NPY Suppresses Seizures And Modulates Thalamocortical Activity In Animal Models Of Generalized Epilepsy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$386,020.00
Summary
Epilepsy is the most common serious chronic neurological disease in the community, affecting up to 3% of the population in a lifetime and 0.5-1% at any one time. Absence epilepsy is one of the most common types of epilepsy, most frequently seen in childhood and teenage years that may persist into adulthood. Anti-epileptic drugs are effective in controlling absence seizures in most patients, however there is an important group (20-40%) of patients in whom the absence seizures remain uncontrolled ....Epilepsy is the most common serious chronic neurological disease in the community, affecting up to 3% of the population in a lifetime and 0.5-1% at any one time. Absence epilepsy is one of the most common types of epilepsy, most frequently seen in childhood and teenage years that may persist into adulthood. Anti-epileptic drugs are effective in controlling absence seizures in most patients, however there is an important group (20-40%) of patients in whom the absence seizures remain uncontrolled with current medications. Recently there has been considerable interest in the role that chemical in the brain, such as neuropeptide Y (NPY), may play in epilepsy. The research proposed will examine the role of NPY in several animal models of absence epilepsy. We have recently shown that NPY suppresses absence seizures in a rat genetic model of generalised epilepsy, and that this appears to be mediated by Y2 receptors. This work will build on these novel findings, and determine the localisation of the effect within the brain, and the underlying mechanism. We will check NPY effects across several models in different species, a genetic rat model with spontaneous seizures, and in mice treated with a chemical to induce seizures. This will determine its broad applicability. We will also determine the effects of removal of NPY or NPY receptors on the effects of NPY on seizure expression. Finally, brain recording techniques will be applied to determine the mechanism and site within the brain underlying the protective actions of NPY. The project has the potential to provide novel insights into the role of NPY in the expression and modulation of absence seizures. NPY related mechanisms might represent targets for the development of a new class of therapeutic agents for the treatment of absence epilepsy. Targets that are identified as being important in the expression of absence seizures may also prove to be relevant in other types of generalised epilepsy syndromes.Read moreRead less
Targeting NPY Mechanisms In Rodent Models Of Generalised Epilepsy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$437,637.00
Summary
This project will provide important information regarding the pharmacological mechanisms by which NPY acts to suppress seizures in animal models of epilepsy. It will provide strategies regarding potential new treatments of absence epilepsy.
Modelling the human nervous system with human pluripotent stem cells. The human nervous system is one of the most complex structures evolved to date. In order to understand how it functions, and dysfunctions in a diseased state, it is fundamental to decipher how it develops to generate various neuronal populations that form this elaborate network. Human stem cells provide a valuable source to study such processes. The aim of this project is to use human stem cells to study how early progenitor c ....Modelling the human nervous system with human pluripotent stem cells. The human nervous system is one of the most complex structures evolved to date. In order to understand how it functions, and dysfunctions in a diseased state, it is fundamental to decipher how it develops to generate various neuronal populations that form this elaborate network. Human stem cells provide a valuable source to study such processes. The aim of this project is to use human stem cells to study how early progenitor cell types that structure the nervous system are generated and how their neuronal derivatives form connectivity and functional synapses. The outcome of these studies is that we will establish a cellular model of human neurogenesis that can be utilised to study developmental disease processes.Read moreRead less
Identifying genes that influence clinical course and susceptibility in multiple sclerosis. This project aims to identify the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common neurologic disease in young Australian adults. MS urgently needs research to identify predisposition, aid early diagnosis and provide bona fide molecular targets for new therapies. This will benefit people with MS and those susceptible to it. Crucial new knowledge identified will benefit other major areas of MS rese ....Identifying genes that influence clinical course and susceptibility in multiple sclerosis. This project aims to identify the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common neurologic disease in young Australian adults. MS urgently needs research to identify predisposition, aid early diagnosis and provide bona fide molecular targets for new therapies. This will benefit people with MS and those susceptible to it. Crucial new knowledge identified will benefit other major areas of MS research including epidemiology, immunology and neurobiology. Collaboration of 8 major Australian institutions is also important for this project and future studies. The team will have access to a new national MS GeneBank (platform) with samples from 2240 patients that should generate findings important to world-wide MS genetic knowledge.Read moreRead less
DeepHoney: Automatic Honey Data Generation for Active Cyber Defence . This project aims to enhance the security of networks and information systems by empowering them with intelligent deception techniques to achieve proactive attack detection and defence. In recent times, the fictitious environment – honeypot designed by human experience becomes popular to attract attackers and capture their interactions. However, rules-based construction of honeypots fails in preserving the privacy, boosting th ....DeepHoney: Automatic Honey Data Generation for Active Cyber Defence . This project aims to enhance the security of networks and information systems by empowering them with intelligent deception techniques to achieve proactive attack detection and defence. In recent times, the fictitious environment – honeypot designed by human experience becomes popular to attract attackers and capture their interactions. However, rules-based construction of honeypots fails in preserving the privacy, boosting the attractiveness and evolving the system. The project expects to advance deep learning and yield novel DeepHoney technologies with associated publications and open-source software. This should benefit science, society, and the economy by building the next generation of active cyber defence systems. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0561030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$441,100.00
Summary
Developmental Imaging Facility. This application seeks to establish a facility to undertake expression profiling in vertebrate tissues on a genomic scale and at the highest resolution. Undertaking large scale projects of this nature requires specialised robotics and dedicated infrastructure for microscopy and tissue preparation. This facility will be the first of its type in Australia will permit researchers to perform genomic scale in situ screens, many as part of large international initiative ....Developmental Imaging Facility. This application seeks to establish a facility to undertake expression profiling in vertebrate tissues on a genomic scale and at the highest resolution. Undertaking large scale projects of this nature requires specialised robotics and dedicated infrastructure for microscopy and tissue preparation. This facility will be the first of its type in Australia will permit researchers to perform genomic scale in situ screens, many as part of large international initiatives in developmental and cellular biology. This large-scale, high-resolution expression profiling infrastructure is required to maintain international competitiveness and will dramatically improve our gene discovery, functional assessment and understanding of vertebrate development.Read moreRead less
Structural-functional connectivity in the brain. This project aims to develop magnetic resonance imaging analysis methods to non-invasively study brain connectivity. Recent advances in imaging can comprehensively describe the brain’s complex network of functional and structural connections (the brain ‘connectome’). This project will simultaneously investigate structural and functional connectivity, and characterise the dynamic properties of the connectome using graph-theoretic approaches. This p ....Structural-functional connectivity in the brain. This project aims to develop magnetic resonance imaging analysis methods to non-invasively study brain connectivity. Recent advances in imaging can comprehensively describe the brain’s complex network of functional and structural connections (the brain ‘connectome’). This project will simultaneously investigate structural and functional connectivity, and characterise the dynamic properties of the connectome using graph-theoretic approaches. This project should give neuroscientists computational tools to comprehensively map the network architecture of the human brain.Read moreRead less
Novel audio watermarking techniques for tracing multimedia piracy. This project aims to develop inaudible, high-capacity audio watermarking techniques to trace the illegal copying and distribution of multimedia data containing a sound component, such as audios and sound videos. With the rapid growth of communication networks and the use of advanced multimedia technology, digital multimedia data can be easily copied, manipulated and distributed. This has led to strong demand for new techniques to ....Novel audio watermarking techniques for tracing multimedia piracy. This project aims to develop inaudible, high-capacity audio watermarking techniques to trace the illegal copying and distribution of multimedia data containing a sound component, such as audios and sound videos. With the rapid growth of communication networks and the use of advanced multimedia technology, digital multimedia data can be easily copied, manipulated and distributed. This has led to strong demand for new techniques to prevent illegal use of copyrighted data. The project is expected to advance the theory of audio watermarking and enhance Australia's international competitiveness in this field.
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A provable privacy-preserving data sharing system for the cloud environment. This project aims to develop an innovative data sharing system, with a mathematically provable privacy guarantee, in a cloud environment. This will be adopted by Australian Education Management Group’s (AEMG) cloud campus to exchange data in a restricted privacy manner between partner institutions. It will be commercialised as a middleware that can be plugged into existing cloud environments to maintain required privacy ....A provable privacy-preserving data sharing system for the cloud environment. This project aims to develop an innovative data sharing system, with a mathematically provable privacy guarantee, in a cloud environment. This will be adopted by Australian Education Management Group’s (AEMG) cloud campus to exchange data in a restricted privacy manner between partner institutions. It will be commercialised as a middleware that can be plugged into existing cloud environments to maintain required privacy even when the cloud crosses various jurisdictions with different privacy policies. The outcomes will benefit educational organisations, and lay the foundations for data sharing in other communities such as the government, banks, and other industries in Australia.Read moreRead less
Privacy-Preserving Fog Info System in Infrastructure-Deficient Environments. Due to Australia’s unique geographical distribution and population density, many regional or remote areas lack infrastructural support and development, including telecommunications and electricity supply. It is important to provide information and communication services in such infrastructure-deficient environments. In this project, we will develop a first-ever commercially ready Fog information system, or FogIS in shor ....Privacy-Preserving Fog Info System in Infrastructure-Deficient Environments. Due to Australia’s unique geographical distribution and population density, many regional or remote areas lack infrastructural support and development, including telecommunications and electricity supply. It is important to provide information and communication services in such infrastructure-deficient environments. In this project, we will develop a first-ever commercially ready Fog information system, or FogIS in short, to enable localised information and communication services, while preserving users' privacy, in infrastructure-deficient environments. The deployment of this system will bring great benefits to Australia’s economic growth, the quality of life, cybersecurity, and environment control in rural and regional Australia. Read moreRead less