BrainMatters

Professor Teresa Schuhmann is the principal investigator of the clinical neuromodulation group at Maastricht University, where she works on non-invasive brain stimulation techniques. In this episode, prof. Schuhmann talks about how transcranial magnetic stimulation works, what it is being used for currently and the research she is looking forward to seeing in the field. She also discusses her recent partnership with Mondriaan (https://www.mondriaan.eu), a psychiatric institute in the Netherlands, where she helps psychologists put TMS to use in treating patients. To reach out to prof. Schuhmann for discussion or potential collaboration, you can find her email on her profile: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/t-schuhmann The intro and outro song are sourced from: //pixabay.com/music/beats-intro-184995/ Research mentioned in order of appearance: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33243615/ https://journals.lww.com/neuroreport/Abstract/1995/10020/Daily_repetitive_transcranial_magnetic_stimulation.8.aspx https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/6/5/fcae287/7745810

Prof. Paul Maruff is an honorary professor of UniMelb and a lead researcher in the Neurodegeneration and Neuropathology group at the Florey Institute in Melbourne. 20+ years ago he made the leap from academia to industry when he took his expertise in Alzheimer's research into a company, Cogstate, where he now serves as Chief Innovation Officer. In part two, I ask Paul what advice he can give to students looking to start their careers upon leaving university. Although the conversation mostly focused around pursuing a career in industry, there were still many takeaways and tips for all students! You can reach out to prof. Maruff via his socials: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-maruff-a282a31b/?originalSubdomain=au and at https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/136594-paul-maruff The intro and outro song are sourced from: //pixabay.com/music/beats-intro-184995/

Prof. Paul Maruff is an honorary professor of UniMelb and a lead researcher in the Neurodegeneration and Neuropathology group at the Florey Institute in Melbourne. 20+ years ago he made the leap from academia to industry when he took his expertise in Alzheimer's research into a company, Cogstate, where he now serves as Chief Innovation Officer. In this first half of our conversation, prof. Maruff uses his years of experience from walking in both worlds, to give advice to students and researchers who have thought about making the move from a career in academia to one in industry. You can reach out to prof. Maruff via his socials: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-maruff-a282a31b/?originalSubdomain=au and at https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/136594-paul-maruff The intro and outro song are sourced from: //pixabay.com/music/beats-intro-184995/

Dr Philip Ryan is lead researcher of the Fluid Homeostasis group at the Florey Institute in Melbourne, working closely with the Addiction Neuroscience group to unpack the importance of oxytocin as a regulator of the desire to drink fluids. He is also medical director at Nucleus Network, a clinical trial research organisation based in Melbourne. On this episode, Dr Ryan talks through his experience of discovering a cluster of neurons sensitive to oxytocin that are integral to monitoring fluid homeostasis in the body. He discusses how many attempts there were before success, the methods employed including optogenetics and DREADD, and how his understanding of the dynamics of addiction has increased his compassion for patients. You can reach out to Dr Ryan here: https://florey.edu.au/researcher/philip-ryan/ Research mentioned in order of appearance: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-017-0014-z https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891061824000164?via%3Dihub https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1317807110 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jnc.15991

James Gattuso is a PhD candidate in the Genes, Environment and Behaviour Group at the Florey Institute in Melbourne. In this episode, we discuss his work on abuse models of psilocybin, the importance of the Default Mode Network in psychedelic research and the potential for psychedelics to enhance neuroscience outside of their therapeutic benefits. Socials: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-gattuso-2a8b79210/ Research mentioned in order of appearance: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032724012011?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028390823002794?via%3Dihub https://academic.oup.com/ijnp/article/26/3/155/6770039?login=false

Dr Kagan is chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs, leading their development of synthetic biocomputing technology. Dr Habibollahi is a data scientist at Cortical Labs. She completed her PhD at UniMelb and has also studied in Iran and Switzerland. To email Cortical Labs: [email protected] To reach out to Dr Kagan for discussion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-kagan-6ba996146/ For Dr Habibollahi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/forough-habibollahi-a18581b5/ Cortical Labs socials YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq4mqLeGRdq47sHumYMIDJw Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/corticallabs/ // For a good visualisation of the potential of synthetic biocomputing, see this video featuring Cortical Labs' research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEXefdbQDjw // Research mentioned in the episode in order of appearance: Brett J. Kagan, Andy C. Kitchen, Nhi T. Tran, Forough Habibollahi, Moein Khajehnejad, Bradyn J. Parker, Anjali Bhat, Ben Rollo, Adeel Razi, and Karl J. Friston (2022) In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated gameworld, Neuron, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001 Friston, K. The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory?. Nat Rev Neurosci 11, 127–138 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2787 Brett J. Kagan, Daniela Duc, Ian Stevens & Frederic Gilbert (2022) Neurons Embodied in a Virtual World: Evidence for Organoid Ethics?, AJOB Neuroscience, 13:2, 114-117, DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2022.2048731

