Mychasiuk group

Neurotrauma and Developmental Plasticity Laboratory - Mychasiuk group

Get in touch | Our people | Our work | Our Achievements | Publication Highlights

The Neurotrauma and Developmental Plasticity Laboratory studies how early life experiences get “under the skin” to shape neurodevelopment and modulate neuroplasticity across the lifespan, with a particular focus on adolescents. The group examines epigenetic mechanisms responsible for the intergenerational transmission of risk for neurological disorders, ill mental health, and chronic pain. Our laboratory specialises in the translation of discovery science and preclinical animal models to human clinical populations. We are striving to support and improve the lives of vulnerable patient populations.

Get in touch

Whether you want to be involved in our research, you wish to study with us, you want to collaborate with us or donate to our work, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Email us - Richelle.Mychasiuk@Monash.edu

Available honours and postgraduate research projects

Follow us for the latest updates – @richelle_ndopl / @GIN_Discovery / @suprachiasm / @SalbergSabrina / @sydaharris1 / @LiCrystal_ / @MarissaSgro /

Our people

Group Leader

Our work

Perinatal trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences drastically increase one’s risk for a range of negative health consequences. Our research work focuses on disrupting the epigenetic transmission of risk arising in response to early adversity, to improve adolescent neurodevelopment, thereby preventing the onset and manifestation of chronic health conditions.

Adolescent development is considered the ‘perfect storm’ for the emergence of health problems. Emerging evidence suggests that risk for chronic illness in adolescence can be transmitted from parent to child, and that a child’s risk can begin before birth, when parents experience trauma. Moreover, Adverse Childhood Experiences are one of the most serious threats to lifelong health, linked to mortality, as well as a staggering number of mental and physical health problems, suggesting that they also increase one’s risk for the development of chronic health conditions.

Our laboratory is the only one in the world that studies the effects of perinatal trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences on adolescent risk for chronic health conditions using robust and reliable rodent models of intimate partner violence during pregnancy, military/combat-related trauma, and early life stress. Our preclinical animal models complement our clinical patient cohorts (individuals who have experienced domestic violence during pregnancy and military veterans) and their adolescent children. The capacity to translate findings from preclinical research to clinical application is our laboratory’s greatest strength.

Our clinical and preclinical studies integrate state-of-the-art in vivo methods, such as blood biomarkers, advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multi-omics (microbiome and metabolomics) and ethologically relevant behavioural testing to facilitate the translation of the preclinical to clinical setting. These outcomes are complemented by advanced preclinical cellular and molecular discovery science approaches that comprehensively assess neuropathology.

We are the lead Neuroscience laboratory in an extensive collaboration including the departments of Gastroenterology and Immunology which forms the innovative GIN Discovery Program.

NEW BOOK CHAPTER - Semple, B.D., Mychasiuk, R. (2024). Sex and Age-at-Injury as Determinants of Social Behavior Outcomes After TBI. In: Noble-Haeusslein, L.J., Schnyer, D.M. (eds) Traumatic Brain Injuries. Advances in Neurobiology, vol 42. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69832-3_10

Our Achievements

Grants, fellowships, awards and scholarships

Professor Richelle Mychasiuk

• NHMRC EL2 Investigator Grant $1.45M
• Canadian Institute for Health Research project grant, CIA, $1.2M
• National Science and Engineering Research Council operating grant $130K
• ‘Health Science Research Mentor Award’ from the Faculty of Medicine (Calgary, CA) for her supervision of Honours students
• Dean’s Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion (Monash University; 2022).

Dr Glenn Yamakawa

• Inaugural grant for “The Pitch”, Gastroenterology, Immunology and Neuroscience (GIN) Discovery program (2022) - $25,000
• “Best data blitz presentation” at the 2024 GIN Discovery Program symposium

Dr Sabrina Salberg

• “Find a Friend” seed grant, Department of Neuroscience, 2024
• Society for Pediatric Pathology, Young Investigator Research Grant, 2023
• Monash University, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences, Bridging Postdoctoral Fellowship (2022)
• Monash International Tuition Scholarship (2019-2022)
• Monash Graduate Scholarship (2019-2022)

Marissa Sgro

• GIN Discovery Program Pitch Award - $25K - Exploring the Brain-Bladder-Immune Axis - 2023

Crystal Li

• Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship, 2022
• Monash Graduate Excellence Scholarship (MGES) - $10K, ranked one of the Top applicants in Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, 2022
• 2024 Canadian Association for Neuroscience Meeting BrightFocus Travel Award ($900 CAD)
• 2024 Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting Travel Grant ($500 AUD)

Sydney Harris

• Best Poster Award - Australasian Neurotrauma Society - 2023
• Monash Graduate Scholarship
• Monash International Tuition Scholarship
• Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) Graduate Recruitment Scholarship

Publication Highlights

Below is a selection of some of published studies reflecting our high impact work. For a full list of our publications, please visit PubMed

1. Microbiome depletion prior to repeat mild TBI differentially alters social deficits and prefrontal cortex plasticity in adolescent and adult rats, iScience (2024), Sgro, M., Kodilla, Z., Li, C., Carmicheal, I., Warren, S., Reichelt, A., Yamakawa, G., & Mychasiuk, R. PMID: 36403882
2. A high-fat high-sugar diet and adversity early in life modulate pain outcomes at the behavioural and molecular level in adolescent rats: The role of sex, Brain Behaviour Immunity (2023), Salberg, S., Yamakawa, G., Beveridge, J., Noel, M., & Mychasiuk, R. PMID: 36403882
3. Repeat mild traumatic brain injuries (RmTBI) modify nociception and disrupt orexinergic connectivity within the descending pain pathway, Journal of Headache and Pain (2023), Christensen, J., MacPherson, N., Li, C., Yamakawa, G., & Mychasiuk, R. PMCID: PMC10268396
4. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and internalizing mental health, pain, and quality of life in youth with chronic pain: A longitudinal examination, Journal of Pain (2021), Nelson, S., Beveridge, J., Mychasiuk, R., & Noel, M.
5. Sex matters: Repetitive mild traumatic brain injury in adolescent rats, Annuals of Clinical Translation in Neurology (2017), Wright, D., O’Brien, T., Shultz, S., & Mychasiuk, R. PMCID: PMC5590540
6. Reducing the time interval between concussion and voluntary exercise restores motor impairment, short-term memory, and alterations to gene expression, European Journal of Neuroscience (2016), Mychasiuk, R., Hehar, H., Ma, I., Candy, S., & Esser, M. PMID: 27521273
7. Repetitive mild traumatic brain injury alters glymphatic clearance rates in limbic structures of adolescent female rats, Scientific Reports (2020), Christensen, J., Wright, D., Yamakawa, G., Shultz, S., & Mychasiuk, R. PMCID: PMC7148360
8. Manipulating cognitive reserve: Pre-injury environmental conditions influence the severity of concussion symptomology, gene expression, and response to melatonin treatment in rats, Experimental Neurology (2017), Yamakawa, G., Salberg, S., Barlow, K., Brooks, B., Esser, M., Yeates, K., & Mychasiuk, R. PMID: 28579327