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
Operation of nerve cell networks in the neocortex. In humans, intellectual disabilities occur when nerve cells in the neocortex, the most complicated area of the brain, fail to function correctly. The goal of this project is to understand how neocortical areas communicate and how changes in the structure of neurons disturb their function; work that will lead to a better understanding of the operation of the neocortex.
Deep Downunder: designing a deep-sea exploration and discovery capability for Australia. Exploration of the deep-sea with the modern technologies to be developed by Deep-Downunder is a first for Australia. We aim to explore and discover life at depths from 50-3000m off The Great Barrier Reef, around the seamounts of Lord Howe Island and Tasmania and in the deep canyons of WA and SA. We expect to discover new species, hope for a glimpse of giant squid at home and will answer specific questions on ....Deep Downunder: designing a deep-sea exploration and discovery capability for Australia. Exploration of the deep-sea with the modern technologies to be developed by Deep-Downunder is a first for Australia. We aim to explore and discover life at depths from 50-3000m off The Great Barrier Reef, around the seamounts of Lord Howe Island and Tasmania and in the deep canyons of WA and SA. We expect to discover new species, hope for a glimpse of giant squid at home and will answer specific questions on Australia's ocean biology, fisheries and biotechnology never before approachable. To be effective guardians of Australian waters we must learn what lies in the depths we can't see from a boat.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL140100197
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,970,898.00
Summary
Revealing the invisible: new principles of vision in Australian animals. Revealing the invisible: new principles of vision in Australian animals. This project aims to reveal how the visual systems of marine creatures from the Great Barrier Reef receive and interpret colour and polarisation information, much of which is invisible to the human eye. It aims to utilise this data to tackle fundamental questions in neuroscience and inform bio-inspired camera design and machine-vision solutions. The re ....Revealing the invisible: new principles of vision in Australian animals. Revealing the invisible: new principles of vision in Australian animals. This project aims to reveal how the visual systems of marine creatures from the Great Barrier Reef receive and interpret colour and polarisation information, much of which is invisible to the human eye. It aims to utilise this data to tackle fundamental questions in neuroscience and inform bio-inspired camera design and machine-vision solutions. The resulting new generation of polarisation cameras will be used to characterise the environments, animals and brains that inspired them in the first place. This will help the understanding of how nervous systems convey information and may improve our ability to detect dysfunction in neurons and other cells.Read moreRead less
The functions of reef fish colour patterns: how did the coral trout get its spots? How did the coral trout get its spots? Why are some reef fish striped yellow and blue while others dress in pink and orange blotches? This project goes beyond just interpreting animal colours and uses a new approach to reveal the meanings of whole body patterns. Uniquely, it does so through the eyes of the fish themselves.
Stomatopods v Cephalopods: discovery from an information coding arms-race. This proposal aims to unlock the power of a 400 million year old evolutionary arms race between two of earth's most successful predators, cephalopods (e.g. octopus) and mantis shrimp (stomatopods). New knowledge in vision (sensor design), neural coding (circuits and information flow) and behavioural (decisions and actions) innovations from these two groups will have fundamental and applied outcomes. The interdisciplinary ....Stomatopods v Cephalopods: discovery from an information coding arms-race. This proposal aims to unlock the power of a 400 million year old evolutionary arms race between two of earth's most successful predators, cephalopods (e.g. octopus) and mantis shrimp (stomatopods). New knowledge in vision (sensor design), neural coding (circuits and information flow) and behavioural (decisions and actions) innovations from these two groups will have fundamental and applied outcomes. The interdisciplinary and comparative nature of the project aims to amplify outcomes in questions of efficient neural coding, optical design and bio-inspired solutions. Benefits from the study include GPS-free navigation in marine engineering and rapid exposure of research results to millions of people through existing communication programs. Read moreRead less
New dimensions in colour and polarisation vision on The Great Barrier Reef. Many animals possess colour vision that outperforms humans and some also have a type of vision we lack altogether, polarisation vision. By comparing design and discovering strategies from the sensory systems of animals on The Great Barrier Reef, the project will enhance our knowledge of their sensory world, their ecosystem and broader visual neuroscience.
Processing of social communication calls in primate auditory cortex. This research will advance our understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in perception of sound. This will help to understand disorders of speech and hearing following brain damage and may assist in efforts to develop better hearing aids, as well as other speech recognition technologies. In addition, we will develop a primate for studying processing of sound in the brain that will be useful in future research to develop ....Processing of social communication calls in primate auditory cortex. This research will advance our understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in perception of sound. This will help to understand disorders of speech and hearing following brain damage and may assist in efforts to develop better hearing aids, as well as other speech recognition technologies. In addition, we will develop a primate for studying processing of sound in the brain that will be useful in future research to develop improved cochlear implants.Read moreRead less
A contractile cochlear frame - a possible new mechanism of sound adaptation. It is generally accepted that the rigid frame that harbours sensory structures in the hearing organs of modern higher vertebrates has only a passive supporting role. We have discovered a contractile component in the cartilaginous cochlear frame of the lizard Teratoscincus scincus and demonstrated that the tonus of the contractile tissue can be regulated. We hypothesize a new, previously unknown mechanism of slow mechani ....A contractile cochlear frame - a possible new mechanism of sound adaptation. It is generally accepted that the rigid frame that harbours sensory structures in the hearing organs of modern higher vertebrates has only a passive supporting role. We have discovered a contractile component in the cartilaginous cochlear frame of the lizard Teratoscincus scincus and demonstrated that the tonus of the contractile tissue can be regulated. We hypothesize a new, previously unknown mechanism of slow mechanical adaptation in the vertebrate hearing organ. The aim of the proposed project is to examine this hypothesis in more detail.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100433
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Cortical layer specific functional imaging of the human brain. This project aims to record layer specific cortical activity in humans by leveraging ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging. It expects to yield robust techniques for the general analysis of neuroimaging-based, layer-specific measurements. This project will progress the fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging as well as bring the field of neuroimaging closer to that of neurophysiology and thus facilitate collaboration ....Cortical layer specific functional imaging of the human brain. This project aims to record layer specific cortical activity in humans by leveraging ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging. It expects to yield robust techniques for the general analysis of neuroimaging-based, layer-specific measurements. This project will progress the fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging as well as bring the field of neuroimaging closer to that of neurophysiology and thus facilitate collaboration among researchers.Read moreRead less