Neurodevelopment in Health and Disease

Image: Hill-Yardin Group

We are a multidisciplinary research program identifying the determinants of healthy brain development, and combating the early origins of neurological disease across the lifespan.

Contact us

To contact an individual researcher please see our who we are page. Alternatively, reach out to our Program Leader, Professor David Walker using the button below.

Email David Walker

Research focus

We are Australian leaders in functional and structural examination of the brain and peripheral nervous system. We are discovering the fundamental neural changes that occur during development, and how these might be changed or disrupted by disease and environmental impacts. Our research across the lifespan is advancing our understanding of how to keep the brain healthy for longer.

Capabilities

Our research addresses fundamental neurobiological questions and important biomedical problems including: poor fetal growth, cerebral palsy, obesity, stress, cognitive dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, stroke, sleep disorders, and the origins of behavioural abnormalities such as autism.

We use molecular, pharmacological, microfluidics, neurophysiological, and behavioural assessment techniques to enable the investigation of oxidative stress, neurogenesis and myelination, mitochondrial function, regulation of brain energy supply, neuroendocrinology of stress, quantitative assessment of behaviour and cognition, and detailed evaluation of brain structure using MRI/MRS, electrophysiology, qPCR, Next-Gen sequencing, super-resolution microscopy and immunohistochemistry.

Our impact

We work with a range of Australian and global organisations to provide innovative discoveries into maximizing brain health.

Who we are

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Latest NDHD news

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Latest Health and Biomedical Science news

Hyperactive immune cells accelerate heart valve disease: study

09 Jul 2020

A new study using organ-on-a-chip technology reveals how overactive immune cells aggravate heart valve disease and how this damaging hyperactivity could potentially be controlled.

How does our brain fold? Study reveals new genetic insights

02 Jul 2020

New research is helping unlock the mystery of how the brain folds as a baby develops in the womb – a process critical to healthy brain function.

How the battle to survive shapes ageing immune cells

09 Jun 2020

New research shows older immune cells have to fight just to survive, in a study that overturns previous thinking and sheds light on how ageing affects the immune system.

New gut-brain link: how gut mucus could help treat brain disorders

29 May 2020

Mucus is the first line of defence against bad bacteria in our gut. But could it also be part of our defence against diseases of the brain?

Acknowledgement of country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.

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