The first paper from our lab on mitochondrial dynamics is now under review at Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences!!

This work is related to our research into the molecular mechanisms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. We have studied how the loss of the major mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins affects mitochondrial morphology in different tissues, animals behaviour and longevity in C. elegans.

Hoping for a positive response from the reviewers....

Brent is attending the 2018 C. elegans Topic Meeting: Neuronal Development, Synaptic Function and Behaviour at the University of Madison, Wisconsin USA.

Conference details can be found here: http://conferences.union.wisc.edu/ceneuro/
And follow all the updates via Twitter @neumannlab and #ceneuro #ceneuro18

Brent was invited as a 'VIP' for the Students of Brain Research (SoBR) Professional Development Dinner held at the Arts Center Melbourne.

This annual dinner aims to foster discussion on the future of brain science. The VIP guests are seated at each table alongside young researchers to help convey their thoughts on careers in science and the future of brain research.
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More info on the dinner and society can be found here: ​www.sobrnetwork.org

We have published a manuscript in collaboration with Massimo Hilliard's lab online with bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/06/18/339150

In this paper we have further explored a highly effective means of nerve repair known as axonal fusion. We reveal how the protein (EFF-1) that fuses axon segments together after they have been separated by injury is regulated. This is essential information for our understanding of axonal fusion and provides important information for harnessing this type of repair in clinical settings.

The details of the paper are as follows:
RAB-5 regulates regenerative axonal fusion by controlling EFF-1 endocytosis
Casey Linton, Brent Neumann, Rosina Giordano-Santini, Massimo A Hilliard

This is the first time we have used a pre-print server. The manuscript is simultaneously under submission at a more traditional journal.

Today we welcome Clara Luu to the Neumann lab.

Clara is a final year Biomedical Science student joining us for a 4-week Winter Scholarship research project, before starting a 12-week research project as part of the DEV3990 course.

Clara will be working with Sebastien and Tarika on a project aiming to understand how the nervous system can be repaired after injury.

​Welcome Clara!!

Brent was invited to speak at the Monash BDI Rising Stars Seminar Series.

His talk is entitled "Title: Fuse it or lose it: highly efficient repair of the nervous system through axonal fusion".

Some photos from the presentation were posted to Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TarikaVR/status/1004262945616883712
https://twitter.com/sjturn/status/1004243095653777408
​https://twitter.com/sjturn/status/1004246934427561984
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Today is Joe's final day in the Neumann lab. Joe was a founding member of the lab, joining us in June, 2015.

Joe's welcoming personality and humour will be sorely missed in the lab. In addition to his role as a research assistant carrying out technical duties, Joe also ran an independent project, organised the lab, arranged lab events, questioned findings and helped others with their projects.  

He has gone out on a high note with all the experiments for his paper on mitochondrial dynamics completed and the paper almost ready for submission.

Joe will be galavanting around the US for a number of weeks before he and his wife move to Europe to begin their next adventure.

Brent is attending the Melbourne Legends Lunch for the Perry Cross Foundation at the MCG after being invited to attend.

The Perry Cross Foundation supports research aimed at finding a cure for spinal cord injury (see here), and Brent was informed about their fundraising lunch as a result of our research published late last year (Abay et al. PNAS).

The 3rd annual Legends lunch will feature 2017 Australian of the Year, Professor Alan Mackay-Sim and some of Australia's greatest sporting legends including Dustin Martin & Trent Cotchin from the Richmond Football Club. More information can be found here.

Brent has been invited to give a guest lecture to Master's students (GENE90020 course) at The University of Melbourne.

His lecture is titled "Nervous System Degeneration in C. elegans". It describes the use of C. elegans as a model system for neurobiology and how genetics techniques can be used for identifying novel genes causing degeneration of the nervous system. 

Congratulations to Tarika, who can successfully completed for confirmation milestone!

This is major hurdle to pass and means that Tarika is now officially confirmed as a PhD candidate.