Engage

You can help progress our research

You don't have to be a scientist to get involved with QBI. We offer a range of opportunities for everyday people to connect and progress our research and discoveries.

The foundation for all of our work is the funding we receive through a range of sources, including philanthropic donations from our generous supporters. There are many ways to give to QBI: directly, through planned giving, or holding fundraising events that entertain or challenge supporters as they dig deep to help us better understand the brain.

We also offer opportunities for students to learn directly from our inspiring researchers through lab placements, and for community members to tour our facilities and attend events. Finally, you can give one of the greatest gifts of all by volunteering for studies to advance treatments and diagnostics for brain diseases and disorders.

Support our research

Talks

Volunteer for a research study

Events

World leading research

Brightest scientific minds

Solutions to global health challenges

Donate

Brain Research Endowment Fund

Find out more Donate to research

QBI’s Brain Research Endowment Fund supports scientists exploring the unknown, which will guide new research on finding cures for diseases or improving quality of life.

Community & school programs

Australian Brain Bee

The Australian Brain Bee Challenge (ABBC) is a competition for high school students in year 10 to learn about the brain and its functions, learn about neuroscience research, find out about careers in neuroscience and to dispel misconceptions about neurological and mental illnesses.

Learn more

Participate in a research study

By being part of our human research studies you can make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of people living with brain disease and disorder.

Find out more

Mr Kuankuan Xin
Ms Elizabeth O'Brien

Research Assistant

Queensland Brain Institute
Early Career Researchers Committee

In order to provide not only an initial point of contact with the QBI ECR community, but also to facilitate contact with QBI faculty, the QBI ECR committee was established in 2015. If you have any questions, please email contact-ecr@qbi.uq.edu.au.

Lucy AL Tainton-Heap
QBI ECR Committee, Chair
QBI representative at faculty meetings
l.heap@uq.edu.au
Lucy received her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2017, where she described the anatomical and functional properties of visual processing in larval zebrafish. In 2018, Lucy joined the Queensland Brain Institute for her first postdoctoral position, where she used functional imaging and behavioural modelling to describe a novel sleep stage in Drosophila melanogaster. Lucy is currently working as a postdoc in the Balbi laboratory at QBI, where she uses a combination of functional imaging and behavioural modelling to describe the changes that take place in the brain after stroke.

Belal Shohayeb
QBI ECR committee, vice-chair
QBI representative on UQ Early and Middle Career Research (EMCR) Committee
b.shohayeb@uq.edu.au
Belal obtained his PhD in 2020 from the University of Queensland. During his PhD, he studied brain development and how neural stem cells contribute to this process of brain growth during development. Following his PhD, Belal joined Prof. Helen Cooper lab as post-doctoral research fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute where he developed an interest in synaptic plasticity pivotal for neuronal connectivity, brain wiring and a crucial player in learning and memory throughout life.

Jing Zhi Anson Tan
QBI ECR committee, Secretary
anson.tan@uq.edu.au
Anson received his PhD in 2018 from the University of Melbourne. His PhD research investigated the molecular basis of membrane trafficking and protein sorting in the trans-Golgi network. In 2020, Dr Tan joined the Queensland Brain Institute as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research. His research at the Anggono laboratory aims to understand the molecular mechanisms of membrane trafficking in neurons, processes that are essential for synaptic transmission, plasticity, learning and memory, and how their dysregulation led to neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Tristan Wallis
QBI ECR committee, post-doc seminar series organiser
t.wallis@uq.edu.au
Tristan completed his PhD at CSIRO/LaTrobe University Biochemistry a long long time ago, analysing post translational modifications of viral proteins. After helping establish proteomics facilities at IMB and QIMR, he spent 9 years working as a research pathologist at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane developing mass spectrometry based assays for metabolic diseases. Since joining Fred Meunier’s Single Molecule Neuroscience lab at QBI in 2017 Tristan has been involved in demonstrating the role of saturated lipids in learning and memory, and has also branched out into protein dynamics, developing software pipelines for spatiotemporal analysis of super resolution microscopy data.

Odette Leiter
QBI ECR committee, Events team
o.leiter@uq.edu.au
Odette completed her PhD in 2018 at the Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), investigating neuro-immune crosstalk in the regulation of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Passionate about exercise, she joined Dr Tara Walker’s group at QBI to investigate how systemic factors that are released into the blood following exercise stimulate new neuron generation in the adult hippocampus. In understanding the underlying mechanisms of exercise-induced neurogenesis, Odette’s project seeks to find strategies to boost neurogenesis in the ageing brain in which the levels of neurogenesis are drastically reduced, concomitant with cognitive impairments.

Deniz Ertekin
QBI ECR committee, Events team
d.ertekin@uq.edu.au
Deniz obtained her PhD from the University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) in 2020. Her research focuses on understanding the complex neural circuits of the brain, and she uses the fruit fly, Drosophila as a model organism to investigate these circuits.
Deniz is currently working as a postdoc in Barry Dickson’s lab investigating the development and function of neural circuits, using Drosophila courtship as a model system.

Sven Storch
QBI ECR committee, student representative
s.storch@uq.edu.au
Sven completed his M.Sc in biomolecular engineering and protein design at the TU Darmstadt (Germany) in 2018. During his master’s degree he studied the effects of dendritic spine loss in early Alzheimer’s disease. Sven is currently working a PhD student in the Balbi laboratory at QBI, where he uses a combination of functional two-photon imaging and behavioural analysis to investigate changes in interneuronal communication after cortical strokes.