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, neuroscience, neurology, and epidemiology 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
Inform our understanding of risk and protective factors for dementia
Develop biomarkers for prediction and diagnosis
We specialise in:
Healthy ageing
Huntington’s disease
Parkinson’s disease
Friedreich’s ataxia
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Vascular cognitive impairment
Clinical trials
Cohort studies and neuroepidemiology
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Program focus areas
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Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience (Julie Stout Lab)View
We conduct clinical research to improve understanding of Huntington’s disease and other young onset neurocognitive disorders.
Our research spans cognitive assessment, clinical and biological interdisciplinary natural history studies, clinical and biomarker validation studies, and clinical trials.
We are interested in how our life experiences change our brains. We are highly interdisciplinary in our approach, converging information from cognitive, behavioural, and psychosocial measures with multimodal neuroimaging to understand brain-behaviour relationships.
Our research aims at investigating multiscale dynamics of brain networks to understand the underlying computational principles and neural mechanisms of brain function and dysfunction. To better understand brain networks, their dynamics, and the effects of brain stimulation, we use a combination of neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, and develop computational and theoretical models of neural systems.
The Epidemiology of Dementia Lab aims to reduce the overall burden of dementia through robust epidemiological analyses of large cohorts and clinical studies. Up to 40% of dementias are potentially preventable. The Lab leads several local and international initiatives to (i) characterize risk and protective factors for cognitive decline and dementia and (ii) validate biomarkers for dementia prediction and diagnosis.
We undertake research at the intersection of rare neurodegenerative disorders, artificial intelligence (AI), neuroimaging analytics, and neuropsychology. By delving deeply into these diverse domains and fusing them, we aim to enhance our understanding of rare neurological conditions, such as Friedreich Ataxia and Huntington's Disease. We aspire to support the next generation of clinical trials with novel neuroimaging biomarkers, advanced multimodal AI systems, and digital cognitive training tools.
Movement and Exercise Neuroscience (James Coxon Lab)View
The association between physical activity and a healthy life is well established. We also know that physical exercise can impact the central nervous system and cognition. However, we are yet to fully understand the underlying mechanisms, or the parameters of exercise that result in optimal effects for the brain.
What are the implications of engaging in physical exercise for brain function and brain ageing? Our lab seeks to better understand how cardiorespiratory exercise impacts brain plasticity, learning, and cognition.