Developing A Prototype Of A Next Generation Brain Computer Interface
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$837,398.00
Summary
Persons affected by quadriplegia and hemiplegia from stroke and spinal cord injury have few treatment options. Brain Machine Interfaces reconnect brain to a prosthetic limb, bypassing damaged nervous system. Our group has developed a BMI that can be implanted minimally-invasively, inside a blood vessel in the brain. We propose to manufacture a world-first device for a human clinical trial pilot study. The aim is to restore mechanical control over the physical environment for a paralysed patient.
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Phenotypes And Treatment In Quadriplegia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$599,635.00
Summary
Losing function in your arms and legs after an injury (quadriplegia) is a catastrophic event. Quadriplegia also results in obstructive sleep apnoea; a condition where the throat closes repeatedly while asleep causing sleepiness, poor concentration and cardiovascular diseases like stroke. Despite most people with quadriplegia having this disease, the cause is unknown. This project will thoroughly investigate obstructive sleep apnoea causes in people with quadriplegia and test a possible treatment
Molecular Targets Of Amino Acid/neurotransmitter Conjugates Of Fatty Acids
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$846,390.00
Summary
This project investigates endogenous chemicals that affect cells important for detecting and responding to pain. We aim to discover how these compounds affect proteins important for nerve cell function, particularly proteins that have a prominent role in detecting and transmitting painful events. The compounds we examine are not themselves likely to be drugs, but future therapies may involve manipulating the levels of these chemicals in the body, or using drugs that mimic the activity of these c ....This project investigates endogenous chemicals that affect cells important for detecting and responding to pain. We aim to discover how these compounds affect proteins important for nerve cell function, particularly proteins that have a prominent role in detecting and transmitting painful events. The compounds we examine are not themselves likely to be drugs, but future therapies may involve manipulating the levels of these chemicals in the body, or using drugs that mimic the activity of these compounds.Read moreRead less
Spinal Cord Injury Pain: Understanding Mechanisms To Develop Treatments
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$597,675.00
Summary
Spinal cord injury has devastating effects on health and quality of life. Many of the major consequences of injury, such as chronic pain and loss of voluntary voiding, are "invisible" – i.e., they are not as visible as limitations of mobility. Our study aims to define the neurobiological changes that cause development of persistent pain after spinal cord injury and use pharmacological tools to attenuate the development of pain.
The Molecular Basis For Target Selection In The Central Nervous System By Sensory Axons
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$251,325.00
Summary
The normal function of the brain depends upon the specific connections that nerve cells make with each other. These connections are set up in the developing embryo when nerve cells send out long processes - axons - which grow towards their synaptic targets. How axons select their correct targets from amongst the millions of alternatives in the developing brain is unknown. A better understanding of this problem will help us develop therapies to assist regenerating axons re-establish correct conne ....The normal function of the brain depends upon the specific connections that nerve cells make with each other. These connections are set up in the developing embryo when nerve cells send out long processes - axons - which grow towards their synaptic targets. How axons select their correct targets from amongst the millions of alternatives in the developing brain is unknown. A better understanding of this problem will help us develop therapies to assist regenerating axons re-establish correct connections following injury to the brain or spinal cord. We propose to use a simple model system, the embryo of the fruitfly Drosophila, to find molecules that are involved in this process of neuron target recognition - ' axon targeting' molecules - and to study how they work. Drosophila can be genetically manipulated in ways not possible in higher animals. Furthermore the simplicity of its nervous system means that we can determine the connections of individual nerve cells with a high degree of precision. In the first part of our project, we will examine Drosophila embryos that carry mutations in genes suspected to code for targeting molecules. We will stain individual sensory nerve cells in these embryos with dyes to reveal the anatomy of their axons in the brain. If sensory axons terminate abnormally in the brain of a given mutant, the affected gene is likely to code for an axon targeting molecule. In the second part of the study, we will investigate the functions of candidate axon targeting molecules using two approaches. Firstly, we will seek to determine whether the molecule acts in the sensory axons or in their target cells. Secondly, we will use time-lapse microscopy to study how the homing behaviour of the sensory axons is affected in mutant embryos. The results of these studies will lead us closer to an answer to the question: How do axons recognise their specific target cells in the brain?Read moreRead less
The Role Of Cell Adhesion Molecules In Regulation Of Axon Advance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,006.00
Summary
All cells contain on their surface a class of molecules, cell adhesion molecules, that enable them to adhere to other cells in tissues. Cell adhesion molecules have long been known to be involved in the guidance of axons to their targets during development. However the molecular mechanisms by which these molecules act are largely unknown. We propose to use the powerful genetic tools available in the fruitfly to dissect the mechanisms by which two cell adhesion molecules promote axon growth.
