Who is SOBR?

Current Committee Members

Aminath Azhan
Events Co-Manager
[events.sobr@gmail.com] 

Azu completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Honours) at Monash University in 2009. She was appointed as a research assistant at Melbourne University from 2010 to 2011 and then was recruited at The Ritchie Centre, Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR). She worked on various animal models and therapies for preterm brain injury.  This period was one of the most fulfilling experiences of her scientific career, which also exposed her to the many challenges of research. Working on various projects with different research groups is that something that she enjoys. She is an author on more than fifteen conference abstracts, presentations and has a first author review article published in Frontiers in Physiology. Her experience has given her profound insight into the neuropathology of developmental brain injury that will aid in improving clinical outcomes of preterm and growth restricted infants.
In 2013, she embarked on a phD investigating the role of Wnt and Notch signalling pathways in arrested myelination and molecule-mediated therapies for growth restriction. Dr Mary Tolcos, A/Prof David Walker and A/Prof Timothy Moss at The Ritchie Centre, MIMR-PHI Institute of Medical Research mentor and supervise this project.
Azu is thrilled to be a co-events manager of SoBR, and to be a part of the committee. SoBR will give the opportunity for graduates and professionals within this field to network and raise awareness of neuroscience within the community which she always been keen on.
Apart from research Azu dedicates her time to community involvement. She is an active Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Melbourne Park and was previously on the committee of the Melbourne Metro Group of Amnesty International.


Luan Luu
Events Co-Manager
Luan Luu completed his undergraduate honours at the University of Sydney in 2010, Westmead Millenium Institute, in the field of Virology to investigate the exocytosis of HSV-1 in neurons.  During his honours studies he volunteered at a nursing home and witnessed people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and seeing the effects it has on the individual and their families.  These experiences made him interested in researching neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases. From this he decided to pursue PhD studies in neurodegeneration.
 In 2012, he moved to Melbourne to pursue studies due to the high amounts of neuroscience research. Luan is studying Alzheimer’s disease with Professor Roberto Cappai and Dr Joe Ciccotosto as his supervisors at the University of Melbourne. He is currently investigating the role of Amyloid Precursor metabolites, N-terminal fragments of the amyloid precursor protein, in neurite outgrowth. During his studies he is a lab demonstrator in teaching second year science student techniques in investigating disease. He has become passionate about teaching student scientific techniques and wishes to continue this in the future. Luan is keen on being apart of the Students of Brain Research committee and taking on the responsibilities of a Co-event manager.


Simon McKenzie-Nickson
Media and Communications Manager


Simon is currently in the second year of his PhD in neuropharmacology at the University of Melbourne (and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health) working under the supervision of Prof Kevin Barnham, A/Prof David Finkelstein and Dr Lin Hung. The focus of his research is looking at the role of metals (specifically copper) in excitotoxic neurodegeneration with specifically in Alzheimer’s disease and Menkes disease.
Simon previously completed a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology and Biochemistry followed by a Masters in Biochemistry under the supervision of Professor Warren Tate at the University of Otago, NZ. Simon’s Masters Degree was investigating the way by which an N-terminal fragment of the protein APP was tranducing its neurotrophic effects.
Simon also has a keen interest in science communication and the dissemination of exciting science to the general public, in a way that is easily digestible. To this end, he created his own blog in 2013 called ‘Science by Simon’ and since starting that he has been asked to write articles for science websites such as the Royal Institution of Australia and Sciengage as well as speaking on podcasts about science.
In his spare time Simon is a freelance photographer (SMN-photography) which he has been doing for pleasure for the past 8 years. Simon also enjoys DJing, whisky appreciation and does his best to frequent the gym.


 Charlotte Ermine
Finance and Sponsorship Manager

Charlotte Ermine completed her Bachelor of Biology & Biochemistry at the University of Nantes in France. She then joined to University of Bordeaux, where she obtained her Master of Neurosciences & Neuropsychopharmacology in 2012. Charlotte is currently a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Lachlan Thompson, A/Prof Claire Parish and Prof Phil Beart. Her main focus is to identify potential therapeutic targets to treat the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. For that she is studying the formation of new neurons, a process called neurogenesis, in a rodent model.
Charlotte looks forward to being part of the SoBR community and helping all students in expanding their scientific and professional network.

