The Evolution Of Symptoms Of Common Mental Disorders Across Adolescence And Young Adulthood
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$292,639.00
Summary
Mental health is a major public health priority. Mental illness such as depression and anxiety is becoming more common in adolescents and young adults, yet the development of specific symptoms of these disorders is not well understood. The Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study evaluates the mental health of nearly 2000 young people at 9 points over 14 years. Establishing which symptoms appear first, when, and for how long, will aid targetting of prevention and intervention programs.
Dissecting The Role Of Cortico-striatal Circuitry On Habit Formation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,768.00
Summary
Decisions are made based on actions and outcomes, but over time repeated actions become habits. They are no longer determined by outcomes and are dysfunctional in many disorders such as OCD, addiction and Tourette’s syndrome. How the brain changes during habit formation is not known. I will characterise the role of a specific neural circuit to determine how it influences habit development. This will improve our knowledge of normal learning processes and help us understand habitual dysfunction.
Mnemonic Segregation: Understanding The Neural Circuitry Of Parkinson’s Disease Dementia.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,768.00
Summary
To investigate neural circuitry allowing distinct memories to co-exist while minimising interference. Dementia involves a breakdown of this system, where memories are no longer segregated or tagged by environmental features. I also aim to find behavioural techniques which allow memories formed in therapy to generalise to patients’ home environments. By understanding the process of segregating memories we can develop interventions where this fails and manipulate it to improve clinical practice.
Adolescence is a period of increased vulnerability to anxiety disorders. Recent research has shown that adolescents may not effectively utilise prefrontal brain regions to inhibit fear. This project investigates how fear is inhibited in the adolescent brain. Specifically, this project examines how prefrontal circuits are involved in inhibiting fear in the adolescent rat. This research will work towards developing new approaches for reducing fear and anxiety in adolescence.
An Investigation Of The Brain Mechanisms Of Alcohol Relapse And Compulsive Alcohol Use
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$347,788.00
Summary
This project aims to uncover the brain mechanisms of two significant aspects of alcoholism. The experiments will use recently developed animal models to investigate how the brain promotes relapse to alcohol seeking after abstinence is imposed by punishment, and how the brain mediates compulsive alcohol seeking that persists despite punishment. The results of this project may open up avenues for future translational research into new treatment options for alcoholism.