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The outcomes of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Fellowship applications were recently announced by the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler.

Two of the successful applicants are in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences - Professor Sarah Dunlop and Assistant Professor Jenny Rodger for their research on the neurosciences.

Sarah Dunlop's research focuses on promoting functional recovery after traumatic injury to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Her overarching focus is to work with the tissue that remains after injury but is nevertheless vulnerable to progressive secondary damage, a process that leads to worsening function. She has a two-pronged approach. The first is lab-based and uses animal models to examine a variety of therapies which prevent the progression of secondary damage and thereby restore function in otherwise non-functional or dysfunctional circuits. The second is translational and involves novel rehabilitation programs to exercise the paralysed limbs after spinal cord injury in humans with three current randomised controlled trials involving all eight Spinal Units in Australia and New Zealand. In addition, she is involved in developing community programs to encourage exercise after neurotrauma. She is currently President of the Australian Neuroscience Society, is on the Board of the Spinal Cord Injury Network and is President-Elect of the Federation of Asian Oceanian Neuroscience Societies.

Jenny Rodger's project investigates the physiological and behavioural consequences of abnormal brain wiring, and the potential for controlled environments and targeted interventions to overcome the deficits. The project is expected to have an impact on neurotrauma as well as mental illnesses. Jenny's project will explore the controversial relative contributions of genetic and environmental cues on normal brain wiring, that of which's development requires information transfer and integration from outside and within the brain.