegenerative disease

  Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating slow neurodegenerative disease that is the leading cause of dementia. This disease is characterized by a slow decline in cognitive function, with the greatest risk factor for the disease being age.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Blaine Roberts
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseHuntington’s diseaseParkinson’s
  Accepting students
  Biological inorganic chemistry of copper in the early ubiquitination pathways

  The ubiquitination pathway is an essential post-translational modification (poly-ubiquitination) process for subsequent degradation of proteins by the proteasome.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Zhiguang Xiao
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseSTEM
  Accepting students
  Molecular mechanism of copper transporting ATPases

  Copper ATPases are key members of P1B-type ATPases that pump heavy metal ions (Cu, Ag, Zn, Cd, Co, Pb) across cell membranes with energy derived from ATP hydrolysis. Copper ATPases pump Cu ions specifically and play vital roles in supplying essential coppe

  
  Supervisor: Dr Zhiguang Xiao
• Motor Neurone Disease
  Generating novel mouse models of Kennedy’s disease

  Spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), more commonly known as Kennedy's disease (KD), is a X-linked neurodegenerative disorder affecting 1:50,000 males.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Bradley Turner
• Parkinson’sSTEM
  Accepting students
  Characterising a mouse model of Acrodermatitis enteropathica

  A devastating, lethal genetic disease of zinc metabolism is acrodermatitis enteropathica (AE) which is caused by compromised absorption of dietary zinc.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Paul Adlard
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseBrain injurySTEM
  Accepting students
  Understanding the role of metals in normal and pathological ageing

  One of the broad projects within the lab involves understanding how a dyshomeostasis in metal ions (particularly zinc) may precipitate and potentiate neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Frontotemporal dementia, as well as other condi

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Paul Adlard
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Examining local transcriptional profiling of RNA populations in pre- and post-synaptic terminals

  This project in the Synaptic Neurobiology lab will develop a unique and innovative technique to isolate and describe synaptic RNA populations in isolated synapses.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Paul Adlard
• Mental Health
  Accepting students
  Effect of orexin dual antagonists on emotive memory

  Sleep is important in the consolidation of memory. The role of non-REM sleep in the consolidation of declarative memory is well documented.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Laura Jacobson
• BehaviourMental Health
  Accepting students
  Drug Impacts on Behaviour and Epigenetics

  This project will explore the role of drug actions may play to augment behaviours within and transcending generations.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Graeme Jackson
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Developing better Bionics for Brain stimulation and recording

  This project explores how best to interface neural prosthetic devices into the brain for the treatment of many neurological disorders and sensory related dysfunction.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Graeme Jackson
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  Novel antiepileptic drug targets based on HCN channel antagonists

  About 30% of epilepsy patients are not controlled on currently available antiepileptic drugs. Our laboratory has discovered a novel anti-epileptic drug target.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Christopher Reid
• Epilepsy
  Zinc and seizures

  Zn2+ is an essential element having a multitude of biological functions throughout the body. Our research has demonstrated that low brain Zn2+ can increase seizure susceptibility (Hildebrand et al 2015 Sci Rep).

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Christopher Reid
• STEM
  Accepting students
  The modulation of sensory perception by the prefrontal cortex

  The brain has many areas specialised for specific functions, which must communicate with one another to generate an internal representation of our surrounding environment.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Lucy Palmer
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  Optogenetic modulation of the area tempestas – an epilepsy hot spot

  Several lines of study have recently converged to reveal a new target for controlling epileptic seizures.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Kay Richards
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  MRI tractography in mouse models of genetic epilepsy: Creation of prognostic and diagnostic structural biomarkers

  Our earlier classical histological analyses have shown that neuronal numbers and positioning are both altered in genetic forms of epilepsy prior to the appearance of overt seizures suggesting that structural changes precede epilepsy.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Kay Richards
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  In vivo electrophysiological analysis in mouse models of genetic epilepsy

  In this project the candidate will use multi-site in vivo unit recording in mouse models of genetic epilepsy to investigate network function and dysfunction in freely moving mice.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Steven Petrou
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  High density multi-electrode array recording of in vitro networks in epilepsy

  In this project the candidate will use high density extracellular multielectrode array recordings to investigate large scale network function.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Steven Petrou
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  High content automated analysis of ion channels in epilepsy

  Discovery of gene mutations in neurological disorders such as epilepsy is outstripping the ability to functionally validate them.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Steven Petrou
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  Projects in network analysis of genetic epilepsy

  Epilepsy impacts around 3% of the population and in many cases has clear genetic underpinnings

  
  Supervisor: Professor Steven Petrou
• EpilepsySTEM
  Accepting students
  Multi-site patch clamp recording of cortical micro networks

  In this project the candidate will be trained in the use of an emerging method in brain slice electrophysiology that allows for the simultaneous intracellular recording of 4 connected neurons.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Steven Petrou
• Epilepsy
  Accepting students
  Neuroanatomical determinants of susceptibility in a model of genetic epilepsy

  Epilepsy affects ~1-2% of the population, making it the most common neurological disorder. 50% of all epilepsies are genetic generalized epilepsies (GGE), and currently more than 100.000 Australians live with this disease.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Steven Petrou
• DepressionEpilepsyImagingSchizophreniaSTEM
  Accepting students
  “CLARITY” based glass brain imaging in health and disease

  Recent improvements in the histochemical method of optically clearing whole tissues and the joint development of special optics that can image deep into them have created unprecedented views into the wiring of networks.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Steven Petrou
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  The Role of Innate Phagocytosis in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (for PhD only)

  Emerging genetic evidence suggests that impaired removal of aggregated or fibrillar Aβ-peptides due to defects in innate phagocytosis is a major contributor to the risk of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• Multiple sclerosis
  Accepting students
  Do circulating microvesicles from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) disrupt the blood-brain barrier (BBB)? (For Honors and MBiomedSc)

  Breakdown of the blood brain barrier (BBB) precedes clinical symptoms of new lesions of MS and it is possible that high numbers of microvesicles in multiple sclerosis (MS) plasma are related to episodes of disruption of the BBB.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Identification of serum glycoproteins altering innate immunity

  Innate immunity is the first line defense of host against invading pathogens. Phagocytosis of non-opsonized particles (bacteria or viruses not coated by immunoglobulin, complement, etc) is an important part of innate immunity.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• CancerMultiple sclerosisSTEM
  Accepting students
  How does the brain remove the excess number of neurons during development and aging

  Many more neurons are produced during development than are present in the adult brain.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseCancer
  Accepting students
  Identify the transcriptional regulatory factors of the P2X7 receptor

  P2X7 is an ATP-gated purinergic receptor and plays a broad role in infection, inflammation, autoimmunity, neurodegeneration and oncogenesis.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• Cancer
  Accepting students
  Investigation of P2X7 mediated phagocytosis - potential therapeutic target for cancer treatment

  The P2X7 receptor was originally recognized as an ion channel for influx of Ca2+, Mg2+ and efflux of K+.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• Multiple sclerosisSTEM
  The role of P2X7 in a mouse model of oligodendrocyte apoptosis

  Oligodendrocytes support the function of nerve cells by producing a fatty substance called myelin that insulates the axons of nerve cells, much like plastic insulation around an electricity cable.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• Brain injury
  Accepting students
  The nature of the P2X4 receptor

  The P2X4 receptor is a two trans-membrane ion channel activated by ATP. It is highly expressed on monocytic lineage cells (monocytes, macrophages and microglia) and certain neuronal cells and has been shown to play an important role in neuropathic pain.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  Search the P2X7 related biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease

  Alzheimer’s disease is an age-related dementia with major impact in people aged 60 or over.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Ben Gu
• EpilepsyImagingSTEM
  Clinical Translation

  We are investigating changes in the brain associated with different epilepsy phenotypes using various neuroimaging techniques.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Graeme Jackson
• EpilepsyImagingSTEM
  Functional Connectivity in the Brain

  We are investigating changes in functional connectivity of the brain associated with epilepsy.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Graeme Jackson
• AutismBehaviourMental Health
  Accepting students
  Investigating social communication in the Neuroligin 3 mouse model of Autism

  Autism is a complex spectrum of disorders characterized by core behavioural deficits in social interaction, communication, and behavioural flexibility.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Emma Burrows
• AnxietyBehaviourBipolar disorderDepressionMental HealthSchizophrenia
  Accepting students
  Understanding the role of synaptic genes in cognition and disease

  Sensory information from the environment is ultimately processed at the level of synapses, the connection between neurons that form the most fundamental information-processing units in the nervous system.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Jess Nithianantharajah
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseMultiple sclerosisParkinson’sSchizophrenia
  Accepting students
  Mechanisms of dopamine phenotype plasticity in adult midbrain neurons