Professor Colin Masters is a professor at the Florey Institute of the Neuroscience and Mental Health and the University of Melbourne. In this episode, he recounts his pivotal role in the establishment of the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease and the stages of research that led to his current work on treatments and biomarkers. Here is an excerpt from his bio on the Florey page: "Over the last 40 years, his work is widely acknowledged as having had a major influence on Alzheimer’s disease research worldwide, particularly the collaborative studies conducted with Konrad Beyreuther in which they discovered the proteolytic neuronal origin of the Aβ amyloid protein, which causes Alzheimer’s disease. This work has led to the continued development of diagnostics and therapeutic strategies and has been recognised by the receipt of many international awards." To reach out to Prof Masters for discussion: https://florey.edu.au/researcher/colin-masters/ Research mentioned in the episode in order of appearance: Masters CL, Kakulas BA, Alpers MP, Gajdusek DC, Gibbs CJ Jr. Preclinical lesions and their progression in the experimental spongiform encephalopathies (kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) in primates. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 1976; 35: 593-605. Masters CL, Simms G, Weinman NA, Multhaup G, McDonald BL, Beyreuther K. Amyloid plaque core protein in Alzheimer disease and Down syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1985; 82: 4245-4249. Dyrks T, Weidemann A, Multhaup G, Salbaum JM, Lemaire H-G, Kang J, Müller-Hill B, Masters CL, Beyreuther K. Identification, transmembrane orientation and biogenesis of the amyloid A4 precursor of Alzheimer's disease. EMBO J 1988; 7: 949-957. Randy L. Buckner, Abraham Z. Snyder, Benjamin J. Shannon, Gina LaRossa, Rimmon Sachs, Anthony F. Fotenos, Yvette I. Sheline, William E. Klunk, Chester A. Mathis, John C. Morris, Mark A. Mintun. Molecular, Structural, and Functional Characterization of Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence for a Relationship between Default Activity, Amyloid, and Memory. Journal of Neuroscience 24 August 2005, 25 (34) 7709-7717; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2177-05.2005 Nakamura A, Kaneko N, Villemagne VL, Kato T, Doecke J, Doré V, Fowler C, Li QX, Martins R, Rowe C, Tomita T, Matsuzaki K, Ishii K[enji], Ishii K[anzunari], Arahata Y, Iwamoto S, Ito K, , Tanaka K, Masters CL, Yanagisawa K. High performance plasma amyloid-β biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. Nature 2018; 554: 249-254. Burnham SC, Laws SM, Budgeon CA, Doré V, Porter T, Bourgeat P, Buckley RF, Murray K, Ellis KA, Turlack BA, Salvado O , Ames D, Martins RN, Rentz D, Masters CL, Rowe CC, Villemagne VL, for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and the AIBL Research Group. Impact of APOE- ε4 carriage on the onset and rates of neocortical Aβ-amyloid deposition. Neurobiol Aging 2020; 95: 46-55. Gu BJ, Huang X, Ou A, Rembach A, Fowler C, Avula PK, Horton A, Doecke JD, Villemagne VL, Macaulay SL, Maruff P, Fletcher EL, Guymer R, Wiley JS, Masters CL. The Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) Study. Innate phagocytosis by peripheral blood monocytes is altered in Alzhiemer’s disease. Acta Neuropath 2016; 132: 377-389.

In this first episode, we meet Han Geluk, teacher trainer and writer of the book 'The little brain for dummies. We talk about how and why research about our most important organ; the brain, should be communicated with the layman. Moreover, we talk about his book in which we dive into some interesting facts about our brain as well as reading out loud a passage from this book. Did you get curious about reading this book? Make sure to follow our Instagram page; brainmatters_nl and leave a comment in which you tag one of your friends and explain why you would like to read this book. *The book is only available in Dutch, unfortunately.  This episode is in collaboration with the study association Anguilla.