Monash Neuroscience EMCR seed grant initiatives

The Monash Neuroscience seed grant scheme supports Early and Mid-Career Researchers (EMCRs) to pursue a high quality, collaborative pilot project to facilitate their research careers. The projects are designed to be small and performed for a 12-month duration. Successful awardees gain skills in developing collaborative partnerships, building their careers as expert researchers in their field, and enabling an opportunity to obtain preliminary data to use and apply for larger funding grants in the future.

2025 Grant recipient 

This second round provided two awards of $10,000, one which was funded through Monash Neuroscience and another additional award in partnership with support from the Neuroscience and Mental Health Therapeutic Area in the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS).

Project title - Biomarkers of Early Life Trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder

Dr Georgia Symons (Lead), Department of Neuroscience, Translational Medicine
Dr Eveline Mu (Collaborator), Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre

The project will investigate the biological links between early life trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), by analysing inflammatory blood biomarkers from The Alison Project cohort. Using advanced Quanterix single-molecule array technology (SIMOA), the team seeks to identify neuroinflammatory signatures of trauma in BPD, improving diagnosis, reducing stigma, and guiding future personalised treatment approaches.

Project title - Developing novel P2X7R inhibitors for the treatment of glioblastoma

Dr Sabir Shekh (Lead), Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr Matthew Drill (Collaborator), Department of Neuroscience, Translational Medicine

This project will focus on creating next-generation drugs that target the purinergic receptor, P2X7, a key driver of glioblastoma growth. Building on a potent lead compound identified by the team, they will optimise its brain penetration and anti-tumour activity to advance new therapeutic candidates toward preclinical and clinical development for this lethal brain cancer.

2023 Grant recipient 

In this first round, one award of $10,000 was made available through the Monash Neuroscience, and industry organisations, Novartis and UCB Australia.

Project title - Are ARX gene mutations relevant to Autism?

Dr Emily Jaehne (Lead), Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Sciences
Dr Matthew Hudson (Collaborator), Department of Neuroscience, Translational Medicine

In this project, Dr Jaehne and Dr Hudson set out to explore whether two mouse models, carrying mutations in the aristaless-related homeobox (ARX) gene (R264Q and PA1) could show behaviours seen in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (e.g. repetitive behaviours, social processing and attention). The project also studied neuronal network oscillations using local field potential recordings to understand the effects of the mutations on the ARX gene.

Outputs of the project

Overall, the project revealed behavioural changes across multiple domains, though not always in the expected direction for a model of ASD. The findings suggest that mutations in the ARX gene alter specific behavioural domains related to ASD differently depending on the mutation.

Their findings were presented at the 2024 Biological Psychiatry Australia Meeting in Sydney, in a talk titled “Preclinical evidence of a female-specific risk gene for disorders of social function.”

Dr Jaehne and Dr Hudson will also publish a manuscript on the work from the project. The findings will provide useful knowledge for researchers to open pathways for novel precision medicine therapeutic targets with transdiagnostic potential.

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