Seminars and Events

Active Ageing

UPDATE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. 

Join speakers from Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), who will discuss the latest research in pain and the link with the brain.

New research shows that there are changes in the brain when someone has pain for a long time. Using this knowledge of the brain and how it changes with pain, researchers have developed new treatments for chronic low back pain that target how the brain and central nervous system process sensory information to produce pain. The seminar will include the latest findings and treatments aiming to reduce low back pain by targeting the brain, specifically for those with chronic back pain.

Speakers

Associate Professor James McAuley – Senior Research Scientist 
Introduction

Edel O’Hagan – Physiotherapist and Scientist 
Myths about low back pain

Matthew Bagg  – Physiotherapist and Scientist 
Pain, the brain and the back

Aidan Cashin – Exercise Physiologist and Scientist 
Moving forward with back pain

The seminar is free but bookings are required by contacting 9399 1627 or email resolve@neura.edu.au

The NeuRA PhD Completion Seminar series provides an opportunity to hear from completing PhD students and celebrate their success.

CONTACTS
Dr Jasmine Menant – phone: +61 2 9399 1267 or email: j.menant@neura.edu.au

Location: John and Betty Lynch Seminar Room, Level 3, NeuRA, followed by a celebratory lunch in the cafe.

Join us for the 14th GeneMappers Conference on the 20-22nd November 2019!  

The 2019 GeneMappers meeting will be a very special event, being the 20th anniversary of the first meeting which was held in Thredbo, New South Wales in 1999. Thus the meeting is returning to New South Wales this year, with a beautiful venue on Sydney harbour foreshore in Manly, around 30 minutes from Sydney City, and an attractive historic site.

While we finalise the 2019 conference website, please refer to last year’s conference website here for what happened in 2018! 

Venue: Q station, Sydney Harbour National Park, Manly, NSW

INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS
Cathryn Lewis, King’s College London, UK	Cathryn Lewis is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology & Statistics at King’s College London, where she leads the Statistical Genetics Unit.  Her academic training is in mathematics and statistics, and she has been involved in genetic studies since her PhD. She co-chairs the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Major Depressive Disorder Working group, and leads the NIHR Maudsley BRC Biomarkers and Genomics theme. Her multi-disciplinary research group identifies and characterises genetic variants conferring risk of disease, including depression, schizophrenia, and stroke. A major focus is risk assessment, determining how the polygenic component of mental health disorders can be measured accurately and communicated effectively.
Mike Boehnke, University of Michigan, USA	Michael Boehnke is the Richard G. Cornell Distinguished University Professor of Biostatistics and Director of the University of Michigan Center for Statistical Genetics and Genome Science Training Program. Dr. Boehnke’s research focuses on problems of study design and statistical analysis of human genetic data with a particular emphasis on development and application of statistical methods for human gene mapping, with a current focus on disease and trait association studies based on genome sequence and genotype-array data. He is principal investigator of the Finland-United States Investigation of NIDDM (FUSION) study of the genetics of type 2 diabetes, the GoT2D and T2D-GENES type 2 diabetes sequencing studies, and the BRIDGES and InPSYght sequencing studies of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Cornelia van Duijn, University of Oxford, UK	Cornelia M van Duijn is Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health at The University of Oxford, UK.  She is based at the Oxford Big Data Institute where she integrates large-scale (epi)genetic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic and microbiome data of epidemiological cohorts with that of brain imaging and cellular models. Cornelia’s research focuses on brain and ocular diseases such as Alzheimer disease and glaucoma but her interest spans systemic vascular, endocrine and gastrointestinal pathology that is relevant for brain and ocular function. Before moving to Oxford, Cornelia was head of Genetic Epidemiology of the Erasmus University Medical Centre and director of the international education and training program in genetic epidemiology. In 2016, she was co-appointed at the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR) as a Professor of Translational Epidemiology.

