Imaging genetics in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: shared neurocognitive endophenotypes. Combined, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder afflict approximately 506,000 Australians at any one time, and are leading causes of disability and national economic burden. This study will delineate genetic underpinnings for these conditions in association with specific neurocognitive dysfunctions that are common to both disorders. These findings have important implications for the implementation of perso ....Imaging genetics in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: shared neurocognitive endophenotypes. Combined, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder afflict approximately 506,000 Australians at any one time, and are leading causes of disability and national economic burden. This study will delineate genetic underpinnings for these conditions in association with specific neurocognitive dysfunctions that are common to both disorders. These findings have important implications for the implementation of personalised pharmaceutical treatments on the basis of genotype, and the development of therapeutic agents to target cognitive function. These results will also aid detection of premorbid psychotic illness in young individuals who may benefit from early intervention that may thwart the illness trajectory. Read moreRead less
Unraveling the role of N-acetyl-aspartate in normal brain function and disease. The purpose of this project is to define the role of the predominating brain chemical N-acetyl-aspartate for normal nerve cell function and as toxic agent causing neurological illness and severe mental health problems. Findings of this research will enhance the design of novel therapies involving pharmacological and genetic treatment.
Is 'junk DNA' involved in gene editing in human cells. Exciting results suggest that non-coding RNAs (ncRNA), some of which emanate from regions in the human genome traditionally known as “junk DNA”, actually function to regulate protein-coding gene transcription. The goal of this project is to explore the role of ncRNAs on a genome-wide level to determine those proteins involved in this process and to what extent this process results in directed genome editing. Knowledge of the ncRNA pathways m ....Is 'junk DNA' involved in gene editing in human cells. Exciting results suggest that non-coding RNAs (ncRNA), some of which emanate from regions in the human genome traditionally known as “junk DNA”, actually function to regulate protein-coding gene transcription. The goal of this project is to explore the role of ncRNAs on a genome-wide level to determine those proteins involved in this process and to what extent this process results in directed genome editing. Knowledge of the ncRNA pathways may lead to a novel methodology to activate silenced genes as well as determine the role of ncRNAs in genome evolution.Read moreRead less
AUSLearn: AUtomated Sample Learning for Object Recognition. This project aims to enable computers to learn how to effectively use training samples for object recognition. Training sample is the only source used by computers to learn recognising objects. This project creates a new research direction that will enable the first full exploration of the power of samples. The aims will be enabled by leveraging the recent advances in reinforcement learning, fast training algorithms, and by developing n ....AUSLearn: AUtomated Sample Learning for Object Recognition. This project aims to enable computers to learn how to effectively use training samples for object recognition. Training sample is the only source used by computers to learn recognising objects. This project creates a new research direction that will enable the first full exploration of the power of samples. The aims will be enabled by leveraging the recent advances in reinforcement learning, fast training algorithms, and by developing novel deep learning algorithms. The new algorithms will benefit a wide range of applications, e.g. to effectively use car crash training samples for accurately identifying potential road crashes in transport and to effectively use rare medical imaging training data for robustly diagnosing diseases in health.Read moreRead less
Roles of the kynurenine pathway in physiological and pathological brain function. This project will aim to study the metabolism of the essential amino acid tryptophan in the brain and its involvement in diseases including multiple sclerosis and brain tumours.
Identification of novel therapeutic targets for selectively eliminating cancer stem cells in paediatric leukaemia. Leukaemia is the most common form of cancer in children, and while the majority of children can be cured, those who relapse face a dire prognosis. It is widely believed that leukemic stem cells are responsible for relapse and this project will aim to unravel their underlying biology and identify new targets for therapeutic approaches to the disease.
mTOR signalling in serous ovarian cancer. Serous ovarian cancer is the most aggressive and lethal gynaecological cancer in Australian women. Activation of Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) is frequently observed and associated with poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients. However, the mechanisms dysregulating mTOR in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer are unknown. In preliminary studies, deletion of genes regulating mTOR signalling in up to 60 per cent of human serous ovarian cancer patien ....mTOR signalling in serous ovarian cancer. Serous ovarian cancer is the most aggressive and lethal gynaecological cancer in Australian women. Activation of Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) is frequently observed and associated with poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients. However, the mechanisms dysregulating mTOR in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer are unknown. In preliminary studies, deletion of genes regulating mTOR signalling in up to 60 per cent of human serous ovarian cancer patients was observed. This project will provide mechanistic details of involvement of mTOR signalling in pathogenesis of the serous ovarian carcinoma, and develop a rationale for targeting mTOR pathway in these patients. Read moreRead less
Innovative solutions to primary care management of back pain. Each year in Australia over $1billion is spent on low back pain treatment. Part of the reason for this massive expenditure is that back pain is extremely common. Most existing treatments involve highly skilled practitioners and considerable cost to the patient. This program of research will look at evaluating simple, low-cost care for patients with back pain. It will also consider the delivery of back pain care by community pharmacist ....Innovative solutions to primary care management of back pain. Each year in Australia over $1billion is spent on low back pain treatment. Part of the reason for this massive expenditure is that back pain is extremely common. Most existing treatments involve highly skilled practitioners and considerable cost to the patient. This program of research will look at evaluating simple, low-cost care for patients with back pain. It will also consider the delivery of back pain care by community pharmacists, an approach not previously evaluated. Prevention of recurrent back pain will also be studied. Such methods of delivering care will provide enormous savings to the health system while still ensuring best practice care for the patient.Read moreRead less
Real-time friction sensing, feedback and control for dexterous prosthetic and robotic manipulation. Prosthetic and robotic hands demonstrate poor dexterity during object manipulation, often dropping objects. Humans rarely allow objects to slip because we can sense when an object is slippery and adjust our grip. Exceptionally little research has been directed at replicating this ability to sense friction. This project aims to enable artificial hands to estimate frictional properties while graspin ....Real-time friction sensing, feedback and control for dexterous prosthetic and robotic manipulation. Prosthetic and robotic hands demonstrate poor dexterity during object manipulation, often dropping objects. Humans rarely allow objects to slip because we can sense when an object is slippery and adjust our grip. Exceptionally little research has been directed at replicating this ability to sense friction. This project aims to enable artificial hands to estimate frictional properties while grasping an object. Non-invasive methods to feed back this frictional information to an amputee will also be investigated. Finally, the friction-sensing system will be used to improve robotic gripper control. The outcomes of this research will significantly advance the fields of prosthetics, telesurgery, and service and manufacturing robotics.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