How brains become lateralised. This project aims to understand how the left and right sides of the brain become specialised for different cognitive functions, a phenomenon called lateralisation. Lateralisation is one of the least understood organisational principles of the brain, yet is crucial to the way we think and behave. Manifested most clearly as handedness, the brain is lateralised for many cognitive tasks such as language, reasoning, memory and emotion. However, the developmental origin ....How brains become lateralised. This project aims to understand how the left and right sides of the brain become specialised for different cognitive functions, a phenomenon called lateralisation. Lateralisation is one of the least understood organisational principles of the brain, yet is crucial to the way we think and behave. Manifested most clearly as handedness, the brain is lateralised for many cognitive tasks such as language, reasoning, memory and emotion. However, the developmental origin and anatomical substrate of most cognitive asymmetries are unknown. This project will use a chick model of brain lateralisation to quantify and localise to specific brain circuits the patterns of differential gene expression that give rise to anatomical and functional asymmetries.Read moreRead less
Revealing the mechanobiology of neural tube formation. This project aims to understand the formation of the neural tube; a fundamental tissue structure that generates the brain and the spinal cord. Using interdisciplinary approaches and exploiting recent advances in transgenic and imaging technologies, we expect to reveal the complex interplay between cells and their environment that generates mechanical forces to direct neural tissue formation. Outcomes include knowledge of previously intractab ....Revealing the mechanobiology of neural tube formation. This project aims to understand the formation of the neural tube; a fundamental tissue structure that generates the brain and the spinal cord. Using interdisciplinary approaches and exploiting recent advances in transgenic and imaging technologies, we expect to reveal the complex interplay between cells and their environment that generates mechanical forces to direct neural tissue formation. Outcomes include knowledge of previously intractable developmental processes, training of future scientists and development of international collaborations. This should provide enhanced imaging capacity, a higher quality scientific workforce and position Australia at the forefront of cell and developmental biology.Read moreRead less
Understanding the mechanisms of GABA type-A receptor activation and drug modulation. There is currently little understanding of how sedative and anxiolytic drugs, including valium, interact with their receptors in the brain. This project will dramatically increase our understanding of how these receptors work and how drugs affect their activity. This will provide new insights into drug discovery and design.
Neural circuits that mediate fear conditioning and extinction. Understanding of how the brain processes, stores and retrieves information and produces behavioural outcomes is in its infancy. This project will use electrophysiology and molecular techniques to understand the circuits that mediate one form of emotional learning.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102034
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
How did mammals evolve large brains? A multidisciplinary view from the pouch. This project applies novel data collection techniques to explain how the large brain sizes of today's mammals (including humans) are possible. The focus will be on brain structure, development, and evolution in the mostly Australian marsupials, whose ancestral mode of brain development makes them an ideal group for studies of brain size evolution.