Robust face detection and recognition for computer-based security surveillance. The research aims at improving the existing and creating new automated face detection and recognition methods by making them invariant, firstly to head pose, orientation, scale and rotation, and then to occlusion, lighting conditions and facial expressions.
A robust face detector will be developed first and then a new face recognition algorithm that continues to learn identity-specific discriminants on-line by co ....Robust face detection and recognition for computer-based security surveillance. The research aims at improving the existing and creating new automated face detection and recognition methods by making them invariant, firstly to head pose, orientation, scale and rotation, and then to occlusion, lighting conditions and facial expressions.
A robust face detector will be developed first and then a new face recognition algorithm that continues to learn identity-specific discriminants on-line by collecting incremental face exemplars. The result of the research will be an algorithm that can improve its performance on-line adapting in a stable learning process each identity model to the correct facial examples.
The research has significant practical implication in visual surveillance increasing the robustness of identification of person identity, state and intent.
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Intruder alert! detecting and classifying events in noisy time series. This project aims to address the mathematical challenges in automated early detection and classification of intrusion events in noisy time series generated from perimeter security systems. The project expects to develop robust methods to detect intrusion events under different operating environments while ignoring nuisance events. The project will boost the global competitiveness of the Australian security industry, and enabl ....Intruder alert! detecting and classifying events in noisy time series. This project aims to address the mathematical challenges in automated early detection and classification of intrusion events in noisy time series generated from perimeter security systems. The project expects to develop robust methods to detect intrusion events under different operating environments while ignoring nuisance events. The project will boost the global competitiveness of the Australian security industry, and enable improved event detection and classification in noisy time series to the benefit of many critical application areas beyond national security.Read moreRead less
Surviving the data deluge: Scalable feature extraction, discrimination and analysis for computer vision tasks using compressed sensed data. Strategically, our pioneering solutions besides being technically and socially significant, open fresh options for sensor-agnostic data analysis. The technical significance lies through the creation of new technologies for the critical national and global security markets, currently overwhelmed by data. The social significance arises from our solutions being ....Surviving the data deluge: Scalable feature extraction, discrimination and analysis for computer vision tasks using compressed sensed data. Strategically, our pioneering solutions besides being technically and socially significant, open fresh options for sensor-agnostic data analysis. The technical significance lies through the creation of new technologies for the critical national and global security markets, currently overwhelmed by data. The social significance arises from our solutions being privacy preserving, providing new avenues for the production of novel, socially acceptable products for aged care monitoring. Our methods spearhead future advancement in diverse disciplines due to the wide applicability of the methods to other sensor networks (Square Kilometre Array) and data types, providing new frameworks for addressing crucial problems of data management. Read moreRead less
Non-Contact In-process Shape Measurement of Windscreens. Optical techniques have been widely used for non-contact measurement of the 3-D shape of diffusely reflecting surfaces. However, there is no evidence for the successful implementation of a real-time shape measurement system for large specular surfaces, despite the many important industrial applications. The aim of this project is to develop optically-based techniques to measure the shape of specular and transparent surfaces in real time in ....Non-Contact In-process Shape Measurement of Windscreens. Optical techniques have been widely used for non-contact measurement of the 3-D shape of diffusely reflecting surfaces. However, there is no evidence for the successful implementation of a real-time shape measurement system for large specular surfaces, despite the many important industrial applications. The aim of this project is to develop optically-based techniques to measure the shape of specular and transparent surfaces in real time in an industrial environment. The main outcome of the research will be a prototype on-line shape measurement system to control the quality of car windscreens.Read moreRead less