Enabling Technologies for Motion Corrected Positron Emission Tomography (PET) of Unanaesthetized Laboratory Animals. Small animal molecular imaging is a powerful tool in biological research and drug discovery. Anaesthesia is routinely used to avoid motion distortion, but can profoundly alter the biological process studied. This research will enable quantitative imaging of neurobiological phenomena in awake laboratory animals. It will create new opportunities for Australian basic researchers to ....Enabling Technologies for Motion Corrected Positron Emission Tomography (PET) of Unanaesthetized Laboratory Animals. Small animal molecular imaging is a powerful tool in biological research and drug discovery. Anaesthesia is routinely used to avoid motion distortion, but can profoundly alter the biological process studied. This research will enable quantitative imaging of neurobiological phenomena in awake laboratory animals. It will create new opportunities for Australian basic researchers to use innovative technology with expected high economic potential, and benefit small biotech companies by facilitating pre-clinical and clinical development of new pharmaceuticals. The new motion tracking and image reconstruction technologies developed will strengthen Australia's leading position in engineering and biomedical systems development.Read moreRead less
High resolution single particle analysis of biological macromolecules. One of the great challenges of cell biology is to increase the rate of atomic resolution structure determination, particularly of membrane proteins and macromolecular assemblies. The current rate-limiting step is high quality crystal production. Our goal is to prove that protein structures can be determined to atomic resolution by single-particle analysis. 3D structures will be produced by computationally aligning high-resolu ....High resolution single particle analysis of biological macromolecules. One of the great challenges of cell biology is to increase the rate of atomic resolution structure determination, particularly of membrane proteins and macromolecular assemblies. The current rate-limiting step is high quality crystal production. Our goal is to prove that protein structures can be determined to atomic resolution by single-particle analysis. 3D structures will be produced by computationally aligning high-resolution electron microscope images of individual, randomly oriented molecules. The importance of this project is highlighted by the fact over 120,000 protein sequences are already databased, a number set to increase rapidly as new genome sequencing projects are completed.
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Gain modulation and stability in biological neural systems. This project is relevant to the National Research Priority area of Frontier Technologies and addresses fundamental cross-disciplinary issues of control and information processing in large, distributed neural systems that are at the cutting edge of intelligent processing systems. Applications are in rapidly growing fields of robotics, machine learning, adaptive control and intelligent systems, all with applications in diverse areas of ec ....Gain modulation and stability in biological neural systems. This project is relevant to the National Research Priority area of Frontier Technologies and addresses fundamental cross-disciplinary issues of control and information processing in large, distributed neural systems that are at the cutting edge of intelligent processing systems. Applications are in rapidly growing fields of robotics, machine learning, adaptive control and intelligent systems, all with applications in diverse areas of economic importance. Applications to cochlear implant speech processing will provide benefit for the hearing impaired. The project will provide students with training at an international level within Australia, thus helping ensure Australia maintains and extends its science and technology base into the futureRead moreRead less
An Automated Bioimaging System for High-Content Cell-Cycle Screening. 1) Providing a better understanding of the biological complexities
that will advance knowledge in life science research and facilitate the development of new anti-cancer drugs.
2) Supporting Australian academic institutions in a challenging field of innovative research through international, interdisciplinary collaborations, and publications in journals of high quality scientific research.
3) Providing research training ....An Automated Bioimaging System for High-Content Cell-Cycle Screening. 1) Providing a better understanding of the biological complexities
that will advance knowledge in life science research and facilitate the development of new anti-cancer drugs.
2) Supporting Australian academic institutions in a challenging field of innovative research through international, interdisciplinary collaborations, and publications in journals of high quality scientific research.
3) Providing research training in a research venture that requires expertise and collaboration in the disciplines of biology, engineering, computer science, and mathematics.
4) Bringing economic and social benefits for Australia by enhancing important industries and existing technologies in medicine, and biotechnology.
