Dr Heather Cruickshank
Casual Senior Research Assistant
Queensland Brain Institute
Journal Articles
McCullough, Sebastian, Varela, Roger B., Houghton, Tristan, Cruickshank, Heather and Tye, Susannah J. (2026). Deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens modulates effort-based decision-making and phasic dopamine release in male Wistar rats. Journal of Neurochemistry, 170 (6) e70485. doi: 10.1111/jnc.70485
Macpherson, Heather K., Varela, Roger B., Truong, Trang T. T., Walder, Ken, Berk, Michael and Tye, Susannah J. (2026). Melatonin in bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 398 120871, 1-24. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.120871
Consortium for Preclinical Psychiatric Research, Hill, Rachel A., Bastawy, Eslam M., Berk, Michael, Brown, Robyn M., Burne, Thomas H., Chesworth, Rose, Clark, Scott R., Clemens, Kelly J., Cui, Xiaoying, Dunn, Ariel L., Eratne, Dhamidhu, Foldi, Claire J., Gatt, Justine M., Gubert, Carolina, Gurvich, Caroline, Hannan, Anthony J., Harms, Lauren, Hill-Yardin, Elisa L., Jaehne, Emily J., Jawahar, Magdalene C., Jones, Nigel C., Kang, Matthew JY, Karl, Tim, Kesby, James P., Kim, Jee Hyun, Lawrence, Andrew J., Cruickshank, Heather, Manning, Elizabeth E. ... Sundram, Suresh (2026). Of mice, molecules and mental health: establishment of the consortium for preclinical psychiatric research to find solutions to the translational gap. Molecular Psychiatry, 31 (2), 1167-1170. doi: 10.1038/s41380-025-03361-x
Varela, Roger B., Macpherson, Heather, Walker, Adam J., Houghton, Tristan, Yates, Clarissa, Yates, Nathanael J., Daygon, Dara and Tye, Susannah J. (2025). Inflammation and metabolic dysfunction underly anhedonia-like behavior in antidepressant resistant male rats. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 127, 170-182. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2025.03.001
Miranda, Catarina Oliveira, McNeill, Rhiannon Victoria, Addis, Donna Rose, Fernàndez‐Castillo, Noèlia, Macpherson, Heather, Maughan, Mathilde, Foxe, John J. and Helmreich, Dana L. (2025). Editorial: Making Space for People With Disabilities: Part of the Diversity Matters Series. European Journal of Neuroscience, 61 (10) e70133, 1-7. doi: 10.1111/ejn.70133
Conference Papers
Milton, Laura, McDonnell, Conor, Thivisol, Ulysse, Foldi, Claire, Kesby, James, Tye, Susannah, Cruickshank, Heather, Hedberg, Anette, Boyce, Niall, Hill, Rachel and Sundram, Suresh (2026). Leveraging expert and lived experience of mental ill health perspectives to traverse the research translational gap. 81st Annual Meeting of the Society-of-Biological-Psychiatry, New York, NY USA, 30 April-2 May 2026. Philadelphia, PA United States: Elsevier.
Milton, Laura, McDonnell, Conor, Thivisol, Ulysse, Foldi, Claire, Kesby, James, Tye, Susannah, Cruickshank, Heather, Hedberg, Anette, Boyce, Niall, Hill, Rachel and Sundram, Suresh (2026). Leveraging expert and lived experience of mental ill health perspectives to traverse the research translational gap. Society of Biological Psychiatry’s 2026 Annual Meeting, New York, United States, 30 April-2 May 2026. Philadelphia, PA, United States: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2026.03.823
Varela, Roger, Macpherson, Heather, Houghton, Tristan, Yates, Clarissa, Yates, Nathanael, Daygon, Dara and Tye, Susannah (2025). Immunometabolic dysfunction and dopaminergic impairment in an animal model of treatment-resistant anhedonia: implications for bipolar disorder. The 27th Annual Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, Chiba, Japan, 17 – 19 September 2025. Hoboken, NJ, United States: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Macpherson, Heather, Varela, Roger, McCullough, Sebastian, Houghton, Tristan, Chawla, Isha, Wang, Ning, Daygon, Venea, Cui, Xiaoying and Tye, Susannah (2025). Unpredictable Circadian Disturbance Induces Bipolar-Like Behavioural and Immunometabolic Dysregulation in Rats. 27th Annual Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, Chiba, Japan, 17-19 September 2025. Hoboken, NJ, United States: Wiley-Blackwell.
Macpherson, Heather, Varela, Roger, Daygon, Venea, Kesby, James, Cui, Xiaoying and Tye, Susannah (2025). Melatonin Mitigates IL-6-Induced Hyperdopaminergia, Oxidative Stress, and Metabolic Dysfunction: Implications for Dopaminergic Dysregulation in Bipolar Disorder. The 27th Annual Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, Chiba, Japan, 17 – 19 September 2025. Hoboken, NJ, United States: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Varela, Roger, Macpherson, Heather, Houghton, Tristan, Yates, Clarissa, Yates, Nathanael, Daygon, Dara and Tye, Susannah (2024). Inflammation in combination with metabolic deficits underly Anhedonia-like behavior in treatment resistant male rats. ACNP 63rd Annual Meeting: Poster Abstracts P609-P914, Phoenix, AZ United States, 8-11 December 2024. London, United Kingdom: Nature Publishing Group.
Thesis
Cruickshank, Heather (2026). Circadian mechanisms of mood regulation. PhD Thesis, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/04d7b78
Preprints
MacPherson, Heather, Varela, Roger B., McCullough, Sebastian C., Houghton, Tristan, Chawla, Isha, Wang, Ning, Daygon, Venea Dara, Cui, Xiaoying and Tye, Susannah J. (2025). Unpredictable circadian rhythm disruption in Wistar rats: biological and behavioural changes reflecting bipolar disorder pathophysiology. doi: 10.1101/2025.09.06.674601
MacPherson, Heather, Varela, Roger B., Daygon, Venea Dara, Kesby, James P., Cui, Xiaoying and Tye, Susannah J. (2025). Melatonin mitigates oxidative stress and metabolic dysfunction induced by interleukin-6 and dopamine in SH-SY5Y cells. doi: 10.1101/2025.09.03.673920
MacPherson, Heather, Truong, Trang T. T., Berk, Michael, Walder, Ken and Tye, Susannah J. (2025). Investigating the role of melatonin in bipolar disorder using transcriptomics. doi: 10.1101/2025.09.03.673928