The second Neumann/Pocock lab retreat is from Nov 30th - Dec 1st at Fairhaven/Airey's Inlet, near the beach on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

This is a great team bonding event, full of great food, swimming, cricket/soccer on the beach, games, and some work activities. This year our work activities involved groups of two presenting topics related to Equality and Diversity, Work/Life Balance, Managing Conflicts, Dealing With Stress, and Non-verbal communication. 

Check out the pics here in our photo gallery.

Brent has accepted an invitation to become an ASMR Director from Nov 13th, 2017.

The Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) is Australia's peak body representing medical researchers in Australia. It has vital roles in advocating science to government, supporting early and mid career researchers, and bringing the importance of science to society at large.  More information of the ASMR can be found here.

Brent will lead the professional development portfolio.  Through this, ASMR aims to educate and inform early and mid career researchers by way of workshops and mentoring opportunities.  Brent is keen to expand the program to make it a nationally recognised platform that provides crucial information for those in the sector.

This is a tremendous honour and Brent is very excited to begin this role.

The first paper from the Neumann lab has now been published by PNAS!!
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Post from 22/08/17
​The first publication from the Neumann lab has been accepted in PNAS!

This research was focused on regeneration of the nervous system, and on a highly efficient mechanism of repair known as axonal fusion.  Axonal fusion allows regrowing axons to reconnect and fuse with their own separated fragments - in effect simply bridging the gap across the site of damage.

We found that axonal fusion restores full function to damaged neurons, allowing C. elegans to completely regain lost function within 48 hours.  In addition, we found that injury results in changes to the axonal membrane, leading to the exposure of lipid ‘save-me’ signals.  These 'save-me' signals mediate the level of axonal fusion, and are essential for the process to occur. 

This research has implications for nervous system repair following injury to either the peripheral (limbs) or central nervous system (eg spinal cord injury).

In addition to be the first publication from our lab, this is the first publication for Zehra, Michelle and Sebastien!!

This is a wonderful achievement by the lab and well worth celebrating!

More info can be found on our publications page.