Imaging metal homeostasis in the ageing brain. This fellowship aims to deliver new tools to visualise how changes to blood vessels during ageing effect the amount and distribution of metal ions in brain cells in animal models. This will be a significant advance as current methods cannot image these parameters. Metal ions are essential for brain function, but the effects of ageing on metal ions within brain cells is largely unknown. The results are expected to associate brain-blood vessel permeab ....Imaging metal homeostasis in the ageing brain. This fellowship aims to deliver new tools to visualise how changes to blood vessels during ageing effect the amount and distribution of metal ions in brain cells in animal models. This will be a significant advance as current methods cannot image these parameters. Metal ions are essential for brain function, but the effects of ageing on metal ions within brain cells is largely unknown. The results are expected to associate brain-blood vessel permeability with changes to metal ion content during ageing. The methods developed, and the fundamental new knowledge they reveal will benefit national and international neuroscientists seeking to elucidate the fundamental neurobiology of metal ions with respect to maintaining healthy brain function.Read moreRead less
Pushing the Boundaries of Multi-modal Biospectroscopic Microscopies. In order to understand the fundamentals of life processes, diseases, and their treatments, it is essential to probe fundamental changes in molecular processes in cells, tissues and whole organisms. Much of our understanding of these processes has involved the introduction of chemical probes for biospectroscopy, but these have inherent problems because the probe can often change the biochemistry that is being probed. This projec ....Pushing the Boundaries of Multi-modal Biospectroscopic Microscopies. In order to understand the fundamentals of life processes, diseases, and their treatments, it is essential to probe fundamental changes in molecular processes in cells, tissues and whole organisms. Much of our understanding of these processes has involved the introduction of chemical probes for biospectroscopy, but these have inherent problems because the probe can often change the biochemistry that is being probed. This project will push the boundaries of a variety of micro and nano "probe-free" microscopies to provide fundamental insights into these life processes, which could ultimately lead to improvements in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases.Read moreRead less