  Evidence is emerging that the neurotransmitter used by some adult neurons is regulated by the environment, and that this has behavioral consequences for the animal; a novel form of brain plasticity.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Lawrence
• Addiction
  Accepting students
  Salt, opiates and addiction

  By using gene set enrichment analysis, we've found that genes regulated with sodium appetite were enriched for gene sets associated with cocaine and opiate addiction.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Lawrence
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseBrain injuryMotor Neurone DiseaseParkinson’sStroke
  Accepting students
  Is neurogenesis in the adult forebrain altered in a mouse model of neurodegeneration?

  Using adult born stem cells to replace neurons lost as a consequence of disease has the potential to be of great benefit to sufferers of neurodegenerative disorders.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Mathias Dutschmann
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseCardiovascular diseaseSTEM
  Accepting students
  Characterising the degeneration of brainstem neural circuits that control swallowing and breathing

  Swallowing disorders that increase the risk of aspiration and subsequent pneumonia are prevalent in the elderly and patients suffering neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Mathias Dutschmann
• Gut biology and disease
  Accepting students
  Nutrition: The control of gut hormone release by nutrients

  Gut hormones are essential links in the control of obesity and provide novel opportunities for therapeutic intervention.

  
  Supervisor: Professor John Furness
• Gut biology and diseaseSTEM
  Accepting students
  Gut Health: an intersection of food, environment, animal production and global health

  Gut health can be defined as a condition in which mucosal function is normal and assimilation of nutrients is not compromised. 

  
  Supervisor: Professor John Furness
• Gut biology and diseaseParkinson’sSTEM
  Accepting students
  The gastrointestinal complications of Parkinson’s Disease

  Parkinson’s Disease causes losses in neural control in the digestive system as well as in the central nervous system. Loss of neural control of digestive function commonly occurs before central change is detected.

  
  Supervisor: Professor John Furness
• Gut biology and disease
  Accepting students
  Novel drugs and receptors for targeting neural control of digestive function

  We have made a number of discoveries of new compounds that can modify digestine function, and are conducting animal proof of principal experiments that we hope will lead to clinical trials.

  
  Supervisor: Professor John Furness
• EpilepsySTEM
  Accepting students
  Next generation vagal nerve stimulation

  Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) is a treatment option for uncontrolled epilepsy (‘refractory epilepsies’) in adults and increasingly children.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Stuart McDougall
• STEM
  Accepting students
  Utilising insect peptide hormones in the mammalian nervous system

  Dissecting neural circuits and assigning function to them is a top priority within neuroscience. Help validate this newest of technologies and demonstrate its power in vitro and in vivo.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Stuart McDougall
• Cardiovascular disease
  Accepting students
  Viscerosensory pathways in the brain

  This project seeks to define how viscerosensory neural pathways are organised within the brain.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Stuart McDougall
• Cardiovascular disease
  Accepting students
  Synaptic gating of viscerosensory signals

  We aim to discover the neural pathways that modulate the reflexes that allow optimum organ performance in different circumstances.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Stuart McDougall
• Cardiovascular disease
  Accepting students
  Inhibitory mechanisms within the nucleus of the solitary tract

  This project aims to determine the synaptic mechanisms underlying reflex strength and flexibility.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Stuart McDougall
• Cardiovascular disease
  Neuroinflammatory mechanisms involved in hypertension and diabetes

  This project will investigate the acute and chronic effects of NF-κB and its activator IkB kinase (IKKβ) in the area postrema. This area is essential for control of the sympathetic system, blood pressure, and blood glucose.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Song Yao
• Cardiovascular disease
  Unravelling the neural circuits that drive increases in sympathetic nerve activity in heart failure

  This project will investigate which cardiovascular brain centres are activated in the short and long term after myocardial infarction.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Song Yao
• Cardiovascular disease
  Accepting students
  Central cardiovascular control: uncovering the role of inflammatory cytokines in the area postrema

  This project will investigate the effects of different cytokines such as CX3CL1 (fractalkine) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) within the area postrema.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Song Yao
• Cardiovascular disease
  Accepting students
  Reinnervating the kidneys

