Chromatic Inputs to Cortical Receptive Fields in Primates. The human eye contains three kinds of receptors for daytime vision, named blue, green and red cones for their sensitivity to different regions of the visible spectrum. It is known that blue cones contribute to brain pathways for colour vision, but recent data suggest there is also 'cross-talk' of blue cone signals to pathways for motion and high-acuity vision. This project comprises precise measurement of blue cone signals, and anatomica ....Chromatic Inputs to Cortical Receptive Fields in Primates. The human eye contains three kinds of receptors for daytime vision, named blue, green and red cones for their sensitivity to different regions of the visible spectrum. It is known that blue cones contribute to brain pathways for colour vision, but recent data suggest there is also 'cross-talk' of blue cone signals to pathways for motion and high-acuity vision. This project comprises precise measurement of blue cone signals, and anatomical tracing of blue cone pathways, in a primate model for human vision. The data will improve our basic knowledge of how the brain processes sensory signals.Read moreRead less
The Claustrum Enigma: Unlocking The Role Of The Last Unknown Area Of The Primate Brain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$558,364.00
Summary
Despite nearly 200 years of study, the function of the claustrum remains unclear. Interest in this brain structure has recently been revived by findings showing damage to the claustrum in several major diseases, and by the suggestion that the claustrum may have a role in consciousness. Here we propose a series of experiments to test the novel hypothesis that the claustrum is part of the default mode network, a group of brain areas that act together when we aren't thinking about anything in parti ....Despite nearly 200 years of study, the function of the claustrum remains unclear. Interest in this brain structure has recently been revived by findings showing damage to the claustrum in several major diseases, and by the suggestion that the claustrum may have a role in consciousness. Here we propose a series of experiments to test the novel hypothesis that the claustrum is part of the default mode network, a group of brain areas that act together when we aren't thinking about anything in particular, that is- most of the time.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0452971
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$102,900.00
Summary
Optical imaging of brain activity: Studies of the neural basis of sensory perception, plasticity and behaviour. Basic to the understanding of the brain is to know how the overall architecture of the nervous system relates to its function. We propose to study this by directly visualising the regions that are functionally active in the living brains of animals, down to resolution limits of less than 100 micrometres. Such "optical imaging" will be done by recording light reflected from the surfac ....Optical imaging of brain activity: Studies of the neural basis of sensory perception, plasticity and behaviour. Basic to the understanding of the brain is to know how the overall architecture of the nervous system relates to its function. We propose to study this by directly visualising the regions that are functionally active in the living brains of animals, down to resolution limits of less than 100 micrometres. Such "optical imaging" will be done by recording light reflected from the surface of the brain, which in turn depends upon activity-dependent intrinsic signals (eg. degree of oxygenation of haemoglobin). These signals will be recorded by a special camera and amplified using the requested system.Read moreRead less
Building a visual world: how brain circuits create and use representations. This project aims to demonstrate the presence, computation, and use of an invariant representation for texture structure. The proposed approach is interdisciplinary and combines image analysis, electrophysiology, optogenetics and computational modelling.
Expected outcomes of this project include learning how neurons encode properties of natural images, defining a novel computational tool for analysis of textures, and ne ....Building a visual world: how brain circuits create and use representations. This project aims to demonstrate the presence, computation, and use of an invariant representation for texture structure. The proposed approach is interdisciplinary and combines image analysis, electrophysiology, optogenetics and computational modelling.
