Honours and Masters project

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. Recent advances in MR technology including the move to higher field strengths (e.g.

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. It has also been proposed that glymphatic function may be compromised in motor neuron disease (MND) patients. 

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm outside the female body, in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating a person's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from their ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a culture medium in a laboratory. After the fertilised egg undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is implanted in the same or another person's uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy [1].

Blockchain technology and its popular cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum have most revolutionary technological advances in recent history, capable of transforming businesses, government, and social interactions. However, there is a darker side to this technology which is the immense energy consumption and potential climate impact of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Cloud Data centres are designed to support the business requirements of cloud clients. However, due to the complexities of data centre infrastructure and their software systems, cloud service providers often do not have access to quality data regarding their IT equipment. This hinders their ability to better optimise the quality of their services and system performance. A clear message from across the industry is that better data allows for better decision making and resource management.

Pathfinding is fundamental operation in video game AI: virtual characters need to move from location A to location B in order to explore their environment, gather resources or otherwise coordinate themselves in the course of play. Though simple in principle such problems are surprisingly challenging for game developers: paths should be short and appear realistic but they must be computed very quickly, usually with limited CPU resources and using only small amounts of memory.

As a pregnancy approaches term (the point at which the foetus is considered fully developed), decisions are made about the timing of birth and the way babies are born. These decisions are incredibly challenging for clinicians and pregnant women. Digital health records, advances in big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence methodologies, and novel data visualisation capabilities have opened up opportunities for a dynamic, ‘Learning Health System’ – where data can be harnessed to inform real-time and personalised decision-making.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by an external force from incidents such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, assault or sports collisions. Almost seventy million individuals globally are estimated to suffer from TBI per annum [1], deeming it a major public health concern which is estimated to cost the global economy approximately $US400 billion annually [2]. Early identification of severe TBI with proper assessment and treatment lowers the risk of secondary injury and subsequent long-term disability and subsequent costs.