  Destroying the nerves supplying the kidneys (renal denervation) using radiofrequency power transfer catheters is being trialled as a novel treatment in patients with drug-resistant hypertension, chronic kidney disease and heart failure.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Lindsea Booth
• Cardiovascular disease
  Unravelling the role of chemokines in central control of the cardiovascular system

  The brain controls the cardiovascular system via a complex network spanning a number of specialised brain structures. We are particularly interested in an area known as the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus or PVN.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Song Yao
• Cardiovascular disease
  Accepting students
  A novel therapy to maintain blood pressure and kidney function in septic shock

  Recently, our laboratory has made several important discoveries in a clinically relevant ovine model of septic shock that we believe will improve management of patients with septic shock.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Yugeesh Lankadeva
• Gut biology and disease
  Accepting students
  Modulation of intestinal inflammation through nerve stimulation

  Neuromodulation (also known as electroceuticals) is a rapidly expanding field. In this project, we are testing how this therapy can be applied to inflammatory bowel disease.

  
  Supervisor: Professor John Furness
• Gut biology and disease
  Accepting students
  The taxonomy of enteroendocrine cells and their innervation

  The hormone secreting cells of the gastrointestinal tract are essential for normal gut health and are targets for therapy.

  
  Supervisor: Professor John Furness
• Motor Neurone Disease
  Developing SMN gene therapy for SMA and MND

  This project involves testing a novel non-viral SMN gene therapy for SMA using "immunogene" technology.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Bradley Turner
• Motor Neurone Disease
  Targeting exosome-mediated propagation of protein misfolding in MND

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Bradley Turner
• Motor Neurone Disease
  Stimulating autophagy to improve intracellular proteostasis in MND

  This project will investigate the therapeutic effects and action of stimulating autophagy in genetic cell culture and mouse models of MND

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Bradley Turner
• Parkinson’sSTEM
  Accepting students
  Support Cells and Dopaminergic Neurons

  Understanding how the interactions between iron, glia and dopamine change through lifespan will provide new avenues for interventions to prevent cell death in Parkinson’s disease.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Gawain McColl
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseParkinson’sSTEM
  Iron and Biological Ageing

  Metal ions are essential for life with approximately half of all proteins using a metal ion co-factor. However, excess metal ions can be highly toxic. Organs such as the brain accumulates iron through life, which may contribute to disease risk.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Gawain McColl
• Alzheimer’s Disease
  Accepting students
  New animal models of Alzheimer’s disease

  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common age-related dementia, with the number of affected individuals expected to exceed 100 million worldwide by 2050.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Gawain McColl
• Accepting students
  Rapid animal models of Parkinson’s disease

  While mammalian-based Parkinson’s disease research is clearly a necessary step, sole reliance on mammalian models limits the rate at which new therapeutics can be identified.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Gawain McColl
• Accepting students
  Bioengineered scaffolds for brain repair

  We are developing and testing various nanofibrous scaffolds and hydrogels to provide structural support for stem cells and differentiating neurons in the injured brain.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Clare Parish
• Accepting students
  Generating neuronal subpopulations from pluripotent stem cell sources and their application in disease modelling and brain repair

  The Parish laboratory has a keen interest in the use of pluripotent stem cells for brain repair.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Clare Parish
• Accepting students
  Cell therapy for brain repair focussing on Parkinson’s disease

  Proof of principle for cell replacement therapy in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease was first demonstrated in the clinic using human fetal tissue in the 1980’s.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Clare Parish
• Accepting students
  Developmental specification of midbrain dopamine neurons and their connectivity

  Dopamine neurons, residing within the ventral midbrain (VM), are essential for the control of voluntary movement, emotion and cognitive function, and are affected in a number of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and addictio

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Clare Parish
• Accepting students
  Therapeutic approaches to dementia and depression in Huntington’s disease

  Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited single-gene abnormality that causes neurons in the brain to become dysfunctional and eventually die.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Thibault Renoir
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseAnxietyBehaviourDepressionMental Health
  Accepting students
  Gene-environment interactions in the regulation of cellular plasticity, cognitive function and behaviour

  The hippocampus is a dynamic brain structure believed to be critical to cognitive functions including memory consolidation and emotion regulation.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Thibault Renoir
• Stroke
  AuSCR Core Research project

  This project investigates the frequency of hospital based healthcare contacts and utilisation in the first year following acute stroke and factors associated with increased hospital utilisation.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Dominique Cadilhac
• AddictionAlzheimer’s DiseaseAnxietyAutismBehaviourBipolar disorderBrain injuryCancerCardiovascular diseaseDementiaDepressionEpigeneticsEpilepsyHuntington’s diseaseImagingMental HealthMultiple sclerosisParkinson’sSchizophreniaStrokeSTEM
  Accepting students
  Targeting peptide G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) for novel drug development

  Modern GPCR drug development is encumbered by a lack of information about the molecular structure underlying GPCR function and the reliance on cell-based assays that are prone to false positives in drug screening.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Ross Bathgate
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseCardiovascular diseaseEpilepsySTEM
  Accepting students
  Structure-based drug design targeting G-protein-coupled receptors

  To achieve GPCR selectivity we need new ways to identify and design more selective GPCR targeting drugs.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Ross Bathgate
• AddictionAnxietyBehaviourMental HealthSTEM
  Accepting students
  Drug discovery: investigation of signalling by GPCRS using novel cellular biosensors

  GPCRs are the targets for ~30% of all currently used therapeutic drugs. It is critical to understand how these receptors are activated, how they alter cellular function, how such responses are switched off, and how other cellular components can modulate th

  
  Supervisor: Dr Martina Kocan
• AddictionAnxietyDepressionMental Health
  Accepting students
  Viral-mediated modulation of neuropeptide GPCR function in brain

  Mental illness is a large and increasing health and economic burden worldwide and more research is urgently required to identify new and innovative therapies.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Ross Bathgate
• Stroke
  The Victorian Stroke Telemedicine Program

  The Victorian Stroke Telemedicine initiative is a ground breaking program of work that has the potential to transform the way clinicians collaborate to deliver the best care possible to stroke patients irrespective of their

  
  Supervisor: Professor Christopher Bladin
• Anxiety
  Regulation and inhibition of fear memory across development

  This project focuses on the regulation of emotional memory across development, from early childhood to adolescence.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Jee Hyun Kim
• Alzheimer’s DiseaseDementia
  Accepting students
  Memory, cognitive flexibility, and ageing

  People born between 1946 and 1964 (‘‘baby boomers’’) are entering retirement in large numbers. This has major implications both for the individuals and for society.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Jee Hyun Kim
• AnxietyMental Health
  Accepting students
  Adolescent vulnerability to anxiety: a dopamine story

  Anxiety disorders are a major worldwide public health concern, with ~1 in 4 Australians suffering from a clinically diagnosed anxiety disorder at least once in their lifetime.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Jee Hyun Kim
• AnxietyMental Health
  Accepting students
  Early life stress and regulation of inhibition and forgetting

  Early life experiences play a pivotal role in shaping personality and psychosocial functioning into adulthood.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Jee Hyun Kim
• AddictionMental Health
  Accepting students
  Adolescent vulnerability to addiction - gene & behaviour in rodents and humans

  Adolescence represents a unique period of vulnerability to developing drug addiction, with adolescent drug users displaying resistance to treatment and increased liability to relapse.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor Jee Hyun Kim
• AutismMental Health
  Accepting students
  Utilising Touchscreen technology for preclinical modeling of attention in autism spectrum disorder

  Autism is a complex spectrum of disorders characterized by core behavioural deficits in social interaction, communication, and behavioural flexibility.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Emma Burrows
• AnxietyAutismEpigeneticsMental Health
  Accepting students
  Investigating the inherited paternal influence on offspring cognition and behaviour

  As diploid animals, each individual human being is a genetic combination of their parents. Emerging evidence now indicates that the environment that our parents were exposed to can also influence us.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Terence Pang
• EpigeneticsMental HealthSchizophrenia
  Accepting students
  Experience-dependent plasticity modulating cognitive deficits in schizophrenia

  Most major brain disorders, including schizophrenia, are a product of complex interactions between genes and environmental factors.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Anthony Hannan
• EpigeneticsHuntington’s disease
  Accepting students
  Gene-environment interactions modulating dementia and depression in a tandem repeat disorder

  Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder with no known cure. HD is caused by a tandem repeat (CAG) expansion encoding an extended polyglutamine tract in the huntingtin protein. The disease is characterised by progressive psychiatric

  
  Supervisor: Professor Anthony Hannan
• A Very Early Rehabilitation Trial (AVERT): Database Projects

  
  Supervisor: Professor Julie Bernhardt
• EpilepsyImaging
  T2 relaxometry

  T2 relaxometry is a quantitative MR imaging modality that provides an estimate of the T2 relaxation constant of the imaged tissue.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Epilepsy
  Simultaneous EEG-fMRI

  We have developed improved methods for acquiring and analysing simultaneously acquired EEG and fMRI and we continue our efforts in this field, particularly targeting the investigation of epilepsy.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Epilepsy
  Quantitative voxel-based analysis of qualitative images

  Abnormalities in the brain can manifest on MRI as changes in shape (morphometry) or changes in the nature of the tissue (signal intensity). Quantitative assessment across the whole brain is possible. 

