Professor Cliff Abraham, Director of the Brain Health Research Institute, takes Ruth Beran around the lab to meet Owen Jones who is funded by the Neurological Foundation to look at brain cells, called astrocytes, and their role in regulating synaptic plasticity.
Shane Ohline is looking at an unusual feature of the hippocampus. Contrary to popular belief, the brain can produce new cells, although only a few areas can do this, and the hippocampus is one of them. Why this neurogenesis occurs is very poorly understood, and Shane’s Marsden funded research revolves around dating cells in the brain and asking what the new neurons are good for.
