The ability to combine advanced neuroimaging techniques and genetic information will fundamentally change our understanding of the brain and how it functions in disease. By applying knowledge of genetic information, Imaging Genomics can be used to determine how individual differences in genes contribute to differences in brain structure and function.

Volunteer Opportunities

What changes occur in the brain during the critical period of early adolescence? Would your family like to take part in our journey to explore this very important period of development?

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Research Directions

Our research is at the interface of cognitive neuroscience and genetics.

The overall aim is to provide new knowledge and understanding of the neurobiological causes of major mental illnesses through the integration of structural and functional imaging, measures of cognition, health and well-being, and behavioural and molecular genetic approaches.

News and Events

2020 Publications

Some select publications from the year to date:
van Eijk L, Hansell NK, Strike LT, et al. Region-specific sex differences in the hippocampus. Neuroimage. 2020;215:116781. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116781
 
Grasby KL, Jahanshad N, Painter JN, et al. The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex. Science. 2020;367(6484). doi:10.1126/science.aay6690
 
Mitchell BL, Cuéllar-Partida G, Grasby KL, et al. Educational attainment polygenic scores are associated with cortical total surface area and regions important for language and memory. Neuroimage. 2020;212:116691. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116691
 
Writing Committee for the ENIGMA-CNV Working Group , van der Meer D, Sønderby IE, et al. Association of Copy Number Variation of the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 Region With Cortical and Subcortical Morphology and Cognition [published online ahead of print, 2019 Oct 30]. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;77(4):1-11. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.3779

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Liza van Eijk for her recent PhD submission, Victoria O’Callaghan for winning the research excellence award at the 16th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Chronobiology Society, and Ethan Campi for the recent submission of his honours thesis.

Liza van Eijk

2019 Publications

Chen, X., Formisano, E., Blokland, G. A. M., Strike, L. T., McMahon, K. L., de Zubicaray, G. I., . . . Nichols, T. E. (2019). Accelerated estimation and permutation inference for ACE modeling. Hum Brain Mapp, 40(12), 3488-3507. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24611

Couvy-Duchesne, B., Strike, L. T., McMahon, K. L., de Zubicaray, G. I., Thompson, P. M., Martin, N. G., . . . Wright, M. J. (2019). A Fast Method for Estimating Statistical Power of Multivariate GWAS in Real Case Scenarios: Examples from the Field of Imaging Genetics. Behav Genet, 49(1), 112-121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9936-9

Hwang, L. D., Lin, C., Gharahkhani, P., Cuellar-Partida, G., Ong, J. S., An, J., . . . Reed, D. R. (2019). New insight into human sweet taste: a genome-wide association study of the perception and intake of sweet substances. Am J Clin Nutr, 109(6), 1724-1737. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqz043

Hwang, L. D., Strike, L. T., Couvy-Duchesne, B., de Zubicaray, G. I., McMahon, K., Breslin, P. A. S., . . . Wright, M. J. (2019). Associations between brain structure and perceived intensity of sweet and bitter tastes. Behav Brain Res, 363, 103-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2019.01.046

Strike, L. T., Hansell, N. K., Thompson, P. M., de Zubicaray, G. I., McMahon, K. L., Zietsch, B. P., & Wright, M. J. (2019). Absolute and relative estimates of genetic and environmental variance in brain structure volumes. Brain Struct Funct. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-019-01931-8

2019 Meeting of the Organisation for Human Brain Mapping

Some preliminary results from the QTAB project were presented at the 2019 OHBM meeting held in Rome, Italy.

Welcome 2018 Summer Research Scholars!

Welcome to Ethan (left), and Jack and Oksana (right), pictured with QBI Director Professor Pankaj Sah. Ethan is the recipient of the 2018 Aleks and Elise Brumby Summer Research Scholarship, and Jack and Oksana are both participants in the the Ashintosh-QBI scholarship program. See the full story here.