   

Tingting Cao
Societies and Conference Liaison Manager
[societies.sobr@gmail.com] 


Ting obtained her Bachelor of Behavioural Neuroscience (Hons) majoring in psychology and neuroscience from Monash University in 2012. During her undergraduate studies, she spent a summer studying psychology at the University of Bergen (Norway). As part of her honours year project, she investigated blood oxygenation changes using near infra-red spectroscopy resulting from Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation under the supervision of Dr Richard Thomson at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc). She is currently completing her PhD at MAPrc under the supervision of Professor Paul Fitzgerald, Dr Richard Thomson and Dr Rebecca Segrave. 
Ting was born and raised in Beijing. She decided to study abroad in Australia 5 years ago and pursue her passion in the field of neuroscience. Her doctoral study is exploring and optimising brain stimulation protocols in the treatment of major depressive disorder.
Ting has enjoyed her role as student representative for her course during both undergraduate and honours years at Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry. She is very excited to have this opportunity to be part of the SOBR committee and looks forward to making a valuable contribution.




 Akram Zamani
Student Liaison and Enquiries Manager

Akram completed her undergraduate degree in Molecular biology at Tehran University in Iran and went on to complete her Masters degree working with plants. She cloned thaumatin-like protein in canola plants and generated plants with enhanced resistance to stem rot disease under the supervision of her dad! She then moved to Canada. It was there that she found passion in neuroscience. After working for 2 years on stroke recovery in diabetic mouse model with Craig Brown she thought its time to leave for somewhere warmer. She moved to Australia in 2013 to start her PhD studies on the regulatory role of SOCS2 on TrkB signalling. She has now joined SOBR and is very excited to be part of the family. 


Phillip Law
Events Co-Manager
[events.sobr@gmail.com]

Phillip Law completed his Bachelor of Psychological Science (Hons) at the University of Queensland in 2007, under the supervision of Dr Derek Arnold establishing a new paradigm for perceptual suppression. Phillip is currently completing his PhD at Monash University/Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) in the field of clinical and perceptual neuroscience under the supervision of Dr Steven Miller, Dr Trung Ngo, and Dr Caroline Gurvich. His main research focus is in investigating an endophenotype for bipolar disorder, using a psychophysics model involving binocular rivalry. His specific research aims involve establishing the diagnostic and endophenotype utility of binocular rivalry for use in genome-wide association studies of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. His research vision is towards the establishment of a brain-based clinical diagnostic classification system for psychiatric conditions, especially for current DSM classifications of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression.
 
2013 Committee Members

 Krysta Callander
Events Co-Manager

Krysta Callander comes to SOBR from the scenic country of New Zealand where she completed her BSc(Hons) at the University of Otago majoring in Psychology.  Krysta is now one year into her PhD as part of the Music and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Melbourne University.  With the intriguing title of “the sound of silence”, Krysta’s research looks into the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms underlying how we habituate to sounds, with a particular interest in tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and misophonia (fear of sound). Krysta has a passion for science communication and a keen interest in mentoring, coordinating the graduate research student group for the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, in addition to tutoring and mentoring undergraduate students.   In recent years she has also been involved in Youthline and Women’s Refuge and has a keen interest in mental health and wellbeing on both a community and individual level.  A musician at heart, she is excited to be in Melbourne combining her love of music with all things brain-related, and is looking forward to working with the SOBR committee of 2013 to create some excellent events for fellow brain researchers.



Rose Chesworth
Events Co-Manager
Rose completed her Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) at the University of Sydney, then continued to work as a research assistant for the next 3 years investigating rodent models of mental illness. In her PhD she is investigating rodent models of addiction to methamphetamine at the Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health. She has presented her work at numerous national conferences. Rose was an active member of the SOBR committee in 2012, as well as being the marking and communications manager of the Students of Florey Institute committee at the Florey. She takes a keen interest in educating the public about neuroscience by taking part in Brain Awareness Week and the Mindfields VCE program, both of which educate high school students about neuroscience and mental illness. She also speaks at local Rotary clubs about her research.
Samantha Barton
Finance and Sponsorship Manager

Samantha Barton completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Monash University in 2010 and Honours at The Ritchie Centre/Monash Institute of Medical Research in 2011. Under the supervision of Dr Graeme Polglase, A/Prof Tim Moss and Dr Mary Tolcos, Sam is currently completing a PhD at The Ritchie Centre/Monash Institute of Medical Research in the field of neonatal neurology. Her main research focus is investigating ways to protect the newborn baby brain with her specific research aims being to reduce ventilator-induced brain damage in premature babies with the use of Erythropoietin. She has presented her research at many conferences and her research has been recognized by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
 Sam is excited to be joining the SoBR family as the Finance and Sponsorship Manager and looks forward to assisting students of brain research to network, to raise awareness of the importance of our research and importantly to convey our research to a wider audience.



Erin McAllum
Societies and Conference Liaison Manager

Erin McAllum completed her undergraduate honours degree in Biochemistry at the University of Otago in New Zealand where she also worked as an assistant research fellow. Currently, she is working towards a PhD at the University of Melbourne where she is investigating potential therapeutics for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. She is particularly interested in how these therapeutics alter the metal content of key proteins that have been implicated in the disease process. So far, her research has taken her to Oregon State University where she learnt key techniques in metal biology.
Erin has previously been involved in running undergraduate practical labs and has a keen interest in encouraging young scientists to appreciate the wider impact of their research. She is very excited to be taking on the role of Societies and Conference Liaison Manager for SOBR as she believes that students should be playing a larger role in conferences and networking with leaders in the field.  She also believes that young scientists should be encouraged to network amongst themselves to form important collaborations.
Victoria has a high concentration of quality research institutions and Erin believes that bringing these researchers together, as SOBR does, is essential to establish Melbourne as a leader in brain research.


Matteo Senesi
Media and Communications Manager

Matteo just started the second year of his PhD investigating neurotoxic properties of prion species. The interest in science begin since very young, growing up in the countryside of Tuscany, feeding animals, rolling down the hills, climbing trees and playing in golden grain fields.
He decided to chase his passion in 2004, enrolling in the Psychology Faculty of the University of Florence: six years after he graduated cum laude as doctor in Experimental Psychology investigating therapeutic effects of non-invasive BDNF administration in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. A week after, he decided to travel to Australia looking for better chances to satisfy further his curiosity and thirst for science. One year later, fascinated by the bi-polar weather of Melbourne and awarded with a MIRS/MIFRS from the University of Melbourne, he started his PhD with the Department of Pathology, under the supervision of Steven J Collins, in prion disease. His main fields of interest are neurodegeneration, synaptogenesis, synaptic transmission, neurotrophic factors, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and prion disease, all seasoned with abundant behavioural science and animal models.
He is a member of the Melbourne University Athletic Club for middle-long distances, enjoys long run sessions across Melbourne especially on the distance between 10-20km and considered one of the fastest PhD student on the planet. On the other side, he considers himself quite geeky since he started very young to hack his own Olivetti with the result of a steady deletion of some vital system files. He developed an interest in technology, informatics, file-sharing, media communication and he traduced this interest in pop culture, social media, synth-pop, electro music and photography. He is currently trying to monitor and list neuroscience seminars hosted in Melbourne (MBC, RMH, W+EH, Bio-21 and others) with a unique Gooogle Calendar NSMelb (Neuroscience Seminar Melbourne, email to msenesi@student.unimelb.edu.au to be added to the calendar).


Briana Davie
Student Liaison and Enquiries Manager

Briana completed her Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science, majoring in Medicinal Chemistry, at Monash University Parkville in 2009 and then went on to complete her Honours year in 2010, during which time she started to branch out into the field of pharmacology whilst maintaining a keen interest in chemistry. She is currently completing her PhD in a joint project between the Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery Biology themes at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS). Her project involves the synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of allosteric ligands designed to target the M1 mAChR; a G protein-coupled receptor that has emerged as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of cognitive deficits experienced in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.

Briana was the recipient of the prestigious Sir John Monash medal in 2009, the winner of the Best Oral Presentation prize at the MIPS postgraduate symposium in 2010, and runner-up in the faculty 3 minute thesis competition in 2011. She has also participated in a number of other local conferences and symposiums. Briana also enjoys being involved in committees, volunteering and teaching. She was President of the Monash chapter of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS) in 2011/2012, has been a Monash University Open Day ambassador every year since 2007, and is actively involved in teaching and mentoring undergraduate students.

In the future, Briana is keen to pursue a postdoctoral position in Europe and follow on with a career in academia, remaining in the field of neuroscience.

Briana is very excited to be able to take on a role in this year’s SOBR committee and hopes that she can make a valuable contribution to the network.

Past Committee Members
Lizzie Manning
SOBR Co-Founder & Events Co-Manager

 Lizzie Manning completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Melbourne and is currently completing her PhD at the Mental Health Research Institute (MHRI), under the supervision of Assoc Prof Maarten van den Buuse in the Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory. Her project aims to examine the effects of methamphetamine abuse in a rodent model, with a focus on the development of behavioural abnormalities that are relevant to schizophrenia and psychosis. Lizzie has presented oral and poster presentations of this work at local and national medical research conferences.

 During her studies Lizzie has been involved in a number of student societies, including roles as the honours representative for the Students of the Florey Institutes (SOFI), president of the Mental health research Institute Student Organization (MISO), and co-founder of Students of Brain Research (SOBR). Lizzie has also acted as the MHRI student representative on the Melbourne Neuroscience Graduate Research Course steering committee, and participated in secondary school outreach programs with the MHRI/Dax gallery and Australian Neuroscience Society. This year Lizzie was also involved in establishing a Mental Health Journal club, with the aiming of increasing discussion and interaction between mental health researchers in the Melbourne Brain Centre. 


 
Anzari Atik
Events Co-Manager
Anzari Atik is currently completing her PhD in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University and at the Monash Institute of Medical Research, under the supervision of Dr Mary Tolcos, Dr Robert De Matteo and Prof Richard Harding. Anzari is interested in the field of neonatal neurology. Her PhD focuses on investigating the effects of caffeine for the treatment of apnea of prematurity, specifically assessing the effects on the immature brain. Anzari has presented her work at numerous conferences, both local and international and has been successful at winning best oral and poster presentations and travel awards.

During her academic career, Anzari has shown an interest in community involvement. This includes being a volunteer lifeguard/lifesaver, volunteering as a teacher in India, student representative at Monash University open days, supervising high school students in a Monash University Leadership program and speaking at the brain awareness week school outreach program. Anzari has also been involved in the organization of university events while being involved in various committees such as the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University students committee and the students of brain research (SoBR) network.  
Ayaka Ando
Finance and Sponsorship Manager

 Ayaka Ando is currently undertaking her PhD in the Neuroimaging group at the Florey Neuroscience Institutes, supervised by Dr Michael Farrell. She investigates brain responses to airway irritation in individuals with chronic cough using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Additionally, she uses fMRI to investigate desensitisation to airway irritants in patients with cystic fibrosis. She aims to describe how the brain contributes to aberrant cough in disease by contrasting the functional organisation of brain sensorimotor networks of both sensitised and desensitised coughers against healthy controls.

 Ayaka’s primary interest is in medical imaging, where she has experience in investigating interoception as well as neurodegenerative disease such as Huntington’s disease. She is also currently working at Orygen Youth Health on an imaging project looking at adolescent at-risk psychosis patients.

 Ayaka is an APA holder as well as the UQ merit-based scholarship. She has enjoyed being an active committee member of the Florey’s student society (SOFI) over the past year and she is excited to be part of the SOBR steering committee as the Finance and Sponsorship manager.
Andrew Watt
Media and Communications Manager

Andrew Watt completed his Bachelor of Science (Psychology) at Monash University in 2008 and Honours (Pathology) at The University of Melbourne in 2009. He is currently undertaking a PhD within The University of Melbourne, where he is investigating blood borne biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease with the view of improving the diagnostic accuracy of contemporary measures. Andrew has published his research in internationally recognised, peer-reviewed journals and has presented his work at conferences and institutes both nationally and abroad. 

Andrew's diverse range of interests have led to him working extensively within the third sector. Since 2002 Andrew has worked closely with Alzheimer’s Australia to raise awareness of the disease within the community through talks at various symposia and events as well as through work with both print and radio media outlets. In 2007, Andrew was the opening speaker at the Alzheimer’s National Conference in Perth and in 2009 he was a steering committee member for the National Consumer Summit on Younger Onset Dementia. Since 2010 Andrew has served on the Board of Directors for Alzheimer’s Australia Research. Andrew has also had the opportunity to work closely with both The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, where he helped to implement the inaugural Social Return on Investment evaluation, as well as Lifeline Australia, where he worked as a telephone counselor.

More recently, Andrew has turned his attention towards bridging the gap between Science and the general public by creating the neuroscience blog, A Hippo on Campus. The blog focuses on contemporary research from the fields of neuropsychology to neurobiology and beyond and has been well received from the science writing community. Andrew's work on A Hippo on Campus has also led to his appointment as Editor at ScienceSeeker, covering the topics of Medicine, Neuroscience and Psychology.
Annabel Short
Societies and Conference Liaison Manager
Annabel Short began her research career in Tasmania where she completed her undergraduate degree in medical research followed by honours in cancer genetics. After graduating, Annabel was employed as a research assistant in the cancer genetics lab at the Menzies Research Institute, Tasmania. In 2011 Annabel moved to Melbourne to follow an interest in neurogenetics at the Florey Neuroscience Institutes, namely the effect of environment on gene expression. She is now one year into her PhD research on modelling the effects of paternal lifestyle on offspring mental health.

Annabel has a keen interest in community outreach programs and has been actively involved in various programs including national science week and the CSIRO scientists in schools program. She is also involved in undergraduate mentoring programs and the community organisation Camp Quality.

This year Annabel has been elected as secretary of the student society for Florey Neuroscience Institutes in addition to her role as Societies and Conference Liaison Manager for SOBR. Annabel has a firm belief in the importance of networking programs and investing time in the scientific community. She is a strong believer in promoting science to a wide audience, especially encouraging young people to become more involved. 

 
Benjie Barzel
Student Liaison and Enquiries Manager
Benjamin Barzel is in his final year of his PhD studies at the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute and Monash University under the supervision of Professor Geoffrey Head and Dr James Armitage. Benjie’s research is focused on identifying neuronal pathways in the hypothalamus that are responsible for the development of obesity related hypertension. His lab is uniquely placed to perform such work with the ability to record sympathetic nerve activity to renal beds in conscious animals. Benjie has had the opportunity to present his work at national and international conferences, winning several prizes.

In addition to his tertiary studies Benjie is a passionate student advocate serving as a member of the Anatomy & Developmental Biology Student Committee at Monash and was previously the treasurer for the Baker IDI Student committee (2010-2011). His volunteer work also extends to the wider scientific community (Australian Society of Medical Research, Science in Schools program) as well as the general community (Royal Children’s hospital, Rotary Club Victoria).

Founding Members
Christina Mo
SOBR Co-Founder

Christina is a 3rd year PhD student investigating the effects of stress on the onset of Huntington's disease in mice. After a successful Honours year at the University of WA, she made the move from Perth to embark on her PhD at Florey Neuroscience Institutes at the Melbourne Brain Centre. "I see Melbourne as a neuroscience hub. That's why we need to develop a more collaborative and research-savvy next generation of neuro researchers - hence SOBR."

Christina has always been drawn to the study of gene-environment interactions in addition to the higher cognition of humans. With a solid background in neuroscience and pathology, she also has experience investigating cancer, Alzheimer's disease, comparative neurology and neural plasticity.

Christina has published in a high-ranking journal (FASEB), won a prize at the Florey's annual student presentations and also obtained various travel awards for national and international conferences. She has also visited and presented her work to reknowned laboratories in the UK.

Along-side academic acheivements, Christina had a very busy 2011 Presidency in the Florey's student society (SOFI), leading the committee through inter-departmental amazing races, careers forums, mentor schemes, networking nights and raised funds for the Red Cross and for other PhD students in need. She is also active in the community and helped mould Melbourne University's new PhD Course in Neuroscience through her position on the Neuroscience Steering Committee. Her involvement in SOBR was natural: "This is something i really believe in and it's awesome when others get it as well."

Christina hopes to continue contributing to the exciting world of neuroscience - both here and overseas.




Jo Stratton
SOBR Co-Founder

Jo Stratton is currently completing her PhD at the Florey Neurosciences Institutes under Dr Tobias Merson and Prof Trevor Kilpatrick. Using a novel mouse model, she is attempting to understand the complex relationship between function, pathology, plasticity and regeneration initiated following myelinating glia death. Jo has been awarded several best oral and/or poster presentation prizes at international and national conferences for this work.

In addition to her academic success, Jo has excelled at leading the young generation of medical researchers in Melbourne. She was elected as president of the student society at her institute, and cofounded the Melbourne-wide medical research network for young researchers, SOBR. She has represented the student's of Melbourne on several committees, including the Society for Neuroscience Melbourne Chapter and the Melbourne Neuroscience Graduate Research Course steering committee. 

Jo believes it to be important to bridge the gap between the community at large and scientists. She has been an invited speaker to present to lay communities, including high schools and Rotary Clubs across Australia. Jo also leads a team of medical researchers at an annual fun run to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. To date, her team has fundraised over $15,000 towards Multiple Sclerosis research.

Jo's dedication to contribute meaningful scientific advances that will impact the lives of disease sufferers, as well as her passion to support and mentor current and future young medical researchers, makes her a valuable asset to the scientific community, and the community at large.

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