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Peptidergic control of ‘behavioural state’ – role of relaxin-3 signalling in arousal and motivated behaviours in mice, and implications for mood-related mental illness
| Florey Neuroscience Institutes |
Co-supervisor: Dr Craig Smith
States of sleep and wakefulness are controlled by brain circuits referred to as ‘arousal pathways’. These pathways are involved in facilitating heightened awareness, attention and cognition, and are also implicated in ‘reward signals’ associated with food seeking and – in humans and various experimental animals – drug seeking behaviour. Established arousal systems include the serotonin and dopamine neurons in the raphe nuclei and ventral tegmental area, respectively, and peptide systems such as orexin neurons in lateral hypothalamus [1, 2].
Recent experiments in rats suggest that relaxin-3 neurons within the nucleus incertus (NI) represent an additional arousal pathway that can modulate a range of behaviours such as feeding, attention, motivation and exploratory behaviour [3-6]. Important recent studies indicate that mice that lack relaxin-3 may represent a novel model for clinical depression [7-9]. Therefore, the NI/relaxin-3 system represents a potential target for drugs to treat the arousal and mood-related mental illnesses insomnia, anorexia, obesity, drug abuse and depression.
This project will explore the role of relaxin-3 in arousal by studying the behaviour of mice deficient in relaxin-3 (i.e. relaxin-3 ‘knock-out’ mice).
 View project details
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Perfusion MRI methods and their application to neurosciences
| Florey Neuroscience Institutes |
Supervisors:Dr. Fernando Calamante, and Prof. Alan Connelly
The MRI Technical Development group at the Brain Research Institute is offering a number of cerebral PERFUSION MRI projects. Our group is internationally recognised for the development and implementation of advanced perfusion and diffusion MRI techniques, and the proposed projects will take place within a world class clinical neuroscience research environment. Prospective researchers will assist in the development and implementation of novel MRI acquisition, processing and display techniques to measure cerebral perfusion, or their application to important neuroscience applications. The particular project will depend on the experience and interest of the candidate. We therefore invite enquiries from students with experience in physics, computer science, image processing, or related subjects, or students with a neuroscience background. View project details
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Perinatal programming of appetite and obesity
| Florey Neuroscience Institutes |
We have shown that perinatal deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids induces permanent changes in appetite regulation. View project details
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Pharmacology and physiology of visceral pain
Visceral pain, particularly from abdominal organs, such as intestine, uterus and bladder is a significant problem, with a poorly understood aetiology. View project details
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Pituitary volume, puberty and the development of psychopathology in early adolescence
| National Neuroscience Facility |
Supervisors:Dr Stephen Wood, A/Prof Nick Allen
This project will examine pituitary size in 150 early adolescents, and relate this to their pubertal stage and their later development of psychopathology View project details
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