UNDERSTANDING THE BASIS OF COMPLEX BEHAVIOUR

Grant number: FT140101327 | Funding period: 2015 - 2020

Completed

Abstract

This project is anchored in the fundamental understanding of complex vertebrate behaviours, namely cognition. Little is known about the molecular and neural substrates underpinning complex higher order information processing. This project aims to dissect the functional role of synaptic genes that are essential for organising neuronal connections, in distinct cognitive processes and how these functions may be regulated by other genes, drugs or environmental factors. This project aims to employ state-of-the-art technologies to address the evolutionary biology of complex cognitive behaviours, towards further understandings how brain function evolved and the mechanisms that have enabled humans t..

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Related publications (13)

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Postsynaptic Neuroligin-1 Mediates Presynaptic Endocytosis During Neuronal Activity

Jiaqi Keith Luo, Holly Melland, Jess Nithianantharajah, Sarah L Gordon

2021-10-08

Fast, high-fidelity neurotransmission and synaptic efficacy requires tightly regulated coordination of pre- and postsynaptic compa..

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Longitudinal hippocampal volumetric changes in mice following brain infarction

Vanessa H Brait, David K Wright, Mohsen Nategh, Alexander Oman, Warda T Syeda, Charlotte M Ermine, Katrina R O'Brien, Emilio Werden, Leonid Churilov, Leigh A Johnston, Lachlan H Thompson, Jess Nithianantharajah, Katherine A Jackman, Amy Brodtmann

2021-05-13

Hippocampal atrophy is increasingly described in many neurodegenerative syndromes in humans, including stroke and vascular cogniti..

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MicroRNA-210 Regulates Dendritic Morphology and Behavioural Flexibility in Mice

Michelle Watts, Gabrielle Williams, Jing Lu, Jess Nithianantharajah, Charles Claudianos

2020-11-09

MicroRNAs are known to be critical regulators of neuronal plasticity. The highly conserved, hypoxia-regulated microRNA-210 (miR-21..

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A molecular insight into the dissociable regulation of associative learning and motivation by the synaptic protein neuroligin-1

Jiaqi Luo, Jessica M Tan, Jess Nithianantharajah

2020-09-14

BACKGROUND: In a changing environment, a challenge for the brain is to flexibly guide adaptive behavior towards survival. Complex ..

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MK-801 impairs working memory on the Trial-Unique Nonmatch-to-Location test in mice, but this is not exclusively mediated by NMDA receptors on PV plus interneurons or forebrain pyramidal cells

Elysia Sokolenko, Jess Nithianantharajah, Nigel C Jones

2020-07-01

NMDA receptors (NMDAr) are widely expressed throughout the brain on many cell types, and loss of function of these receptors (ie: ..

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Colonic dilation and altered ex vivo gastrointestinal motility in the neuroligin-3 knockout mouse

Anita JL Leembruggen, Gayathri K Balasuriya, Jinghong Zhang, Shana Schokman, Kristy Swiderski, Joel C Bornstein, Jess Nithianantharajah, Elisa L Hill-Yardin

2020-05-01

Gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction is commonly reported by people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; autism) but the cau..

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Associative Learning and Motivation Differentially Requires Neuroligin-1 at Excitatory Synapses

Jiaqi Luo, Jessica Tan, Jess Nithianantharajah

2020-01-02

<h4>ABSTRACT</h4> In a changing environment, a challenge for the brain is to flexibly guide adaptive behavior towards survival. Un..

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MicroRNA-210 Knockout Alters Dendritic Density and Behavioural Flexibility

Michelle Watts, Gabrielle Williams, Jing Lu, Jess Nithianantharajah, Charles Claudianos

2019-09-08

MicroRNAs exert post-transcriptional control over eukaryotic genomes and are integral for regulating complex functions in neurodev..

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Mutations in neuroligin-3 in male mice impact behavioral flexibility but not relational memory in a touchscreen test of visual transitive inference

Rebecca HC Norris, Leonid Churilov, Anthony J Hannan, Jess Nithianantharajah

2019-01-01

Cognitive dysfunction including disrupted behavioral flexibility is central to neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectru..

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Neurodevelopmental synaptopathies: Insights from behaviour in rodent models of synapse gene mutations

J Luo, RH Norris, SL Gordon, J Nithianantharajah

2018-06-08

The genomic revolution has begun to unveil the enormous complexity and heterogeneity of the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental di..

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Hypoxia-Induced MicroRNA-210 Targets Neurodegenerative Pathways.

Michelle E Watts, Sarah M Williams, Jess Nithianantharajah, Charles Claudianos

2018-03-27

Hypoxia-regulated microRNA-210 (miR-210) is a highly conserved microRNA, known to regulate various processes under hypoxic conditi..

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LOCAL NMDA RECEPTOR HYPOFUNCTION EVOKES GENERALIZED EFFECTS ON GAMMA AND HIGH-FREQUENCY OSCILLATIONS AND BEHAVIOR

Jaime Lee, Matthew R Hudson, Terence J O'Brien, Jess Nithianantharajah, Nigel C Jones

2017-09-01

The NMDA receptor (NMDAr) hypofunction theory of schizophrenia suggests that aberrant signaling through NMDAr underlies the pathop..

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Using Animal Models to Study the Role of the Gut-Brain Axis in Autism.

Jess Nithianantharajah, Gayathri K Balasuriya, Ashley E Franks, Elisa L Hill-Yardin

2017-01-01

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) commonly also suffer from gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction; h..

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