Even though 2020 has been a tough year, we have performed well with 7 published papers, two of which were led by PhD students, River and Hilary. To cap off the year, the lab was awarded the Judy Mitchell MND Research Innovator Grant by the MND Research Australia. This grant was jointly awarded to Victor, Jocelyn and our collaborator, Dr. Mihwa Lee (La Trobe University) to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying the cytoplasmic aggregation of the RNA binding protein, SFPQ, in ALS. Finally, we are very proud of Hilary, whose work on PICK1 in synaptic vesicle recycling (Yong et al., Cell Reports, 2020) was selected as the Runner Up of QBI Best Student Publication Prize 2020. We wish everyone a happy festive season and all the very best in 2021.  

We wish to congratulate the following lab members for their achievements:

• Dr. Sumasri Guntupalli - for successfully passing her doctoral thesis and completing her PhD degree. Sumasri is the lab's second PhD graduate and we are very proud of her. 
• Hilary Yong - for being awarded the prestigious Ian Lindenmayer PhD Top-Up Scholarship (up to 4 years of support). We also extend our gratitude to the Lindenmayer family for their generous gift which enabled this award. The top-up scholarship was established in 2019 and funded from a donation from Robina Lindenmayer in the name of her husband, Ian Lindenmayer.
• Dr. Jocelyn Widagdo - for being awarded a UQ Amplify Fellowship (2020 - 2022) that continues to support her research in the epitranscriptomics mechanisms underlying neuronal plasticity, as well as providing her the opportunity to engage with students through undergraduate teaching at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biology.  

Dr. Asami Oguro-Ando (University of Exeter) and Victor were co-awarded a QUEX Institute Initiative Grant, which funds a new collaborative project between the two labs on the role of cell adhesion molecules on neurodegeneration. 

Victor received an NHMRC Project Grant to study the molecular mechanism of glutamate receptor trafficking (with A/Prof. Brett Collins, IMB, UQ).

Jocelyn was also awarded an Early Career Researcher Grant from The University of Queensland to further advancing her work on the epitranscriptomic mechanisms of learning and memory. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Jocelyn and Iris for being awarded the highly competitive Discovery Early Career Researcher (DECRA) Fellowships from ARC. Jocelyn will investigate the role of epitranscriptomic regulation in synaptic plasticity, while Iris will elucidate the mechanisms underlying glutamate receptor trafficking in central neurons.

​Victor also receives an ARC Discovery Project Grant to study the molecular mechanims of synaptic vesicle recycling (with Prof. Mike Cousin, The University of Edinburgh, UK).

​The lab receives three NHMRC Project Grants to investigate molecular mechanisms of NMDA receptor trafficking (with A/Prof. Brett Collins, UQ), to determine the mechanisms underlying recovery from general anaesthesia (with A/Prof. Bruno van Swinderen, UQ) and to explore the role of vitamin D in regulating L-type voltage-gated calcium channel function (with Prof. John McGrath, UQ).

Victor was awarded a Fellowship in Ageing Dementia Research from the John T. Reid Charitable Trusts, enabling him to establish the Synaptic Neurobiology Lab. The lab is a member of the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research within the Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland.