Group leader
Our research
The Tye lab's research focuses on understanding and treating complex neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly depression and bipolar disorder. Her work integrates basic neuroscience with clinical research to develop more precise and effective therapies for treatment‑resistant mental illness.
- Neuromodulation and brain stimulation to target dysfunctional neural circuits
- Biomarkers to improve diagnosis, predict treatment response, and enable personalised care
- Mechanisms of treatment resistance, including the effects of stress and inflammation
- Brain and cellular energy metabolism in psychiatric illness, particularly depression
Research focus
The Tye lab employs an end-to-end translational approach, combining neuroscience, molecular biology, and neuroengineering to measure brain activity and neurochemistry in real time, enabling direct insights into how treatments affect neural function.
Using this approach, the team has identified altered cellular energy dynamics in young people with depression, revealing a potential biological basis for fatigue and early disease progression. They have also shown that chronic stress and inflammation can impair the brain’s response to antidepressants, limiting recovery.
Together, these findings highlight how systemic biology, brain function, and treatment response are closely linked, supporting the development of biomarker‑guided, personalised therapies and next‑generation neuromodulation approaches.
Latest news
- Does addiction result from the brain or behaviour? This is the question QBI sought to answer during Brain Awareness Week 2026 at a compelling free public lecture featuring scientists and those with lived experience.
- QBI researchers may have discovered a new way to diagnose and treat major depression at the earliest stage of the condition, giving patients the best opportunity for recovery.
- Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) researchers will propel scientific discovery into DNA mutations, treating human movement disorders and improving stroke outcomes after securing funding from the Australian Government.
- 3 October 2025UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute’s podcast, A Grey Matter, is back for 2025. Plug in your headphones and join us as we unpack the mysteries of the brain through new conversations, inspiring stories, and the latest discoveries in neuroscience.
- Queensland Brain Institute researchers have discovered a potential link between inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and treatment-resistant depression
- 10 October 2024From increasing our brain’s resilience to stress to possible novel immunotherapy treatments for depression, Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) scientists continue to lead the way in mental health advances.