Growth hormone is responsible for normal postnatal growth, is an important metabolic regulator in starvation, and has many useful therapeutic applications, including forms of cardiac insufficiency, Crohns disease and, it is thought, amelioration of ageing. The means whereby GH brings about these changes are not known, although we do know a considerable amount about how the individual domains within the GH receptor signal. What we do not know is which genes are regulated by GH in these processes, ....Growth hormone is responsible for normal postnatal growth, is an important metabolic regulator in starvation, and has many useful therapeutic applications, including forms of cardiac insufficiency, Crohns disease and, it is thought, amelioration of ageing. The means whereby GH brings about these changes are not known, although we do know a considerable amount about how the individual domains within the GH receptor signal. What we do not know is which genes are regulated by GH in these processes, and how this will change the state of the cell. We propose here to use the new technique of gene arrays to uncover the programs, or groups of genes, which GH regulates to change important cellular processes. When used in conjunction with cells expressing GH receptor mutants which are unable to signal to defined pathways, we will be able to know which functional families genes are regulated, and how they are regulated. This information will enable us to know how GH regulates cell growth and metabolism, and therfore to understand what goes wrong when GH or its mediator, IGF-1 , are abnormal. We can also use this information to validate small molecules designed to mimic GH through activating its receptor, to be certain that they are acting in the same way as GH.Read moreRead less
Eye Movements And The Neural Representation Of Visual Space
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$459,061.00
Summary
This project will investigate the brain mechanisms that underlie our ability to perceive the locations of objects using vision. This fundamental ability supports a range of important functions including visually-guided reaching, navigation during walking, and spatial awareness, but remains poorly understood. Using physiological, behavioural, and analytical methods, this project will fill a key knowledge gap in visual neuroscience and form a basis for a range of clinical and biomedical advances.
Neurophysiology Of Attention Deficits After Right Hemisphere Stroke
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$611,742.00
Summary
Stroke is a common and debilitating condition affecting thousands of Australians per year. Problems of attention are common after right hemisphere stroke and arise from lesions to multiple different brain regions. This project utilises a unique multi-modal approach to understand the neurophysiology of sensory, attentional, decision-making and motoric aspects of deficit after right hemisphere stroke and will map these objective signatures to discrete lesion locations.