The Role Of Corticothalamic Feedback On The Response Dynamics Of Thalamic Neurons
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$351,852.00
Summary
A fundamental question in neuroscience is how the brain selectively processes sensory information to generate a reliable representation of the world. Positioned in the centre of the brain, the thalamus plays a key role in sensory processing. This project investigates how the interaction between thalamus and cortex shapes the selection and gating of sensory information. This is a fundamental question in basic neuroscience with the potential to increase our knowledge about attentional deficits.
Analysing the protective role of platelets during malaria infection. Platelets protect the host during malarial infection. This project aims to study how platelets kill the malaria parasite by investigating the role of host molecules and their potential as novel antimalarial agents. The role of platelets in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria syndrome will also be investigated.
The Molecular Basis of Nanoparticle Resistance in Mixed-Species Biofilm. The project aims to understand how the globally significant mixed-species growth of pathogens develop resistance to silver nanoparticle, currently one of the most important alternative antimicrobials to antibiotics. The integrated research is to elucidate, for the first time, the nanoparticle multi-targeting toxicity on mixed-species bacterial community and how, in turn, the bacteria activate their cell-to-cell signalling f ....The Molecular Basis of Nanoparticle Resistance in Mixed-Species Biofilm. The project aims to understand how the globally significant mixed-species growth of pathogens develop resistance to silver nanoparticle, currently one of the most important alternative antimicrobials to antibiotics. The integrated research is to elucidate, for the first time, the nanoparticle multi-targeting toxicity on mixed-species bacterial community and how, in turn, the bacteria activate their cell-to-cell signalling for a synergistic defence to adapt to the nanoparticle toxicity. The pioneering knowledge is the foundation for technologies targeting the interspecies metabolite cross-talking to overcome the resistance phenomena, ensuring a long-term efficacy of the alternative antimicrobial on the difficult-to-control pathogenic growth.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100015
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$430,000.00
Summary
Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research . Australian facility for taphonomic experimental research: The aim of this project is to establish a unique Australian research facility dedicated to studying the physical, chemical, and biological processes of human decomposition. This facility will be the first of its kind in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, drawing together a collaborative team of experts in a broad range of taphonomy disciplines. The results of the research are ....Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research . Australian facility for taphonomic experimental research: The aim of this project is to establish a unique Australian research facility dedicated to studying the physical, chemical, and biological processes of human decomposition. This facility will be the first of its kind in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, drawing together a collaborative team of experts in a broad range of taphonomy disciplines. The results of the research are expected to advance our limited understanding of the taphonomic processes acting on remains in a natural Australian environment. The outcomes will assist police and forensic services to improve their procedures for searching, locating, recovering, and identifying missing persons, victims of homicide, and victims of disaster on both a national and international scale.Read moreRead less
Reducing flood loss - A data-assimilation framework for improving forecasting capability in sparsely gauged regions. Floods are the biggest and severest natural disaster we face year after year. Furthermore, there has been little improvement in our capability to prevent flood damage over past decades. This research proposes a paradigm shift in the way flood forecasting, warning and evacuation proceeds, using 21st century technologies for collecting and incorporating flood related data into exist ....Reducing flood loss - A data-assimilation framework for improving forecasting capability in sparsely gauged regions. Floods are the biggest and severest natural disaster we face year after year. Furthermore, there has been little improvement in our capability to prevent flood damage over past decades. This research proposes a paradigm shift in the way flood forecasting, warning and evacuation proceeds, using 21st century technologies for collecting and incorporating flood related data into existing modelling platforms. It is argued that assimilating real-time satellite soil moisture data into flood models can increase accuracy manifold, even if the images are uncertain. The understanding gained in course of the proposed project has the potential to significantly reduce the damage caused year after year, especially in the data poor regions of the world.Read moreRead less
