Bellgrove Honours Projects

Professor Mark Bellgrove
Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences
The School of Psychological Sciences
mark.bellgrove@monash.edu

The School of Psychological Sciences is at the forefront of brain function research in Australia with roots in the basic discovery sciences, cognitive, clinical and brain neurosciences and the social sciences. Formalised within our research intensive institute, the Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, our research current themes range from addiction to sleep with the goal of translating scientific discoveries to directly improving diagnosis and treatment of acquired, developmental and degenerative brain pathologies.

Projects

Cellular Modelling of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Risk Genes

Other supervisors: Dr Ziarih Hawi, Dr Janette Tong, Professor Robert Bryson-Richardson

Background:  ADHD is the most prevalent psychiatric condition affecting 7.4% of Australian children and adolescents. Its features include extreme levels of motor activity, impulsivity and inattention that persist into adult life in 30-60% of cases. Genetic influences are recognised as a major predisposing factor, with heritability for ADHD estimated between 75-90%. Recent meta–analysis of data arising from genome wide association studies (GWAS) of 20,183 ADHD cases and 35,191 controls identified 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that meet the stringent statistical standards for genome wide association (P⩽5×10−8) with ADHD.

Project Aims:  To elucidate the effect of the most significantly ADHD-GWAS variant and SNPs in linkage disequilibrium (non–random correlation between alleles) with it by genetically engineering the ADHD associated and non-associated variants into human neuronal cell line. This project could be adapted to suit either an honours student of a PhD student.

Techniques: This project will utilise techniques including but not limited to polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cDNA syntheses, quantitative PCR, DNA cloning, and editing using the CRISPR-Cas9 technology, cell culture and Western plot.

This project would suited to a student with a good grounding in genetics and cell biology.

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