Honours and Minor Thesis projects

Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) molecules are critical for immune surveillance and organ transplantation. There are
over 22,000 HLA class I proteins and 8000 HLA class II proteins reported to date making this one of the most
polymorphic regions of the human genome. HLA molecules play an important role in immune recognition of self from foreign in the human body. Every individual expresses a set of class I (HLA-A, B, C) and

Spontaneous synchronization is a common phenomenon occurring in diverse contexts, from a group of glowing fireflies at night or chirping crickets in a field to a network of coupled neurons in the brain. The study of synchronization helps to understand how uniform behaviors emerge in populations of heterogeneous neurons. At a macroscale level, the cortex operates in two classically-defined states: “synchronized” state which is characterized by strong low-frequency fluctuations and “desynchronized” state in which low-frequency fluctuations are suppressed…

The aim of this project is to understand the computations underlying animals’ choice in dynamic and changing environments. The natural environment is multisensory, dynamic and changing, requiring animals to continually adapt and update their learned knowledge of statistical regularities in the environment that signal the presence of primary needs like water, food and mates. Yet, how the brain adapts and updates itself to the non-stationary and dynamic attributes of natural environments remains unexplored.

Recent technological advances in micro and nano-fabrication technology and high-yield electrophysiology techniques allowed us to record the activity of hundreds/thousands of neurons simultaneously. This has spurred renewed interest in applying multi-electrode extracellular electrophysiology approaches in the field of neuroscience. Each electrode samples the activity of one or more neurons in its vicinity.

With up to 1 in 9 Australians affected and an incidence on the rise, there is a clear need to understand the mechanisms driving asthma. This research project aims to dig deep into the early origins of this disease using cutting-edge sequencing technologies in order to identify targets that could be the focus of new therapies and prevention strategies. Historically, studies have focused on one specific aspect of the disease; for example genetics and heritability, environmental factors, microbiome, or respiratory infections.…

The DNA inside a cell is not randomly distributed but rather organized in a structure called chromatin. This non-random distribution has important implications for the functioning of cellular programs. The basic building block of this organisation system is the nucleosome. The nucleosome consists of a short piece of DNA wrapped around a protein core, with millions of nucleosomes are present in the cell’s nucleus. The orientation of nucleosomes with respect to each other and the way they pack the genomic DNA determine the architecture of chromatin.…

Neuroscience is becoming an exciting and multidisciplinary field, with a combination of biology, psychology, engineering, and large-data processing. This project is suitable for those who are motivated to apply data-processing skills to biological questions. Our research projects aim to investigate how neural circuits in the mouse brain work during a behavioral task; we visualize neural activity in vivo using advance fluorescent microscopy (two-photon imaging), while filming the behavior of mice.

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI provides images of molecular information and has recently been used for the detection of malignant brain tumors and the assessment of muscle tissue in cardiac infarction. Additionally, CEST has also been used to assess changes in a neurotransmitter -glutamate (Glu)- in both brain and spinal cord and has shown potential in a number of diseases including Alzheimer’s-like dementia, Parkinsonism and Huntington’s Disease and Motor neuron diseases.

Sodium ions play a central role in membrane transport and cell homeostasis. Increased sodium concentration has been observed in brain tumors as well as neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntington’s disease. While 23Na MRI of the human brain was first performed over 20 years ago, the low concentration of 23Na compared to 1H and rapid T2 decay resulted in low signal to noise (SNR) and long acquisition times, limiting its diagnostic feasibility.

The glymphatic pathway has been proposed as a key contributor to the clearance of fluid and metabolic waste products, such as amyloid beta and tau, from the brain. Recently, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI has been used to visualize the glymphatic system and monitor CSF-interstitial fluid exchange in normal and Type 2 diabetes mellitus rats, with the latter showing impaired clearance of interstitial fluid.