Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100401
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$393,903.00
Summary
Deconstructing the brain circuits of reward-seeking. This project aims to deconstruct the brain circuits that shape reward-seeking behaviour in different environments. The anticipated significance of this project is to provide mechanistic insights into why we choose to seek rewards in safe, but not dangerous environments. Expected outcomes include answering fundamental questions about how the environment shapes our behaviour by identifying projection cell subtypes important for reward-seeking, c ....Deconstructing the brain circuits of reward-seeking. This project aims to deconstruct the brain circuits that shape reward-seeking behaviour in different environments. The anticipated significance of this project is to provide mechanistic insights into why we choose to seek rewards in safe, but not dangerous environments. Expected outcomes include answering fundamental questions about how the environment shapes our behaviour by identifying projection cell subtypes important for reward-seeking, characterising their neuronal activity and precisely defining their molecular phenotype. The benefits of this project are expected to provide a new knowledge base for understanding decision-making in a constantly changing world.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100992
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
The role of neuropeptides driving plasticity in the control of blood pressure and breathing. This project aims to understand how pathways in the brain, that control blood pressure, develop 'memory' after repeated episodes of low oxygen, as occurs in sleep apnoea. Based on the assumption that long-lasting excitatory actions are responsible for this change in nerve behaviour this project will increase knowledge about how the brain controls blood pressure.
ARC Centre of Excellence - Vision Science. This Centre will generate important new knowledge of the performance, logic and stability of vision and visual behaviour. This knowledge will help reduce the burden of vision impairment in Australia, increasing productivity, promoting healthy ageing and reducing the community costs of visual impairment (ca. $9.85 billion in 2004). The knowledge produced will also make possible world-class innovations in robotics, leading to novel automated vision system ....ARC Centre of Excellence - Vision Science. This Centre will generate important new knowledge of the performance, logic and stability of vision and visual behaviour. This knowledge will help reduce the burden of vision impairment in Australia, increasing productivity, promoting healthy ageing and reducing the community costs of visual impairment (ca. $9.85 billion in 2004). The knowledge produced will also make possible world-class innovations in robotics, leading to novel automated vision systems with applications in industry and national security. Other knowledge will develop novel diagnostic technologies, for application in health delivery.Read moreRead less
Targeting brain lipid homeostasis to treat Alzheimer's disease. Dementia affects approximately 250,000 people in Australia at an estimated cost (in 2002) of $6.6 billion per annum. The major cause of dementia (accounting for approximately 70% of all cases) is Alzheimer's disease (AD); a progressive neurodegenerative illness for which there is no curative or disease-stalling treatment. Due to increases in life expectancy, the incidence of AD is predicted to triple by 2050 unless disease-modifying ....Targeting brain lipid homeostasis to treat Alzheimer's disease. Dementia affects approximately 250,000 people in Australia at an estimated cost (in 2002) of $6.6 billion per annum. The major cause of dementia (accounting for approximately 70% of all cases) is Alzheimer's disease (AD); a progressive neurodegenerative illness for which there is no curative or disease-stalling treatment. Due to increases in life expectancy, the incidence of AD is predicted to triple by 2050 unless disease-modifying treatments are developed. This research program will provide novel realistic pharmaceutical approaches to treat AD. Even if the onset of AD could be delayed by a few years the personal and financial benefits would be enormous. The potential for this research to generate commercially viable Australian intellectual property is also significant.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354494
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
BRAINnet:
Brain Research And Integrative Neuroscience Network. The brain is the ultimate frontier of science, and its complexity requires an integrative approach to neuroscience. This initiative will facilitate a unique integration of disciplines (biological, physical, computational) and scales of focus (single neurons to networks to whole-brain), within a high profile Network of Australian and international players. The Network will be harnessed by a centralized hub for sharing of data and tec ....BRAINnet:
Brain Research And Integrative Neuroscience Network. The brain is the ultimate frontier of science, and its complexity requires an integrative approach to neuroscience. This initiative will facilitate a unique integration of disciplines (biological, physical, computational) and scales of focus (single neurons to networks to whole-brain), within a high profile Network of Australian and international players. The Network will be harnessed by a centralized hub for sharing of data and techniques, and mentoring of early career researchers. The principal socio-economic and discovery outcomes will flow from the exceptionally strong foundations in fundamental and applied science, established collaboration, and demonstrated capacity for development and commercialization of frontier biotechnologies.Read moreRead less
