$2.6 million awarded in ARC Discovery Project grants

11 Nov 2013

QBI obtained a 45 per cent success rate in the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project grant round, building on the highly successful NHMRC achievements last month.

Institute Director, Professor Perry Bartlett, says he is delighted with the news emphasising that “continual grant success well above the national average is testament to the high calibre of research being undertaken at QBI.”

Among the successful applicants is Professor Mandyam Srinivasan, who was awarded two grants, the maximum number able to be awarded under this scheme, totalling almost $1.5 million.

One of these grants also included a prestigious Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award.

Professor Srinivasan will use high-speed video cinematography to investigate how honeybees detect, pursue and intersect moving targets.

The results of his work will be applied to unmanned aerial vehicles to avoid collisions with other objects.

Professor Linda Richards secured $785,000, which will be used to gain greater understanding into how the cerebral cortex is built during embryonic life.

The focus of Professor Richards’ project is on the formation and function of the earliest neurons of the cerebral cortex, called preplate neurons.

It is important to understand how this area of the brain is established, as it is necessary for the seamless processing and integration of a wide variety of information.

Associate Professor Bruno van Swinderen received $365,000 to study the role of dopamine – the neurotransmitter responsible for reward and pleasure – in what we pay attention to.

Using flies, A/Professor van Swinderen will examine neural circuits, attention behaviour and brain recordings.

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