Perceiving Is Believing: Perceptual Inference Anomalies In Schizophrenia.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$344,824.00
Summary
In this study we explore the brain-ability-behaviour relationships that can explain causes of the severe mental illness, schizophrenia. Changes in the brain in schizophrenia affect how people perceive the world around them. Perception relies on our ability to use information in memory to shape what we perceive. We will study brain activity and task abilities that help us to understand where why and how this process becomes disrupted in the brain in persons with schizophrenia.
Elucidating The Role Of Transthalamic Pathways In Cortical Processing
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$792,688.00
Summary
Your brain senses the world and produces a suitable motor response by processing information between brain regions, such as primary sensory cortex to secondary cortex. Surprisingly, cortical pathways have a parallel route through the thalamus (transthalamic pathways) but their function is entirely unknown. We will use novel genetic and viral tools to shut down neural pathways while mice make decisions, thus identifying new circuits in our understanding of disorders with cognitive deficits.
Betacellulin: Defining A Novel Sub-type In Schizophrenia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$907,515.00
Summary
Schizophrenia is a severe lifelong mental disorder affecting 0.7% of the world population with only partially effective symptomatic treatments. Its cause is unknown and thus cures cannot be developed currently. A promising candidate is betacellulin a growth factor which is very reduced in the brain and blood of people with schizophrenia. Little is known about its role in the brain and this project seeks to identify its relevance to schizophrenia as a step to develop new treatments.
Characterising The Muscarinic Receptor Deficit In Schizophrenia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$476,543.00
Summary
Post-mortem examination of the brains of schizophrenia patients reveals a substantial loss of muscarinic receptors. This is likely to be clinically very important if it can also be confirmed in living patients. Having developed a new scanning technique that shows muscarinic receptors in the living brain, we will now scan patients with schizophrenia to see if they also show this receptor loss, and see how it affects them. This could open new doors to understanding and treating the disease.
Predicting Clozapine Treatment Response In Psychotic Illness
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$721,526.00
Summary
Not everyone with a psychotic illness gets better when treated with standard antipsychotic medication. We aim to better understand why some people need a different medicine (clozapine), and to develop methods that will let us identify those people early and monitor how effective the treatment is.
Establishing The Neural Basis Of Auditory-verbal Hallucinations In Schizophrenia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$563,020.00
Summary
Auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVH) - or hearing voices when no one is talking - are characteristic and debilitating symptoms of schizophrenia. AVH have been hypothesized to reflect inner speech being misperceived as external speech. Our research team has developed an objective brain marker of inner speech. We will use this marker to determine whether AVH are caused by abnormal inner speech in people with schizophrenia. Findings will inform treatments for this incapacitating disorder.
ARX- A Hub Gene For A Common Biological Pathway In Schizophrenia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$707,974.00
Summary
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with no cure. I have identified that some people with schizophrenia show variations to a gene called ARX. This project will use preclinical mouse models to explore how variations to the Arx gene affect brain molecules, networks of cells and behavioural outcomes. This biological pathway will provide the framework for the identification of new molecules to target therapeutically to modify the biological course of schizophrenia and improve outcomes.