Expected outcomes of this project include learning how neurons encode properties of natural images, defining a novel computational tool for analysis of textures, and new knowledge of how multiple brain areas work together to represent the visual world. This should provide significant benefits for the development of artificial visual systems, and impact on brain research broadly by increasing the number of tools available to predict complex representations at the cellular level.Read moreRead less
Neural origins of conscious perception in no-report paradigms. This project aims to test two highly influential theories of consciousness. The project will be the first to test critical experimental conditions, where neural activities are recorded in humans and novel measures of causality are computed, which allows us to distinguish the two theories. The intended outcomes will provide significant benefits by bringing us closer to solve the mind-body problem. These outcomes can contribute to the ....Neural origins of conscious perception in no-report paradigms. This project aims to test two highly influential theories of consciousness. The project will be the first to test critical experimental conditions, where neural activities are recorded in humans and novel measures of causality are computed, which allows us to distinguish the two theories. The intended outcomes will provide significant benefits by bringing us closer to solve the mind-body problem. These outcomes can contribute to the development of engineering and clinical devices that utilise objective measures of consciousness.Read moreRead less
Functional imaging of colour pathways in the living eye. In order to repair or regenerate a diseased eye, we require knowledge of the normal pattern or nerve cell connections, and knowing how biology solves the problem of colour vision can be used to improve the design of artificial vision systems. The adaptive optics machine we will build in this project can be used to image nerve cells, fine blood vessels, and nerve fibre bundles in the normal and diseased eye. This will improve Australia's re ....Functional imaging of colour pathways in the living eye. In order to repair or regenerate a diseased eye, we require knowledge of the normal pattern or nerve cell connections, and knowing how biology solves the problem of colour vision can be used to improve the design of artificial vision systems. The adaptive optics machine we will build in this project can be used to image nerve cells, fine blood vessels, and nerve fibre bundles in the normal and diseased eye. This will improve Australia's research and development capacity in this new area of medical diagnostics. Our machine will be made available to other Australian laboratories and will improve the national capacity for making further scientific discoveries about how the visual system works.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775747
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$160,000.00
Summary
Distributed Medical Image Analysis and Visualisation Engine (MedVis). Improved understanding of neurological processes is crucial to improving clinical outcomes for patients. MedVis will contribute in three ways: support development of new methods of interpretation and analysis of complex neurological studies, allowing current methods to be applied more efficiently, and enabling distributed simulations and visualisations in real-time from remote sites.
The leading-edge, grid-based, software and ....Distributed Medical Image Analysis and Visualisation Engine (MedVis). Improved understanding of neurological processes is crucial to improving clinical outcomes for patients. MedVis will contribute in three ways: support development of new methods of interpretation and analysis of complex neurological studies, allowing current methods to be applied more efficiently, and enabling distributed simulations and visualisations in real-time from remote sites.
The leading-edge, grid-based, software and computational techniques developed for the project will enable visualization, analysis and modelling of massive volumes of image and other visualisation data. This capability is important in medical research where large visualisation data volumes are being created and studied by experts remote from each other.
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Central pathways regulating visceral pain. This project aims to investigate the neural pathways within the spinal cord and brain processing colorectal pain perception. The project aims to identify the spinal cord neurons relaying colorectal signalling into the brain and the influence of descending modulation from the brainstem upon these pathways. The outcomes will greatly benefit fundamental understanding of the central pathways processing visceral pain.
Structural-functional connectivity in the brain. This project aims to develop magnetic resonance imaging analysis methods to non-invasively study brain connectivity. Recent advances in imaging can comprehensively describe the brain’s complex network of functional and structural connections (the brain ‘connectome’). This project will simultaneously investigate structural and functional connectivity, and characterise the dynamic properties of the connectome using graph-theoretic approaches. This p ....Structural-functional connectivity in the brain. This project aims to develop magnetic resonance imaging analysis methods to non-invasively study brain connectivity. Recent advances in imaging can comprehensively describe the brain’s complex network of functional and structural connections (the brain ‘connectome’). This project will simultaneously investigate structural and functional connectivity, and characterise the dynamic properties of the connectome using graph-theoretic approaches. This project should give neuroscientists computational tools to comprehensively map the network architecture of the human brain.Read moreRead less
The processing of sensory information within cortical circuits. This project aims to improve our knowledge of neuronal activity during sensory perception and therefore shed light on overall brain function during behaviour. Understanding how dendrites receive and process this information is crucial to understanding brain function during sensory processing and perception. This proposal aims to characterise dendritic activity during sensory input and discover how this activity contributes to behavi ....The processing of sensory information within cortical circuits. This project aims to improve our knowledge of neuronal activity during sensory perception and therefore shed light on overall brain function during behaviour. Understanding how dendrites receive and process this information is crucial to understanding brain function during sensory processing and perception. This proposal aims to characterise dendritic activity during sensory input and discover how this activity contributes to behavioural tasks. In particular, the project plans to investigate activity of different dendritic domains during sensory perception and sensory-based behaviour. The project seeks to improve our knowledge of the importance of dendrites in transforming information from the sensory environment and highlight the cellular and network mechanisms contributing to behaviour.Read moreRead less