Latest news

UQ and Axiom Molecular accelerate radiopharmaceutical research

A strategic alliance between The Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) at The University of Queensland (UQ) and Axiom Molecular Pty Ltd is set to boost radiopharmaceutical research, development and commercialisation.

30 April 2010

The Characterisation Virtual Laboratory

Professor Galloway and Dr Janke recently contributed to a successful $2M NeCTAR Virtual Laboratory proposal, to provide image analysis tools to the Characterisation research community. NeCTAR is a program funded out of the SuperScience program announced in the 2009 Federal budget. CAI will receive $491,000, and will work together with Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation, the Research Computing Centre, Monash University and The University of Melbourne to deliver the Neuroscience component of the Virtual Laboratory.

26 March 2012

Interactions of iodoperfluorobenzene compounds with gold nanoparticles

Dr. Idriss Blakey and his colleagues have recently published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, about the Interactions of iodoperfluorobenzene compounds with gold nanoparticles which has significant potential for expanding the scope for generation of novel hybrid materials. Read more about this publication here.

28 February 2012

Effect of Splinting and Exercise on Intraneural Edema of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-An MRI Study to Reveal Therapeutic Mechanisms.

Dr Mark Strudwick and his colleagues have recently published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Orthopaedic Research about the effects of splinting and exercise of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrone.Read more about this publication here.

27 February 2012

Transferrin levels and iron processing genes related to brain structure changes.

Dr Katie McMahon has recently published a paper in the prestigious journal PNAS on a discovery that may shed light on the neural mechanisms by which iron affects cognition, neurodevelopment, and neurodegeneration. Read more about this publication here.

16 January 2012

Parkinson's Disease research: Identifying the neural substrate

Congratulations to Dr Anthony Angwin (SHRS), A/Prof David Copland (UQCCR), Dr Katie McMahon (CAI), Dr Nadeeka Dissanayaka (RBWH) and Prof Peter Silburn (UQCCR) who have been awarded $20,000 by Parkinson's Disease Queensland for their research project entitled Cognitive sequelae in Parkinson’s disease: Identifying the neural substrates. More information about this project.

4 January 2012

Australian National Data Service: an atlas tool to be created at CAI

Congratulations to Dr Andrew Janke and Prof Graham Galloway who were successful in attracting $399,000 of funding for an Australian National Data Service Application project. This project will develop an atlas tool in the cloud. Read more about this project.

6 December 2011

ARC Future Fellowships

Congratulations to Dr Mehdi Mobli (IMB/CAI) who was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship. His research project ASAP-NMR: A leap forward in structural studies of proteins using NMR spectroscopy will receive $660,000 over five years. This research will revolutionize study of the three dimensional structure of proteins by making the process faster and cheaper. This approach will be applied to study proteins isolated from animal venoms in order to identify and develop novel pharmaceuticals and bioinsecticides. More about this research project here.

Congratulations to Dr Kris Thurecht (AIBN/CAI) who was successful at securing $666,000 over five years for an ARC Future Fellowship for his study Traceable theranostics: tools for visualising drug delivery and therapeutic benefit in vivo. The aim of this project is to advance the concept of 'personalised-therapy' through the development of novel imaging devices based on polymers that can 'switch-on' and deliver drugs in specific tissues, allowing more sensitive and earlier detection and monitoring of diseases and therapies.

14 November 2011

NIH03 Grant Success

Congratulations to Dr Jeremy Ullmann, Dr Stephen Yang, Dr Nyoman Kurniawan, Dr Andrew Janke, Dr M. Wullimann and Prof David Reutens for their recent success in the NIH03 grant scheme fortheir project A population-based atlas of the zebrafish brain for quantitative phenotypic comparisons of disease models.

A TDI map of the zebrafish brain with directional colour scheme reconstructed at 5μm resolution.

24 October 2011

NHMR Project Grant success

Congratulations to A/Prof Stephen Rose (CAI, UQCCR), Prof Andrew Boyd, Prof Andrew Whittaker (CAI, AIBN), Paul Thomas, Michael Fay, Prof Nicholas Fisk. Their research entitled The development of innovative Multiplexed Molecular Imaging technology targeting improved diagnostic imaging of Glioblastoma Multiforme has been awarded $389,000 over three years by the NHMRC Project Grant scheme. Read more about the research project here.

