About us

Monash University's Department of Neuroscience is the first university academic department in Australia dedicated to developing and providing solutions for patients with neurological conditions. Established in early 2018 (see Launch details), the Department partners closely with the Alfred hospital (Melbourne, Australia).

With more than 200 clinicians, researchers and students involved across 22 critical areas of neuroscience, our pioneering research takes a bedside-to-bench-to-bedside approach to directly improve outcomes for patients. This integrated way of solving major challenges in neurological diseases is due to our strong collaborations with healthcare providers. These local, national and international partnerships give us the opportunity to work closely with clinicians and patients to translate findings from the lab into clinical trials or treatments that will have tangible health benefits for people and communities.

Our focus

Our impact

Our approach

Our case studies

Cell receptor plays a key role in inflammation

Dr Mastura Monif and her research team investigate neuroinflammation which occurs in several neurological conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, autoimmune encephalits and brain tumours. Neuroinflammation involves the activation of immune cells in the brain. Her research has identified, a particular cell membrane receptor, namely P2X7R, which plays a key role in neuroinflammation. Using translational bed (hospital) to bench (laboratory) techniques their hope is to unravel the role of innate immunity, and neuroinflammation in various brain diseases, and to uncover the link between the peripheral and central immune responses. The ultimate aim is to translate their laboratory findings back to the hospital setting to improve treatments and provide advancements in patient care.

Concussion recommendations for athletes

Professor Sandy Shultz is running a world first trial involving amateur male and female footballers to understand when it is safe to return to play. Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI), such as concussions, are a common and serious medical condition worldwide. Of particular concern, repeated mTBIs are associated with lasting neurological damage and disease, with no interventions known or available to prevent these consequences. Associate Professor Shultz’s overarching research goal is to better understand mTBIs and to identify means to improve their clinical management.

Epilepsy treatments require a paradigm shift

Professor Patrick Kwan is an internationally recognised clinician scientist with a particular interest in epilepsy. His research covers a broad spectrum including treatment outcomes, pharmacogenomics, health economic analysis and neurobionics. His team was among the first groups to identify HLA-B*15:02 as a strong genetic predictor of carbamazepineinduced severe skin reactions in Asians. This finding resulted in an US Food and Drug Administration recommendation and drug label change. He has played an instrumental role in developing health policy in adopting pharmacogenetic testing, and led post-policy health economic evaluation. His research has highlighted that despite the introduction of many new antiepileptic drugs over the last two decades, the overall outcomes of people with newly diagnosed epilepsy has not changed very much.

Our facilities

Our partnerships

Collaborative Partnerships

In addition to our partnership with The Alfred, our department has several multidisciplinary collaborations within the Alfred precinct, including:

Haematologists interested in treatments for stroke
Cardiologists interested in connections between heart and brain disorders at the Baker Institute
Psychiatrists interested in mental health co-morbidities of neurological diseases at Monash-Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre
Engineers from Monash Institute of Medical Engineering working to develop new devices to better diagnose and treat brain diseases.

We work with Nucleus Network who conduct first-in-human studies and facilitate testing of novel treatments developed in our neuroscience laboratories. We also partner with the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine to understand the frequency and risk factors of brain diseases, as well as the costs associated with providing health treatments.

Further afield, the department maintains extensive collaborations with clinical and basic neuroscience researchers at other Monash campuses, the University of Melbourne and other Victorian universities, The Royal Melbourne Hospital and other Melbourne health care providers, and The Florey Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience.

Clinicians and researchers in the department also have strong partnerships with consumer support organizations, including Epilepsy Action, Epilepsy Australia, MS Australia, MSBase, The Stroke Foundation, Dementia Australia, Brain Injury Australia, Traffic Accident Commission, Neuroscience Trials Australia, Brain Foundation and Parkinson’s Victoria.

National And International collaborative Partnerships

Researchers in the Department of Neuroscience have developed strong relationships with collaborators across the world, including undertaking joint projects, grant applications, and supervising doctoral and postdoctoral students. The Department currently has more than 20 international students, clinical and research fellows, and senior academic visitors.

See more: research.monash.edu/en/organisations/department-of-neuroscience/network-map/

Department of Neuroscience

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences