Today we welcome Tarika Vijayaraghavan to the Neumann lab!!

Tarika completed her Master’s in Arnim Pause's lab at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  Her research was focused on bacterial resistance in C. elegans.

In the Neumann lab, Tarika will carry out a PhD on axonal regeneration, aiming to define the mechanisms responsible for axonal fusion.
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You can find out more about Tarika here.

Our paper on regenerative axonal fusion is now under review at PNAS!!

This would be the Neumann lab's first original research paper. 

This paper was previously rejected after 'review' by eLIFE.
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Update March 7th, 2017:
Unfortunately after 52 days in review, our paper has been rejected.  
We received comments from 2 reviewers, neither who provided anything constructive (one provided a single sentence review).  Thus, this has been a very frustrating first experience with eLIFE, as after waiting 52 days to hear back, we have gained nothing.  We would have at least expected to receive critical feedback to help us improve the manuscript.  After this experience we will seriously question if it is worth sending any of our future research to this journal.

Update March 15th, 2017:
We have now submitted our paper to PNAS.

This week we welcome Hanadi Hoblos to the Neumann lab!

Hanadi joins us for an undergraduate research project (DEV3990) spanning 12 weeks.  She will be working with Michelle on understanding how connections between neurons (synapses) are maintained.  More specifically, she will be defining the importance of microtubule stability on maintaining synaptic connections.

Welcome Hanadi.

Today we welcome Dr Gursimran Chandhok to the Neumann lab!!

Simran completed her PhD in Hartmut Schmidt's lab at the University of Muenster, Germany. Her research focused on the characterization of different ATP7B mutants identified in patients with Wilson disease (a rare metabolic liver disorder) 

In the Neumann lab, Simran will join the CMT team, aiming to discover novel genetic modifiers of the gene that causes CMT type 2A.
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You can find out more about Simran's doctoral research and previous publications here.

The paper that Brent co-authored with Roger Pocock's group has now been published in PNAS!!

This research shows how a specific protein (the ETS-5 transcription factor) controls intestinal fat levels to mediate behaviour in C. elegans.  This research has strong implications for our understanding of how the brain and intestines communicate to change behaviour, and could lead to future breakthroughs for tackling obesity.

See details in our publications page here.

Brent has co-authored a paper with Roger Pocock's group that has now been accepted for publication in PNAS.  We uncovered a transcription factor that controls intestinal fat levels, that in turn mediate behaviour in C. elegans, thereby showing how satiety can modulate activity.

A great way to start the new year!

Today is Zehra's final day in the Neumann lab.  Zehra was the equal first member of the lab and will be sorely missed.  However, she has gone out on a high note with her paper (the first from our lab!) completed and to be submitted shortly.

Zehra has taken up a research assistant role with Jose Polo's lab here at Monash University.  We wish Zehra the very best in her new role and beyond.

Several members of the lab are attending the 9th Annual ANZSCDB Melbourne Cell and Developmental Biology Symposium today at the Melbourne Brain Centre.

Joe Byrne was selected to present a talk titled: "Age-related neuronal degeneration in a C. elegans model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease".
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Zehra Abay was selected to present her poster titled: "Characterising axonal fusion: a highly efficient and functional mechanism of axon regeneration".

This week we say a big welcome to Jean-Sébastien Teoh, who is joining us after completing his Master's in the Schoofs lab at KU Leuven, Belgium.  Sébastien officially starts his PhD in the Neumann lab on Friday Oct 14th.

Welcome ​Sébastien!!

Both Brent and Ming received awards to attend and present at the 2016 Asian-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry (APSN) meeting in Kuala Lumpur (list of awardees).
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The conference runs from August 27th - 30th, and more information on the meeting can be found here: APSN 2016