Cellular and Neurochemical Basis of Drug Addiction. Addiction to the major drugs of abuse, including heroin, amphetamines, cocaine, nicotine and alcohol damage the lives and cause premature death of more than 20% of Australians. Addiction produces long-term disruption of brain processes that lead to loss of control over urges to consume drugs and persistent cycles of relapse to drug taking. This research will apply new neurochemical approaches to discover mechanisms of disrupted brain function t ....Cellular and Neurochemical Basis of Drug Addiction. Addiction to the major drugs of abuse, including heroin, amphetamines, cocaine, nicotine and alcohol damage the lives and cause premature death of more than 20% of Australians. Addiction produces long-term disruption of brain processes that lead to loss of control over urges to consume drugs and persistent cycles of relapse to drug taking. This research will apply new neurochemical approaches to discover mechanisms of disrupted brain function that occur during development of addiction and relapse that are critical for development of better strategies to treat the disorder. Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0566756
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$95,254.00
Summary
Application for funding to develop a software grid for data-sharing associated with the NISAD/LONI Virtual Brain Bank. This project will produce tools to enhance collaboration between researchers at physically disparate locations. It builds on emerging Grid computer network technology to create virtual research communities that permit secure sharing of geographically disjoint resources such as data collections, computer software and computer processing power. The project’s test case will creat ....Application for funding to develop a software grid for data-sharing associated with the NISAD/LONI Virtual Brain Bank. This project will produce tools to enhance collaboration between researchers at physically disparate locations. It builds on emerging Grid computer network technology to create virtual research communities that permit secure sharing of geographically disjoint resources such as data collections, computer software and computer processing power. The project’s test case will create a community of researchers into brain disease (e.g. schizophrenia) who are located in three Australian and one USA site and who will share their patient data, analysis tools and special-purpose computer equipment. The developed tools will allow relatively simple and rapid deployment of similar research grids suitable for a wide range of collaborative projects.Read moreRead less
Evaluating the Network Neuroscience of Human Cognition to Improve AI. This project will translate the brain’s inherent complexity into a set of explorable networks that will test the network theory of intelligence, and also be used to drive advances in next generation artificial neural networks. Our approach will catalyse new knowledge regarding how the complexity of the brain gives rise to cognition using innovative analyses inspired by physics and engineering. This fresh perspective on cogniti ....Evaluating the Network Neuroscience of Human Cognition to Improve AI. This project will translate the brain’s inherent complexity into a set of explorable networks that will test the network theory of intelligence, and also be used to drive advances in next generation artificial neural networks. Our approach will catalyse new knowledge regarding how the complexity of the brain gives rise to cognition using innovative analyses inspired by physics and engineering. This fresh perspective on cognition will accelerate understanding of normal cognitive function and also advance the development of advances in artificial neural network performance. Expected outcomes include methods to describe the computational signature of how cognition emerges from dynamic brain network activity and novel AI algorithms. Read moreRead less
Role of the complement system in the healthy and diseased central nervous system. The investigation into the role of the immune system in the central nervous system will increase our understanding of the causes behind the neurodegenerative process in aging individuals. This research will also indicate the potential for new types of anti-inflammatory drugs, to be used to slow the neurodegenerative process occurring naturally in the aging brain. These drugs could also be useful in treating drastic ....Role of the complement system in the healthy and diseased central nervous system. The investigation into the role of the immune system in the central nervous system will increase our understanding of the causes behind the neurodegenerative process in aging individuals. This research will also indicate the potential for new types of anti-inflammatory drugs, to be used to slow the neurodegenerative process occurring naturally in the aging brain. These drugs could also be useful in treating drastic neurodegenerative diseases such as motor neuron disease, Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease. Of these, only Parkinson's disease currently has some effective treatments. Community and National benefits would be increased health, decreased stress and major economic savings.Read moreRead less
Identifying genes that influence clinical course and susceptibility in multiple sclerosis. This project aims to identify the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common neurologic disease in young Australian adults. MS urgently needs research to identify predisposition, aid early diagnosis and provide bona fide molecular targets for new therapies. This will benefit people with MS and those susceptible to it. Crucial new knowledge identified will benefit other major areas of MS rese ....Identifying genes that influence clinical course and susceptibility in multiple sclerosis. This project aims to identify the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common neurologic disease in young Australian adults. MS urgently needs research to identify predisposition, aid early diagnosis and provide bona fide molecular targets for new therapies. This will benefit people with MS and those susceptible to it. Crucial new knowledge identified will benefit other major areas of MS research including epidemiology, immunology and neurobiology. Collaboration of 8 major Australian institutions is also important for this project and future studies. The team will have access to a new national MS GeneBank (platform) with samples from 2240 patients that should generate findings important to world-wide MS genetic knowledge.Read moreRead less