Congratulations to Dr Roger Bourne, Prof William Price, Dr Gary Cowin (CAI), Dr Nyoman Kurniawan (CAI), Dr Carl Power, dr Timothy Stait-Gardner, Dr Viktor Vegh (CAI) who have been successful at securing funding for their research project called Improving cancer management by direct detection with diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Read more about the research project here.

17 October 2011

Investigating connectivity and neuroinflammation within corticomotor networks in ataxia-telangiectasia

Congratulations to A/Prof Rose (CAI, UQCCR), Dr Kate Sinclair and Prof Martin Lavin. Their project entitled Investigating connectivity and neuroinflammation within corticomotor networks in ataxia-telangiectasia: Improving our understanding of the clinical phenotype will received $122,000 of funding over two years by A-T Children's Project. Read more about this research project here.

17 October 2011

Dopamine transporter genotype predicts behavioural and neural measures of response inhibition

Dr Julia Hocking and Dr Mark Strudwick have recently published a paper in the prestigious journal Molecular Psychiatry. The publication reports the largest genetic association study yet to examine the relationship between variations in DNA - specifically within the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) - and response inhibition.

12 October 2011

Computation modelling of UPy derivatives

PhD candidate Hui-Hui Lee has recently published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Physical Chemistry B. The study investigated the nature of the hydrogen bonds and the effect of the structure of various substituents and solvents on dimer formation.

5 October 2011

Brain Awareness Video Contest

PhD student Shiree Heath has won the Society for Neuroscience inaugural Brain Awareness Video Contest! Shiree is supervised by Dr David Copland from the Language Neuroscience Lab, Dr Anthony Angwin and Dr Katie McMahon (CAI) . Shiree works on neuroimaging in Aphasia. Her video focuses on aphasia, the loss of a person’s ability to speak or understand spoken or written language due to disease or injury of the brain.

“Entering the competition was an opportunity to provide accessible information about aphasia, particularly for children,” Heath said. “Aphasia is a common and devastating consequence of stroke, but public awareness is low relative to other conditions with similar prevalence, such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease. The video tells the personal story of those with aphasia and their families through the power of words — the very thing that these individuals have lost,” she said.

Remember to vote for the Brain awareness People's Choice award on the Society for Neuroscience website from 29 September to 15 October .

Congratulations, Shiree!

29 September 2011

Heritability of working memory brain activation

PhD candidate Gabriella Blockland has recently published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience which unravels the majority of the variation in working memory task-related brain activation is due to genetic factors.

Heritability of working memory brain activation

26 Sept 2011

Concentration matters

A/Prof Blakey has recently published a paper in the Journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics on the interaction of dyes with gold nanoparticles, as well as aggregation gold nanoparticles. These nanoparticles have a wide range of interesting optical properties that can be taken advantage of in several applications, including, biomolecule detection, imaging enhancement probes, drug delivery, nanolithography, phototherapy, and catalysis. More about this publication.

Schematic shows a representation of concentrated and dilute solutions of gold nanoparticles (gold circles). The arrows represent rays of light interacting with the nanoparticles. For the dilute regime first order scattering processes predominate, while for the concentrated regime second order scattering and absorption dominates, which can complicate the interpretation of the data.

21 Sept 2011

Forming future leaders in molecular imaging

In an Australian first, The University of Queensland will collaborate with the University of Sydney and the National University of Singapore to offer a new Master of Molecular Imaging in 2012.

30 August 2011

Hippocampus activity increases with memory strength

Dr McMahon has recently published a paper in the A* Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience that supports a positive correlation between hippocampal activity and memory strength. Read more about this publication.

Activity in left and right hippocampus and left posterior parahippocampal cortex for high confidence “old” responses to familiar targets and lures relative to misses.

10 August 2011

The Science of Learning

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technology is expected to be vital for the Australia's first Science of Learning Centre, hosted at the Queensland Brain Institute.

In the latest edition of The Australian Higher Education supplement, CAI Director Prof David Reutens explains that imaging might help bridge the gap between basic science and educational practice. Prof Reutens gives the famous example of London's taxi-drivers who must master all manner of routes to pass the exam known as "the knowledge". Scans show increases in their grey matter as the hippocampus adapted to this formidable task of learning.

