Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia. It is important to differentiate between children who have communication impairment (difficulty learning all languages) from those who only have difficulty learning subsequent language(s). Communication impairment in multilingual children is both undiagnosed and over-diagnosed due to lack of culturally-sensitive measurement tools. Early intervention can ameliorate communication impairment in children and can reduce subsequent e ....Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia. It is important to differentiate between children who have communication impairment (difficulty learning all languages) from those who only have difficulty learning subsequent language(s). Communication impairment in multilingual children is both undiagnosed and over-diagnosed due to lack of culturally-sensitive measurement tools. Early intervention can ameliorate communication impairment in children and can reduce subsequent educational, social and occupational outcomes of untreated communication impairment. By working with people around the world, this Fellowship will result in the development of the International Speech Assessment designed to differentially identify children and to specify holistic early intervention goals.Read moreRead less
Involvement of the Human Retinal Endothelial Cell in Blinding Eye Disease. Endothelial cells line the blood vessels of the vascular networks that circulate blood through the tissues. The molecular constitution of each endothelial cell is different and specific to function, but may predispose to tissue-specific disease. Retinal endothelial cells ensure the nutrition and protection of a tissue critical to vision, but are key participants in retinal ischemic, inflammatory and infectious diseases th ....Involvement of the Human Retinal Endothelial Cell in Blinding Eye Disease. Endothelial cells line the blood vessels of the vascular networks that circulate blood through the tissues. The molecular constitution of each endothelial cell is different and specific to function, but may predispose to tissue-specific disease. Retinal endothelial cells ensure the nutrition and protection of a tissue critical to vision, but are key participants in retinal ischemic, inflammatory and infectious diseases that threaten vision. This project will investigate molecular activities of retinal endothelial cells that are relevant to retinal disease processes and explore future biological therapies directed against the human retinal endothelial cell that address efficacy and safety deficiencies of current treatments.Read moreRead less
Testing the Modularity of Memory. Researchers disagree about whether verbal and visual working memory (WM) storage occurs in separate modules. Recent evidence suggests that only verbal memoranda have access to a specialised module, while visual memories make use of more general resources. This project aims to re-examine interference between verbal and visual memoranda using statistical methods specialised for assessing whether multiple latent factors underlie performance on recognition memory ta ....Testing the Modularity of Memory. Researchers disagree about whether verbal and visual working memory (WM) storage occurs in separate modules. Recent evidence suggests that only verbal memoranda have access to a specialised module, while visual memories make use of more general resources. This project aims to re-examine interference between verbal and visual memoranda using statistical methods specialised for assessing whether multiple latent factors underlie performance on recognition memory tasks, examining adult and child populations. This is expected to influence applications of WM theory in many everyday settings, resulting in improvements in educational practices, workplace procedures, and clinical treatments that depend on theoretical understandings of limits in cognition.Read moreRead less
Understanding progressive vision loss in the eye disease glaucoma. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible vision loss in elderly Australians, although determining treatment failure is currently very dif?cult. This project will radically improve the measurement of glaucoma progression and treatment failure. We will also address fundamental questions regarding how glaucoma destroys vision.
Dynamic ocular imaging: New tools to study neurodegenerative disease. Neurovascular uncoupling occurs when blood supply and energy production is no longer responsive to the metabolic of nervous tissue. Neurovascular uncoupling is thought to be a key mechanism in the development of debilitating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and glaucoma. This project will be the first study to develop, validate and employ a comprehensive suite to simultaneously image blood flow, oxygen sa ....Dynamic ocular imaging: New tools to study neurodegenerative disease. Neurovascular uncoupling occurs when blood supply and energy production is no longer responsive to the metabolic of nervous tissue. Neurovascular uncoupling is thought to be a key mechanism in the development of debilitating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and glaucoma. This project will be the first study to develop, validate and employ a comprehensive suite to simultaneously image blood flow, oxygen saturation, metabolic activity and retinal function to understand neurovascular uncoupling in aging and age-related neurodegeneration. Read moreRead less
Parallel and generative binding in human visual cortex. Imagine watching a group of children running around in brightly coloured T-shirts. How does your brain keep track of which colour goes with which T-shirt goes with which child? This project will use magnetic resonance imaging to identify where in our brains information about colour, shape and motion gets put together.
Resolving multi-sensory conflict as we age: audio-visual integration and the role of normal and abnormal sensory decline. Australia has an ageing population. Even the healthiest older individuals undergo some deterioration of vision and hearing, however, these senses are almost invariably studied in isolation. The real world is multisensory. This project will enhance our knowledge of how ageing impacts on the interpretation of visual and auditory information regarding the timing and location of ....Resolving multi-sensory conflict as we age: audio-visual integration and the role of normal and abnormal sensory decline. Australia has an ageing population. Even the healthiest older individuals undergo some deterioration of vision and hearing, however, these senses are almost invariably studied in isolation. The real world is multisensory. This project will enhance our knowledge of how ageing impacts on the interpretation of visual and auditory information regarding the timing and location of objects; essential precursors to many real world tasks, for example: driving, interpreting speech, and hazard avoidance. This knowledge is essential for the optimisation of audio-visual environments for the elderly, and for the development of tools to improve performance in the presence of sensory decline due to age-related eye disease.Read moreRead less
The articulate brain. Language is essential to human interaction, yet we know comparatively little about the mental processes involved and how they are represented in the brain, how genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of language, or how effective treatments of language disorders work. The significance of this program of research lies in its capacity to enhance our understanding of a range of mechanisms responsible for a fundamentally human ability, and provide inform ....The articulate brain. Language is essential to human interaction, yet we know comparatively little about the mental processes involved and how they are represented in the brain, how genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of language, or how effective treatments of language disorders work. The significance of this program of research lies in its capacity to enhance our understanding of a range of mechanisms responsible for a fundamentally human ability, and provide information that will ultimately inform clinical practice. In particular, new knowledge about the brain mechanisms involved in language processing and recovery will inform clinicians about the optimal choice of treatment to maximise outcomes for the individual patient. Read moreRead less
Lipidomics of vision. Presbyopia and cataract are the major causes of visual impairment worldwide. Nevertheless, our understanding of lens ageing at both a cellular and molecular level is limited. This project will gain new insight into the effect of age on lens membrane lipids and their role in the development of presbyopia and cataract.
Determining the molecular regulation of blood vessel development and angiogenesis. Abnormal blood vessel growth is associated with diseases including cancer, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and chronic inflammation. This project focuses on understanding normal blood vessel growth in order to gather clues to help discover ways of preventing abnormal blood vessel growth during disease.