Be part of an exciting study investigating the very early biomarkers of infants and fetuses at higher risk or cerebral palsy with a UQ PhD scholarship.
Join a team of international experts in a large mutli-site prospective cohort study: e-PINO: Early prediction of Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
If you are interested in the below topics, this PhD scholarship might be for you:
- Very early clinical biomarkers of neurological, neurobehavioural, and infant regulation features in the newborn/fetal period (including General Movements (MOS/GMOS), Hammersmith Neonatal Neurological Exam), visual assessments etc to determine combinations of biomarkers to determine the adverse neurodevelopmental outcome (including Cerebral Palsy, delayed motor, cognitive, language development). (CIs Ros Boyd, Iona Novak, Cathy Morgan, Paul Colditz, Rod Hunt, Nadia Badawi, Atul Malhotra, Andrea Guzzetta, Ari Bos).
- Advanced Neuroimaging in the newborn and fetal period to determine early biomarkers of adverse neurodevelopmental outcome (including neonatal/ fetal, structural MRI at 3T, diffusion MRI, NODDI, Connectome, Resting state fMRI). (CIs Jurgen Fripp, Kerstin Pannek, Alex Pagnozzi, Rod Hunt, Ros Boyd, Simona Fiori, Michael Fahey).
- High Density EEG to determine features of newborn brain waves, including (Brain waves, Connectivity) (CIs James Roberts, Paul Colditz, Melissa Lai).
- Liquid Biopsy (novel blood and urine biomarkers) are being developed with the team at CSIRO (CI’s Stephen Rose, Jurgen Fripp, Warwick Locke). Gut Microbiome (Severine Nevarro).
- Genomics of early brain development from the neonatal period (CIs Michael Fahey, Mark Corbett, and Josef Getz are senior members of the International CP Genomics Consortium).
- Very early interventions to optimise neuroplasticity: having identified infants with a higher chance of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, we will design, pilot and test novel early neurorehabilitation commencing in the first months of life (CIs Ros Boyd, Leanne Sakzewski, Iona Novak, Cathy Morgan).
- Other areas related to Cerebral Palsy Research: Epidemiology (Sarah McIntyre, Nadia Badawi); Health Economics (Tracy Comans); Biostatistics (Rob Ware).
There will be opportunities for you to discuss options for PhD topics with the principal investigators.
As the Category 1 Scholarships are funded through the University of Queensland, you would be enrolled through UQ with a primary UQ supervisor there are opportunities to have other supervisors from other institutions in our international investigator network.
If you are successful, you would receive a 3 year PhD scholarship with opportunities for further funding from the CSIRO.
Interested?
Apply through the UQ study website
Need more information?
Please contact Dr Morgan Carlton
07 3069 7370
qcprrc@uq.edu.au