Infrastructure
The Decision Neuroscience Lab was constructed in 2015-16 as a purpose-built laboratory within which to conduct basic research in decision-making. It is composed of 800 m2 of research space including separate rat and mouse research areas with dedicated vivaria for housing research subjects and specifically designed to be used for behavioral studies. The lab also has two dedicated surgeries and perfusion rooms as well as wet lab, histology, protein imagining, microscopy, in vitro electrophysiological suites and a cold room. With regard to equipment, over and above the fridges, freezers, icemakers, extraction hoods and other standard equipment used in the histological imaging usual to a neuroscience lab, we have exclusive access within the rat and mouse research areas to 48 rat and 24 mouse operant chambers, 4 fear conditioning boxes with sundry other behavioural/motor testing equipment, 12 optogenetic set-ups, 8 boxes for fiber photonic imaging, and 4 rat and 4 mouse Inscopix miniature microscopes for endoscopic imaging. We have a cryostat and 4 vibrotomes, capacity for RNA/DNA molecular analysis, two patch rigs, and various microscopes including two conventional confocal and one spinning disk microscope.
Funding (FOM 2016)
2023 - 2026: How the brain learns and uses inhibitory predictions - Vincent Laurent, Nura W. Lingawi and Mark E. Bouton - Australian Research Council, Discovery Project - Amount: 562,000 AUD.
2023 - 2026: Uncovering a novel memory process mediating stimulus-based decisions - Vincent Laurent - Australian Research Council, Future Fellowship - Amount: 920,868 AUD.
2021 - 2023: Examining the metabolic and cognitive deficits caused by insulin resistance in the ventral striatum - Vincent Laurent, Beatrice K. Leung, Nura W. Lingawi and Billy C., Chieng - National Health and Medical Research Council, Ideas Grant - Amount: 400,372 AUD
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2021 - 2023: Mechanisms of memory integration in brain systems- Miriam Matamales & Jesus Bertran-Gonzalez – Australian Research Council, Discovery Project- Amount: 378,205 AUD
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2021 - 2024: Spatiotemporal signatures of learning in brain reward system - Jesus Bertran-Gonzalez - Australian Research Council, Future Fellowship - Amount: 912,402 AUD
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2020 - 2024: Action memory and executive dysfunction in the cortical-basal ganglia network- Bernard Balleine – National Health and Medical Research Council, Investigator Grant- Amount: 1,914,609 AUD
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2020 - 2024: The neural bases of decision-making - Bernard Balleine – Australian Research Council, Discovery Project – Amount: 1,280,000 AUD
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2019 - 2022: The prefronto-striatal circuit and disorders of action control - Bernard Balleine – National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant - Amount: 540,000 AUD
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2019 - 2022: A novel G-Protein Coupled Receptor-based memory process mediating the cognitive control of action - Bernard W Balleine and Vincent Laurent - National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant - Amount: 527,836 AUD
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2019 - 2021: Role of shifting thalamostriatal networks in action refinement - Jesus Bertran-Gonzalez and Miriam Matamales - Australian Research Council, Discovery Project - Amount: 464,678 AUD
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2019 - 2021: Enhancing motivational capacity in the aged by restoring nuclear signalling in the striatum - Jesus Bertran-Gonzalez and Miriam Matamales - National Health and Medical Research Council, New Investigator Project Grant - Amount: 397,754 AUD
2018 - 2020: The role of the orbitofrontal cortex in disorders of response inhibition - Bernard Balleine and Laura Bradfield– National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant- Amount: 542,055 AUD
2018 - 2020: Cognitive inflexibility in disorders of decision-making – Christopher Dayas, Paul Kenny, Bernard Balleine, Murray Cairns, Billy Chieng, Doug Smith and Laura Corbit – National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant- Amount: 473,446 AUD
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2018 - 2020: Modelling post-traumatic stress disorder in rats: hypervigilance and spread of fear - Nathan M Holmes, Vincent Laurent and R Frederic Westbrook - National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant - Amount: 348,371 AUD
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2017 - 2019: The neural substrate of a false memory - Nathan M Holmes, Vincent Laurent, R Frederic Westbrook and Simon K Killcross - Australian Research Council, Discovery Project - Amount: 456,000 AUD
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2016 - 2020: PET imaging of learning-related plasticity in awake behaving rats - Bernard Balleine, Steven Meikle and Roger Fulton – Australian Research Council, Discovery Project – Amount: 1,195,400 AUD
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2016 - 2019: Contribution of basal ganglia networks in fine-tuning of action - Jesus Bertran-Gonzalez - Australian Research Council, Discovery Early Career Research Award - 375,000 AUD
2015 - 2019: Dysfunctions of decision-making and the cognitive control of action - Bernard Balleine and Billy Chieng – National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant- Amount: 591,864 AUD
2015 - 2019: The neural bases of decision-making - Bernard Balleine – Australian Research Council, Discovery Project – Amount: 1,065,800 AUD
2015 - 2019: Translational studies in decision-making - Bernard Balleine – National Health and Medical Research Council, Fellowship Funding- Amount: 850,000 AUD
2015 - 2017: Dementia-related deficits in striatal cholinergic function and decision-making - Bernard Balleine and Laura Bradfield– National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant- Amount: 401,398 AUD
2015 - 2017: Disorders of action control and learning-related plasticity in the basal ganglia - Bernard Balleine, MacDonald Christie and Billy Chieng – National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant- Amount: 421,398 AUD
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2014 - 2016: Neural substrate underlying appetitive-aversive interactions - Vincent Laurent - Australian Research Council, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Amount: 389,957 AUD
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2013 - 2016: Pathologies of action control: Amygdala-striatal interactions and the development of habits - Bernard Balleine and Billy Chieng– National Health and Medical Research Council, Project Grant- Amount: 416,962 AUD
2013 - 2016: The role of inhibitory conditioning in choice and decision-making – Vincent Laurent and Bernard Balleine – Australian Research Council, Discovery Project – Amount: 435,000 AUD