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Understanding cortical processing: Neuronal activity and learning in recurrently connected networks. This project addresses fundamental cross-disciplinary issues of information processing and control in large-scale biological neural systems. This is an area of research that is at the cutting edge of intelligent processing systems. An understanding of these mechanisms would have considerable implications in areas that span a range of complex biological and artificial neural systems, including the ....Understanding cortical processing: Neuronal activity and learning in recurrently connected networks. This project addresses fundamental cross-disciplinary issues of information processing and control in large-scale biological neural systems. This is an area of research that is at the cutting edge of intelligent processing systems. An understanding of these mechanisms would have considerable implications in areas that span a range of complex biological and artificial neural systems, including the rapidly growing fields of robotics, machine learning, and adaptive control, all with applications in diverse areas of economic importance. The project will provide students with training at an international level within Australia, thus helping ensure Australia maintains and extends its science and technology base.Read moreRead less
Bio-inspired speech analysis: Specialised information processing of vocalisations in the auditory brainstem. This project has the potential to benefit bionic ear and hearing aid users through the development of signal processing methods that mimic the amazing abilities of the brain. Speech perception performance by bionic ear users has reached a plateau and these new strategies could produce the breakthrough needed to provide the next increase in performance. The benefit for greater improved hea ....Bio-inspired speech analysis: Specialised information processing of vocalisations in the auditory brainstem. This project has the potential to benefit bionic ear and hearing aid users through the development of signal processing methods that mimic the amazing abilities of the brain. Speech perception performance by bionic ear users has reached a plateau and these new strategies could produce the breakthrough needed to provide the next increase in performance. The benefit for greater improved hearing has enormous benefit and potential for improving the quality of life of the hearing impaired, especially those with severe and profound hearing loss. In addition, the algorithms may provide more robust automatic speech recognition, making this technology more useful in everyday situations; the markets that this would open up are enormous.Read moreRead less
Communication and information storage mechanisms in complex dynamical brain networks. Recordings of electrical activity in the brain often cycle repetitively. The aim of this research is to explain how these brain rhythms assist the brain to coordinate simultaneous activity in several regions. Australian socioeconomic benefits include: (i) contributions to the knowledge base of theoretical neuroscience, enhancing Australia's reputation for cutting-edge research; (ii) strengthening of internation ....Communication and information storage mechanisms in complex dynamical brain networks. Recordings of electrical activity in the brain often cycle repetitively. The aim of this research is to explain how these brain rhythms assist the brain to coordinate simultaneous activity in several regions. Australian socioeconomic benefits include: (i) contributions to the knowledge base of theoretical neuroscience, enhancing Australia's reputation for cutting-edge research; (ii) strengthening of international collaborations with Europe and Japan; (iii) outcomes will ultimately impact on improved medical bionics and future interfaces between brain activity and machines or computers; and (iv) commercialization and technology transfer opportunities, via the transfer of results to biologically inspired engineering.Read moreRead less
Computational Modeling of RNA Control Networks. One of the most exciting new ideas for understanding the regulation of gene expression involves the contribution of intronic and other non-protein coding RNAs to regulatory networks within cells. This novel role for intronic RNA is currently making headlines within the molecular biology community but has not yet been modelled computationally. The network of genetic regulatory interactions forms a complex system which is amenable to computational ....Computational Modeling of RNA Control Networks. One of the most exciting new ideas for understanding the regulation of gene expression involves the contribution of intronic and other non-protein coding RNAs to regulatory networks within cells. This novel role for intronic RNA is currently making headlines within the molecular biology community but has not yet been modelled computationally. The network of genetic regulatory interactions forms a complex system which is amenable to computational analysis. This project aims to extend current models to incorporate intronic RNA feedback control, complementing parallel studies in vivo, and computationally testing ideas essential to the theoretical understanding of the basis of life.Read moreRead less
A lossy compression paradigm for sensory neural coding. By applying new interdisciplinary theoretical results, this research aims to enhance our understanding of how the ear turns sounds into electrical signals in the presence of high levels of random noise. Socio-economic benefits to Australia include: (i) contributions to the knowledge base of theoretical neuroscience, and communications systems, enhancing Australia's reputation for cutting-edge research; (ii) strengthening of European interna ....A lossy compression paradigm for sensory neural coding. By applying new interdisciplinary theoretical results, this research aims to enhance our understanding of how the ear turns sounds into electrical signals in the presence of high levels of random noise. Socio-economic benefits to Australia include: (i) contributions to the knowledge base of theoretical neuroscience, and communications systems, enhancing Australia's reputation for cutting-edge research; (ii) strengthening of European international collaborations; (iii) outcomes that will ultimately impact on improved designs for bionic ears and future biomedical prosthetics; and (iv) commercialisation and technology transfer opportunities, via the transfer of results to wireless artificial sensor networks.Read moreRead less
Nonlinear Dynamics of Pulse Coupled Oscillators. A mathematical model of the heart pacemaker system will be created, based on simple interacting units. These units have been shown to be good models of physiological information e.g. the discrimination of different influences on heart rate. We will firstly look at the interaction of the units in simple combinations and then tune the model to mimic the behaviour of the cardiac pacemaker.
Potential benefits may arise from elucidating the mechanis ....Nonlinear Dynamics of Pulse Coupled Oscillators. A mathematical model of the heart pacemaker system will be created, based on simple interacting units. These units have been shown to be good models of physiological information e.g. the discrimination of different influences on heart rate. We will firstly look at the interaction of the units in simple combinations and then tune the model to mimic the behaviour of the cardiac pacemaker.
Potential benefits may arise from elucidating the mechanisms underlying arrhythmias which contribute to ?sudden cardiac death? in young men, and suggesting strategies for artificial pacemakers to effectively arrest abnormal rhythms before they convert to potentially fatal fibrillation.Read moreRead less