The recently ordered Siemens MAGNETOM 7T MRI will help researchers in this new multidisciplinary field.

For more information, read the full article here.

3 August 2011

UQ on world stage with Australia’s most powerful MRI

In an Australian first, The University of Queensland (UQ) has entered into a landmark agreement with technology specialist Siemens, to install a powerful MRI system that is more than twice as strong as any other MRI system currently available in the Southern Hemisphere.

Funded by the Federal Government, with matching funds from UQ, the Siemens MAGNETOM 7T MRI is set to propel Australia's research and development capabilities to global benchmarks. It will be housed in the Centre for Advanced Imaging complex under construction at UQ's St Lucia campus.

Centre for Advanced Imaging Director, Professor David Reutens said the new system would benefit important research programs into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, stroke, epilepsy, motor neurone disease, brain tumours, and multiple sclerosis.

MRI Safety Week

MRI safety week will run from 25 to 31 July. It was established to mark the anniversary of the tragic 2001 death of Michael Colombini, age 6. He was killed when an portable steel oxygen cylinder was brought into the MRI room. An interactive quizz on MRI safety can be found at this site: http://mrimetaldetector.com/media/proving_grounds/MRI_safety_week.html

25 July 2011

Australian Story

Prof David Reutens featured in the latest ABC Australian Story "Love and Drug". He was consulted on the usefulness of the drug Stilnox to help a man who suffered from massive strokes last year. For more information, go to the ABC Australian Story or to catch up the documentary on iView.

28 June 2011

Genetic effects on the caudate nucleus

Dr McMahon has recently published a paper in the A* Journal Molecular Psychiatry that reveals that a 90% of the variation in the caudate structure is due to genetic factors. Read more about this publication.

Image showing position of the caudate in the brain

23 June 2011

Collaborative project with Germany

Congratulations to P. Comba, S. Hashmi, D. Herten, G. Hanson (CAI), L. Gahan, G. Schenk, M. Riley, C. Wentrup, S. Smith, C.Williams, and H. Parekh who have secured 77,000 euros for three years for their project entitled Mechanisms of Molecular Transformations. The funding comes from the German Academic Exchange Service” (DAAD) under the program “International promovieren in Deutschland (IPID)” to enhance the collaborations between The University of Heidelberg (UQ) and The University of Queensland (UQ). The project involves three research groups at both UH and UQ in the areas of physical, inorganic and organic chemistry, with the aim of understanding the molecular mechanisms of chemical and biological catalysis, through application of spectroscopy, kinetics and computational chemistry.

3 June 2011

ARC Linkage Success

Congratulations to Prof Brown, Prof Xu, Prof Bartlett, Dr Wallace, Prof Visscher, Prof Mowry, Prof Reutens (CAI) who have been awarded a Linkage Project Grant, a partnership between UQ, NuNerve Pty Ltd , Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research and Shanghai Changzheng Hospital. $690, 000 will fund their research project entitled Sino-Australian neurogenetics initiative. This project will undertake large population studies to identify genes that are associated with motor neuron disease, schizophrenia and intracranial haemorrhage. The project will determine genetic markers, aid development of diagnostic
tools and identify new therapeutic targets for these common heritable neurological diseases.

Congratulations to Prof Bhandari, Dr Sharma, Prof Whittaker (CAI), Dr Palmer who have been awarded a Linkage Grant, a partnership between UQ and Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd. $275, 000 will fund their research project entitled Nanostructured dairy powder for improved functionality. More than 30 per cent of the total milk produced in Australia is converted to powder for export. This project will lead to improvement in the solubility, and hence shelf-life, of protein rich dairy powders which will be of significant economic benefit to the industry. This project will also benefit the wider scientific community in dairy and food sectors.

1 June 2011

Common Alzheimer's Disease Risk Variant Within the CLU Gene Affects White Matter Microstructure in Young Adults

Dr McMahon has recently published a paper in the A* Journal of Neuroscience that reveals a correlation between white matter integrity in healthy young adults and a gene linked to risk of late onset Alzheimer’s. Learn more about this publication.

10 May 2011

Memory Strength Effects in fMRI Studies: A Matter of Confidence

Dr McMahon has recently published a paper in the A* journal of Journal of Neuroscience that examines the act of remembering. Learn more about this publication.

10 May 2011

UQ Start Up Grant for Epilepsy research

Congratulations to Dr Kharatishvili who has been awarded a New Staff Research Start Up Grant for her project Development of a new non−invasive imaging biomarkers for epileptogenesis in a mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy.
According to the World Health Organization, approximately 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, including 400,000 Australians. Epilepsy is the second most common neurologic disorder after stroke and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common epilepsy syndrome. The aim of this preclinical study is to develop a reliable sensitive and specific imaging biomarker for TLE, through animal models that replicate the key behavioral and neurophysiological features of human TLE, and that can be easily translated into clinical use.

These T2-weighted images show a cortical signal intensity change in epileptic vs non-epileptic animal 48h after status epilepticus.

31 March 2011

Oustanding Research Higher Degree Thesis

Congratulations to Dr Jeremy Ullmann who was the recipient of the UQ Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Theses. Dr Ullmann also received the Biomedical Research Award from the School of Biomedical Sciences.

His thesis is entitled Three-dimensional imaging of the teleost brain.

Although MRI is routinely used to image humans and mice, only a few studies have examined teleosts. As the central nervous system (CNS) is remarkably conserved across all vertebrates it is surprising that teleosts, which are an established vertebrate animal model for neuroscience, have barely been investigated using MRI. Consequently, the aim of the thesis was to perform the first thorough examination of the teleost central nervous system using MRI. Two different types of MR, magnetic resonance histology (MRH) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were used to characterize the central nervous system of two species, the zebrafish Danio rerio, and the barramundi, Lates calcarifer. The resolutions obtained were some of the highest achieved in a vertebrate brain and allowed us to delineate a large number of neuronal structures. In the zebrafish brain, we segmented 53 neuronal structures and created the first three-dimensional anatomical and quantitative zebrafish brain atlas, while in the barramundi nearly 100 brain regions were identified including, cellular layers, fiber tracts and numerous ventricles. The results achieved in this

study are important to future research as it establishes teleosts as a model for MRI contrast and resolution experiments and provides the crucial framework for a range of research areas.

3D reconstruction of the adult zebrafish brain

25 March 2011

Latest news section

Effect of Splinting and Exercise on Intraneural Edema of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-An MRI Study to Reveal Therapeutic Mechanisms Dr Mark Strudwick and his colleagues have recently published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Orthopaedic Research about the effects of splinting and exercise of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrone.
Interactions of iodoperfluorobenzene compounds with gold nanoparticles Dr. Idriss Blakey and his colleagues have recently published a paper in the prestigious journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, about the Interactions of iodoperfluorobenzene compounds with gold nanoparticles which has significant potential for expanding the scope for generation of novel hybrid materials.
The Characterisation Virtual Laboratory Professor Galloway and Dr Janke recently contributed to a successful $2M NeCTAR Virtual Laboratory proposal
Transferrin levels and iron processing genes related to brain structure changes Dr Katie McMahon and her colleagues have recently published a paper in the prestigious journal PNAS on a discovery that may shed light on the neural mechanisms by which iron affects cognition, neurodevelopment, and neurodegeneration. Read more about this publication.
UQ and Axiom Molecular accelerate radiopharmaceutical research A strategic alliance between The Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) at The University of Queensland (UQ) and Axiom Molecular Pty Ltd is set to boost radiopharmaceutical research, development and commercialisation.
Parkinson's Disease research: Identifying the neural substrate Congratulations to Dr Anthony Angwin (SHRS), A/Prof David Copland (UQCCR), Dr Katie McMahon (CAI), Dr Nadeeka Dissanayaka (RBWH) and Prof Peter Silburn (UQCCR) who have been awarded $20,000 by Parkinson's Disease Queensland for their research project entitled Cognitive sequelae in Parkinson’s disease: Identifying the neural substrates.
Australian National Data Service: an atlas tool to be created at CAI Congratulations to Dr Andrew Janke and Prof Graham Galloway who were successful in attracting $399,000 of funding for an Australian National Data Service Application project.
News Archive 2011 Australian National Data Service: an atlas tool to be created at CAI Congratulations to Dr Andrew Janke and Prof Graham Galloway who were successful in attracting $399,000 of funding for an Aust...
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