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Epilepsy
  Morphometry

  Altered size and shape of brain structures can be observed in association with disease. These abnormalities can be detected using various structural MRI methods including voxel based morphometry and cortical thickness analysis of T1-weighted MRI scans.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Epilepsy
  Laterality of brain function

  Lateralisation of language function in the brain is often an important question in neurosurgical planning.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Epilepsy
  Functional MRI Processing Pipelines

  There are many processing and analysis steps undertaken on functional MRI (fMRI) images after they are acquired by the MRI scanner.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Epilepsy
  Functional connectivity and the human brain functional connectome

  Understanding how the brain works requires knowledge of how brain regions communicate with each other to form large-scale functional networks.

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Epilepsy
  Artefact reduction in functional MRI

  Functional MRI (fMRI) is subject to a number of noise sources such as brain pulsation and subject motion that can substantially impact the quality of results. 

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• EpilepsyImagingSTEM
  Accepting students
  Functional neuroimaging analysis to identify brain abnormality in epilepsy

  Combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electro-encephalography (EEG) approaches can be used to define the brain networks in patients with epilepsy. 

  
  Supervisor: Associate Professor David Abbott
• Schizophrenia
  Accepting students
  Estrogen and the CNS: Implications for schizophrenia

  A role for sex hormones in the development of schizophrenia has been hypothesized to explain the observed sex difference in the age-of-onset and symptom severity, with women presenting less severe symptoms on average 3 years later than in men.

  
  Supervisor: Dr Andrea Gogos
• Multiple sclerosis
  Accepting students
  Mertk and the regulation of neural precursor cells

  The recent discovery that stem cells in the brain not only contribute to myelin repair, but also make myelin of normal thickness, offer the potential to enhance the brain's normal repair process.

  
  Supervisor: Ms Michele Binder
• Multiple sclerosis
  Accepting students
  Microglia in myelination

  This project will identify how microglia interact with myelin to fine-tune structure.

  
  Supervisor: Ms Michele Binder
• Multiple sclerosis
  Accepting students
  Tyro3 in myelination and remyelination

  In multiple sclerosis (MS) the protective sheath around nerves, known as myelin, is damaged and lost. This loss disrupts electrical impulses and exposes nerves to immune attack, leading to their death.

  
  Supervisor: Ms Michele Binder
• Addiction
  Accepting students
  Characterising the neuronal circuitry that underlies salt appetite

  While we need to consume salt, too much can be harmful and is in fact directly linked to ~5% of deaths annually in Australia. We have identified a system in the brain that regulates salt intake.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Lawrence
• Addiction
  Accepting students
  Alcohol and striatal adaptation

  Alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking are amongst the leading worldwide causes of preventable death and disease. Moreover, alcohol and tobacco are commonly co-abused and animal studies have implicated potential overlapping mechanisms of action in the brai

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Lawrence
• Addiction
  Accepting students
  Investigating Alcohol-Related Dementia

  Alcohol-related dementia (ARD) is one of the leading causes of secondary (preventable) dementia, and younger onset dementia (onset of symptoms prior to 65 years) in Australia.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Lawrence
• Addiction
  Context-induced relapse after voluntary abstinence

  Substance abuse is a major health care problem. Accordingly, there is a real need to increase our fundamental understanding of the processes behind addiction, so that more targeted therapeutic strategies can follow.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Lawrence
• Addiction
  Accepting students
  Diet-induced obesity: is it an addiction?

  Can eating junk food compulsively be called an addiction? What brain changes occur when we consume too much fat and sugar?  

  
  Supervisor: Dr Robyn Brown
• Addiction
  Accepting students
  Peptides and stress-induced relapse

  How do neuropeptides regulate the brain's reward circuitry, especially in times of acute stress.

  
  Supervisor: Professor Andrew Lawrence