With strong backgrounds in both basic and clinical science, Flinders University neuroscience and neurocognition researchers cover areas including chronic pain, the emerging Microbiome-Gut-Brain axis, central nervous system regulation of homeostasis, and basic human cognition in psychotic illness.
Research includes investigating the mechanisms underlying chronic pain and its associated comorbidities (such as depression and anxiety), how the gut and other visceral organs communicate to the central nervous system via neural pathways linking them to the brain, and the contribution of human-associated microbiota to health and disease.
Other projects include the neural correlates of fundamental learning and attention mechanisms using cutting-edge electrophysiological techniques, and using Brain Computer Interface technologies to study neurocognitive processing.The translation of such research into clinical applications will be an important development in mental health treatments & prevention strategies.
Associate Professor Stuart Brierley is an NHMRC RD Wright Biomedical Fellow (CDF II) and Director of the Visceral Pain Research Group, located at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He is also Deputy Director of the Hopwood Centre for Neurobiology (SAHMRI).
Stuart is an international leader on the brain-gut axis and how its function is altered in acute and chronic pain. His research comprises basic and translational science investigating the causes and cures of chronic abdominal pain relevant to gastrointestinal disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
His recent research interests extend to other common causes for visceral pain including interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome and endometriosis and how cross-organ sensitisation can potentially explain co-morbidities in these patients.
He has a proven track record in coordinating multi-faceted research programs for high-impact publications in journals such as Nature, Cell, Nature Communications, Gastroenterology, Gut, PNAS, JCI Insights, Pain, British Journal of Physiology and the Journal of Neuroscience.
Professor Geraint Rogers is a molecular microbiologist and microbial ecologist. Geraint is Programme Leader for the Microbiome & Host Health Theme of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and holds a Matthew Flinders Research Fellowship.
Geraint’s work focuses on the role of the human microbiome on the regulation of human physiology, susceptibility to disease, and treatment efficacy, spanning a broad range of clinical contexts, including neurophysiology.
Geraint has received international recognition for his research, which has included publications in journals such as Lancet, Molecular Psychiatry, Lancet Infectious Disease, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Gut, ISME Journal, and Clinical Infectious Diseases.
His work has attracted substantial Category 1 funding, including recent funding from the Medical Research Future Fund.
The research conducted by Stuart and Geraint has important applications in the co-occurrence of physical and mental health problems.
Professor Rainer Haberberger
Professor and Head of Anatomy and Histology, College of Medicine and Public Health
Rainer Haberberger is the Head of Department for Anatomy & Histology and the Head of the Pain & Pulmonary Neurobiology Lab within the Flinders Medical Science & Technology cluster of the College of Medicine and Public Health.
He studied Human Biology (Medical Research) at the Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany and was a senior scientist and lecturer at the Institute for Anatomy & Cell Biology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
In 2005 Professor Haberberger was awarded the Mary Overton Neuroscience Fellowship and set up the Pulmonary Neurobiology Lab (now called the Pain & Pulmonary Neurobiology Lab) at Flinders University. Since 2009 he has been an Associate Professor for Neuroscience within the Department of Anatomy & Histology.
In 2012 he also took on the role of Convenor of the Centre for Neuroscience and heads the CNS Executive Committee. He was appointed Head of Anatomy & Histology in April 2014.
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