Department of Anatomy Honours Projects
Prof Ken Ashwell
Evolution of monotreme and marsupial brains; Sexual dimorphism and control of sexual behaviour in marsupial brains.
A/Prof Pascal Carrive
We study the functional/anatomical organisation of the brain pathways mediating cardiovascular and behavioural responses to stress (conditioned fear) and exercise.
Project: Study of the cardiovascular response to exercise (running wheel) using radiotelemetric recording and then establish the premotor sympathetic neurons controlling the sympathetic response to exercise using retrograde tracing combined with Fos immunohistochemistry.
Skills learnt: Behavioural testing, spinal surgery, histology, immunohistochemistry.
Dr Thomas Fath
Project 1: The study addresses the role of the cytoskeleton in regulating and supporting axonal outgrowth and regeneration in neurons. The focus aims to understand the mechanisms by which actin-associated proteins regulate filament dynamics in sub-cellular compartments of neuronal cells and to develop new strategies to enhance axonal regeneration after nerve injury by manipulating the actin cytoskeleton.
Project 2: Fundamental to establishing a complex communication network of nerve cells such as we see it in the vertebrate brain is the ability of nerve cells to form highly branched processes that establish synaptic connections with each other. This project will examine the role of the actin-cytoskeleton in driving branch formation of neuronal processes.
Skills learnt: Cell culture, Immunohistology/Immunocytochemistry, Live cell imaging, Confocal Microscopy, Western Blotting
Dr Craig Hardman
Project 1: A quantitative comparison of the primate motor thalamus. Are the relative numbers of neurons within each subnuclei of the motor thalamus consistent across humans and primate species used to model human neurodegenerative disorders?
Project 2: A quantitative comparison of the primate pontocerebellothalamic pathway. Are the relative numbers of neurons within the pontine, dentate, red and inferior olivary nuclei consistent across humans and primate species used to model human neurodegenerative disorders?
Dr Craig Hardman / Prof Glenda Halliday (Neuroscience Research Australia)
Do neurones of the pontocerebellothalamic pathway degenerate in Parkinson's disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy? If so can the observed patterns of degeneration account for the gross differences in basal ganglia involvement for these two hypokinetic disorders?
Prof Edna Hardeman
Project 1: Stem cells isolation and transplantation to rescue diseased muscle. Flow sorting of different stem cell populations to identify which populations can rebuild muscle. Histological examination of both normal and dystrophic (diseased) muscles following stem cell transplantation. Extent of donor cell engraftment from different donor stem cell sub-populations will be compared using histology. Dystrophic muscles transplanted with donor stem cell populations will be analysed for the presence of donor-derived healthy muscle fibres.
Techniques: Histology (immuno-histochemistry, in situ hybridisation), cell biology (somatic stem cell isolation/sorting, flow cytometry)
Project 2: Analysis of release and degradation kinetics of self-assembling supra-molecular polymers for in vivo delivery of stem cell activation factors. In vivo protein release kinetics and degradation kinetics of candidate synthetic self-assembling supra-molecular polymers will be analysed. This project will lead to future development of implantable gel systems for the delivery of stem cell activation factors in the form of recombinant proteins.
Techniques: Histology (immuno-histochemistry), animal imaging (fluorescence/bioluminescence whole animal imaging, small animal CT).
Dr Mark Hill
Study of living neurons during their growth and differentiation by introducing genes for fluorescent fusion proteins. Transfection of fusion protein genes into neural cell lines and the inhibition of gene expression through the use of antisense technology. Two disorders studied in the lab are the eye disease glaucoma and mental retardation by Fragile X.
Dr Anthony Kee / Prof Edna Hardeman
Project 1: Can altering the actin cytoskeleton improve insulin sensitivity in Type II diabetes? We will examine whether a component of the actin cytoskeleton can improve insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis in a type II diabetic mouse model (diet-induced obesity). This will help establish the actin cytoskeleton as a potential novel target for the control of diabetes and obesity.
Project 2: Can altering the actin cytoskeleton reduce diet-induced obesity? We will examine whether a component of the actin cytoskeleton can reduce obesity produced by high-fat diet. This will help establish the actin cytoskeleton as a potential novel target for the control of obesity.
Project 3: The role of tropomyosin in regulating glucose transport via its control of the actin cytoskeleton. The effect of altered actin filament dynamics on glucose transport will be examined in adipocytes.
Skills learnt: Whole animal metabolic measurements, glucose uptake assays, receptor signalling assays, quantitative RT-PCR, cell culture, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, fluorescent and confocal microscopy.
Dr Gila Moalem-Taylor
Mechanisms of chronic neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injury and the involvement of immune cells and inflammatory mediators in the development of persistent pain.
Project 1: The effects of specific subsets of T lymphocytes and their mediators on pain hypersensitivity caused by peripheral nerve injury.
Project 2: Identification and modulation of novel proteins involved in animal models of nerve injury to study their role in neuropathic pain.
Skills learnt: Peripheral nerve injury, behavioural assessments of pain, immunohistochemistry, fluorescent microscopy, cell culture, Western blotting.
Dr Renee Morris
The focus of my research is to use adenoviral vectors to up-regulate levels of neurotrophins into spinal cord motor neurones in an animal model of partial spinal cord transection. It is hypothesised that this gene therapy scenario will assist the recovery of fine motor control of the hand as measured with diverse behavioural tasks.
Project 1: Characterisation of the time course of expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the spinal cord that results from intramuscular injections of an adenoviral vector encoding BDNF gene.
Project 2: Development and behavioural characterization of an animal model of rubrospinal tract injury at cervical levels.
Skills learnt: Partial lesions of the spinal cord, behavioural assessments and intramuscular injections of adenovirus in the rat, ELISA, immunohistochemistry, histological techniques and microscopy.
Dr Stephen Palmer / Prof Edna Hardeman
Project 1: Identification of genes involved in the specification of muscle fibre types. We have genetically altered the ratio of fast and slow twitch fibres in transgenic mice. This study will use molecular genetics and proteomics to identify the pathways that decide muscle fibre type.
Project 2: Characterising genes involved in the neurocognitive/behavioural disorder Williams syndrome. Two genes that are disrupted in the human condition Williams syndrome, Gtf2ird1 and Gtf2i, are implicated in aspects of human cognition and behaviour. Molecular genetic techniques and knockout mouse models will be used in this study to investigate the function of these genes.
Skills learnt: General molecular biology (cloning, sequencing, PCR, DNA and RNA extraction and manipulation), in situ hybridization, quantitative RTPCR, protein fractionation, protein synthesis, DNA binding assays, yeast-2-hybrid analysis and bioinformatics.
Dr Nalini Pather
Project 1: Cell Biology - The focus of my research is to study of the process of healing and tissue regeneration. This project aims to elucidate the influence of growth factors and cytokines on cell differentiation and migration during healing and the role of angiogenesis in promoting healing and regeneration..
Project 2: Clinical Anatomy - The focus of this research is paediatric growth and development. This specific project deals with facial anomalies including those of the ocular and periorbital region that occur in numerous disorders and syndromes and that can be used as a screening tool to increase early diagnosis and treatment.
Dr Dzung Vu
Anatomy and biomechanics of ligaments; 3-D visualisation and representation of human anatomy; virtual reality in human anatomy; blood supply of the intervertebral disk and nucleolysis; any project involving human gross anatomy.