Ageing and Neurodegeneration

Program Lead

Professor Julie Stout

T: 03 9905 3987

The proportion of older people in the population is increasing. Currently in Australia more than 15% of the population is over 65 years of age, and 2% are over 85.

The brain inevitably changes as we grow older, yet the variability in the magnitude and types of changes in the brain varies widely from person to person.

Our mission, through research and application of findings, is to foster the potential for older people and those with neurodegenerative conditions to maximise brain and body health, and the capacity to live well.

We use tools from psychological science, physiology, and neuroscience to:

• Define normative trajectories of cognitive and brain functioning in older adults;
• Conduct research to inform lifestyle choices in ageing to maximise health later in life;
• Develop essential outcome measures to enable whether treatments work in neurodegenerative diseases;
• Create and test novel interventions to improve wellness in ageing

We specialise in:

• Healthy ageing
• Huntington’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• Friedreich’s ataxia