Understanding And Effectively Treating Cognitive And Functioning Impairments In Youth With Psychosis And Other Mental Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$431,000.00
Summary
Impaired thinking skills, such as memory, concentration and problem solving, emerge early in psychotic and other mental disorders, which has a negative impact on functioning in work and other daily activities. Current treatments are not very effective at addressing this. The research proposed in this fellowship will improve knowledge about these impairments and develop and test a range of interventions that treat thinking skill difficulties and improve daily functioning in youth mental illness.
Regenerative Neuroscience Strategies For Brain Ageing And Dementia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,079.00
Summary
Dementia is the pre-eminent medical challenge of our times as it affects 34 million individuals and will quadruple by 2050. This research therefore aims to develop new preventative and therapeutic strategies for dementia. Seven different studies are proposed, ranging from new stem-cell treatments for testing in rodents, to human clinical trials looking at the preventative effects of physical and mental exercise. These are linked by a central idea of boosting the brain’s neuroplasticity.
Exploring The Neuropathophysiology Of Autism Spectrum Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$417,939.00
Summary
There are currently no validated biomedical techniques for diagnosing or treating autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This project will use cutting-edge neuroscience techniques to better understand the neurobiology of ASD and how neurobiological impairments relate to specific symptoms. These results will promote a better understanding of the brain basis of ASD, and may provide realistic targets for the development of new biomedical methods for diagnosis and treatment.
Mood and anxiety disorders represent a tremendous cause of disability and morbidity. This research will use cutting-edge brain imaging technologies to understand why these disorders typically emerge in young people and whether brain imaging can reliably predict the effectiveness of different treatments for individual patients.
Neuroimaging In Mental Health: The Quest For Clinically Useful Biomarkers
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$437,034.00
Summary
To ultimately improve treatment of mental illness, this research program aims to detect robust and reliable neuroimaging markers that are associated with affective disorders by pooling data from many samples across the world. Moreover, this research aims to develop alternative biological-based classifications of mental illness in young people, and evaluate their clinical value by examining their predictive value for treatment response and disease course.
Improving The Mental Health Outcomes Of Australian Young People
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$437,034.00
Summary
A majority of mental health problems begin in adolescence and young adulthood, but we lack effective prevention and early intervention strategies for poor mental health in young people. My aim is to improve the prevention of mental disorders in young people, and improve treatments and service provision for young people, with a focus on Aboriginal and transgender individuals. The findings will have important implications for prevention strategies and clinical care.
Connecting The Dots: Novel Social Media Technologies For Long-term Functional Recovery In First Episode Psychosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$432,528.00
Summary
The aim of this program of research is to evaluate the effectiveness of innovative online social media and mobile-based interventions purposely designed to improve long-term recovery in youth mental health (i.e., early psychosis and youth depression). These pioneering interventions have been designed by a large multidisciplinary team through the integration of cutting-edge social media technologies, new psychological models and strong consumer-youth participation.