Vital Signs

Bond University neuroscientist Jacob Thorstensen has secured national funding to investigate a promising new technique that could one day help people living with multiple sclerosis regain lost motor function. Assistant Professor Jacob Thorstensen has been awarded a research grant from MS Australia to explore whether targeted brain stimulation can strengthen communication between the brain and spinal cord in people with the disease.Neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, dementia, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis - affect millions of Australians. In Queensland alone, as many as one in four people will experience a neurological condition during their lifetime.You can learn more about Dr Thorstensen and his work HERE. 

It often seems to rear its head when kids return to school after the holidays. Before the break everything seems fine - your child was thriving as part of a consistent group of friends.But then school returns, and everything changed. In close enough to an instant the group splintered - the collective became exclusive, and things became very weird, very quickly. And it's really difficult thing for teens and parents to navigate. Turns out these issues are not completely social in nature. Far from, in fact. According to Dr Cher McGillivray⁠ there's actually quite a bit of neuropsychology at play.

By her own admission, Shai Hipperson wasn't much of a school student. But after sustaining injuries in two car accidents and living through a significant family tragedy, priorities changed. At 22 she enrolled in a Bachelor of Psychological Sciences at Bond University.She now specialises in the treatment of trauma and her clinic - Conscious Mind Centre - is the first in Queensland to offer Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, otherwise known as 'Medical Assisted Therapy' or MAT. Here, Hipperson is speaking to Matt Webber in the very first episode of Vital Signs. You can read more about Shae Hipperson HERE.