NATIONAL SPEAKERS
Stephen Leslie, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melb	Associate Professor Stephen Leslie is a statistician working in the field of mathematical genetics.  He obtained his doctorate from the Department of Statistics, University of Oxford in 2008.  After graduating Stephen was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Statistics at Oxford.  He was awarded one of Oxford’s prestigious Nuffield Department of Medicine Scientific Leadership Fellowships.  In 2012 Stephen returned to Australia to establish his own research group.  Since 2016 Stephen has been Associate Professor of Statistical Genomics at the University of Melbourne.  In 2016 Stephen was awarded the Woodward Medal by the University of Melbourne, the University’s highest award for research by faculty.  In 2019 Stephen was awarded the Moran Medal of the Australian Academy of Science. Stephen’s work covers several aspects of statistical and population genetics.  His main interests are in detecting and controlling for population differences in genetic data; typing complex genetic variation, with a particular focus on immune-associated loci; and performing statistically rigorous analyses of the relationship of genetic variants to disease.
Alistair Forrest, University of Western Australia, Perth	Professor Alistair Forrest is an NHMRC senior research fellow and head of the systems biology and genomics lab at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia. He is an expert in transcriptomics, and as scientific coordinator of FANTOM5, led the international consortium to globally map human promoters, enhancers, microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs using Cap Analysis of Gene Expression and RNA-seq. He researches broadly in the areas of genomics, transcriptomics and systems biology, and is interested in describing the biological components encoded in our genomes and how they work together in systems. His lab has two major research streams: single cell analysis of tumours (he leads the Western Australian cancer single cell consortium and the ACRF Centre for Advanced Cancer genomics); and mapping enhancers of known Mendelian disease genes and assessing their role in genetic disease. The common thread between these streams is application of genome wide measurements and integrative analysis.
Sarah Medland, QIMR, Brisbane	Professor Sarah Medland is a statistical geneticist working on mental health and neurological traits. She received her PhD in 2006 from the University of Queensland, followed by a Sidney Sax NHMRC Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics in USA. She is currently the coordinator of the mental health research program and head of the psychiatric genetics group at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. As chair of the genetics team of ENIGMA neuro-imaging genetics consortium, Sarah has played a leading role in large multi-site studies identifying genetic variants influencing brain structure in healthy and disease-focused cohorts. She is also the PI of nation-wide studies recruiting large cohorts of individuals diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, Bipolar, Depression and Schizophrenia which are seeking to identify genetic variants associated with developing these disorders and variation in treatment response.

More Information Coming Soon.

Hope to see you there!

Please register your interest below to be notified about important updates

(including National and International speaker announcements, the final scientific program, conference sponsorship & technology updates, abstract submission deadlines, registration and hotel bookings).

For general enquiries, please email genemappers2019@neura.edu.au

2019 ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Co-convenor: Jan Fullerton (Neuroscience Research Australia)
Co-convenor: Carol Dobson-Stone (University of Sydney)
Co-convenor  Joseph Powell (Garvan Institute)
Peter Schofield (Neuroscience Research Australia)
Marina Kennerson (ANZAC Research Institute & University of Sydney)
Irina Voineagu (University of New South Wales)
Georgia Chenevix-Trench (QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute)
Nick Martin (QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute)
Lyn Griffiths (Queensland University of Technology)
Stuart MacGregor (QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute)
David Evans (University of Queensland Diamantina Institute)
Melanie Bahlo (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute)
Justin Rubio (University of Melbourne)
Eric Moses (Curtin University & University of Western Australia)
Nicola Armstrong (Murdoch University)
Jac Charlesworth (University of Tasmania)
Alex Hewitt (University of Tasmania)

Location map: 

The NeuRA Sensation Movement Balance & Falls Research Theme regularly hosts specialised Sensorimotor Control Seminars. All Seminars start at 10am.  Seminars are open to NeuRA staff and external collaborators.

Primary contact

Dr Bart Bolsterlee (E: b.bolsterlee@neura.edu.au)

Location:

NeuRA, Level 3 John and Betty Lynch Seminar Room

The NeuRA Invited Lecture series aims to attract leading national and international researchers from all fields of neuroscience. This series is open to all NeuRA staff and relevant external groups.

If you are from a relevant external group or individual and would like to sign up to Invited Series Seminar emails, please fill out the form.

Primary contacts

Dr Justine Gatt (T: +612 9399 1812 E: j.gatt@neura.edu.au)

Dr Tertia Purves-Tyson (T: +612 9399 1649 E: t.purves-tyson@neura.edu.au)

Dr Jasmine Menant (T: +612 9399 1267 E: j.menant@neura.edu.au)

Scientia Prof George Paxinos AO (T: +612 93991094 E: g.paxinos@neura.edu.au)

Dr Ruth Peters (T: +612 9399 1015 E: r.peters@neura.edu.au)

Dr Steve Kassem (T: +612 9399 1037 E: s.kassem@neura.edu.au)

Location:

NeuRA, Level 3 John and Betty Lynch Seminar Room

Professor Simon Gandevia, Deputy Director at NeuRA announced that NeuRA will host the first International Motor Impairment Conference in Sydney Australia. Nov 26th-28th.

This 3 day workshop is designed for consultants in genetics and medicine, medical/genetic trainees, scientists and genetic counsellors.

This webinar will be focused on Cognitive Impairment and risk, hosted by Dr Morag Taylor. Morag is a NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow; currently her work is focusing on further understanding fall risk and, preventing falls and disability in older people with dementia.