Towards a high density silicon phase change memory device. This project builds upon our exciting recent findings that amorphous silicon can be transformed to a conducting crystalline phase following small-scale indentation. Furthermore the process is reversible as re-indentation can induce a transformation back to insulating amorphous silicon. This process appears to occur in extremely small (nanoscale) volumes of silicon. We plan to explore the viability of exploiting this behaviour to develo ....Towards a high density silicon phase change memory device. This project builds upon our exciting recent findings that amorphous silicon can be transformed to a conducting crystalline phase following small-scale indentation. Furthermore the process is reversible as re-indentation can induce a transformation back to insulating amorphous silicon. This process appears to occur in extremely small (nanoscale) volumes of silicon. We plan to explore the viability of exploiting this behaviour to develop an entirely new information storage system: a high-density silicon phase change memory. This project aims to study small-scale transformation behaviour in silicon and to design demonstrator memory devices based on both micro-electromechanical systems and solid state technologies.Read moreRead less
Reducing health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse peoples. This project aims to develop a greater understanding of migrants and the factors that predict poor health outcomes related to blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. The delayed access by migrants to healthcare from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds results in late diagnosis, low treatment uptake, and poorer health outcomes, with enhanced risk of infection and increased burden on the h ....Reducing health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse peoples. This project aims to develop a greater understanding of migrants and the factors that predict poor health outcomes related to blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. The delayed access by migrants to healthcare from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds results in late diagnosis, low treatment uptake, and poorer health outcomes, with enhanced risk of infection and increased burden on the health system. The data collected in this project will assist in developing health services to meet these needs.Read moreRead less
Characterisation of nanobubbles. Surprisingly, nano-sized bubbles have recently been found to exist in aqueous solutions. Classical theory tells us they should rapidly dissolve, yet they are stable for several days, a phenomenon which has only recently been explained. Despite this, nanobubbles are already used in cleaning processes and appear to have significant health benefits. They are being investigated in treatments for asthma and neurodegenerative diseases. In collaboration with a pharmaceu ....Characterisation of nanobubbles. Surprisingly, nano-sized bubbles have recently been found to exist in aqueous solutions. Classical theory tells us they should rapidly dissolve, yet they are stable for several days, a phenomenon which has only recently been explained. Despite this, nanobubbles are already used in cleaning processes and appear to have significant health benefits. They are being investigated in treatments for asthma and neurodegenerative diseases. In collaboration with a pharmaceutical company, the best means to produce and characterise nanobubbles will be investigated, as well as the conditions governing their stability. The project also aims to determine how the nanobubbles interact with surfaces in order to better control their properties and achieve a better understanding of these bubbles.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668421
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$650,000.00
Summary
A MEG-based cognitive neuroscience laboratory. At present there is no MEG system in Australia, whereas MEG systems are currently springing up in research institutions in many other countries across the globe. This project will enable Australia to remain at the forefront of research in the cognitive neurosciences, as well as provide training opportunities to Australian doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in the use of MEG in research. Finally, the MEG laboratory will allow Australian resea ....A MEG-based cognitive neuroscience laboratory. At present there is no MEG system in Australia, whereas MEG systems are currently springing up in research institutions in many other countries across the globe. This project will enable Australia to remain at the forefront of research in the cognitive neurosciences, as well as provide training opportunities to Australian doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in the use of MEG in research. Finally, the MEG laboratory will allow Australian researchers to fill important gaps in our understanding of several areas of cognitive neuroscience, including basic auditory and visual processing, the study of cognitive processing in schizophrenia and in children with dyslexia and/or specific language impairment.Read moreRead less
Towards efficient real-time generation of detectable musical macrostructure. Efficient generation of detectable large scale musical structure is needed for commercial audiovisual applications, and for creative music making. But computer mediation of music has focused elsewhere: on sound synthesis and sequencing, editing, mixing and notation. I will apply computational processes like the handling of chunks of genetic information in evolution, to generate large scale musical structure. I will con ....Towards efficient real-time generation of detectable musical macrostructure. Efficient generation of detectable large scale musical structure is needed for commercial audiovisual applications, and for creative music making. But computer mediation of music has focused elsewhere: on sound synthesis and sequencing, editing, mixing and notation. I will apply computational processes like the handling of chunks of genetic information in evolution, to generate large scale musical structure. I will control segmentation; framing of internal segments; spatialisation; and the overlaying of separable musical streams. Expert cognitive assessment of the resultant structures will be investigated, and theories of segmentation, streaming and their relationships with expression and affect developed and tested.Read moreRead less