Centre for Neuroscience & Regenerative Medicine, UTS

In 2017 the University of Technology Sydney and Professor Bryce Vissel established the CNRM with the goal of creating an incubator for innovative medical research.

Integrating technology and cutting-edge science with other fields, the Centre’s multi-disciplinary approach to research represents an Australia-first leap into the future. It merges the neuroscience of cognition and movement with engineering and mathematical modelling, to achieve novel medical approaches, breaking from traditional pathology and biochemical approaches.

The CNRM has built a cohort of leading scientists, health practitioners, technologists and experts, and developed key international partnerships with principal institutions including the University of California and Los Angles (UCLA).

The Centre’s team also comprises hand-picked, outstanding new researchers who represent the future of health in Australia and worldwide.

Key research pillars include the Neural Cell Biology Program; the Learning, Memory and Movements Program; the Spinal Cord Injury Program; programs in Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. A program in regenerative medicine is being developed.

Breakthrough findings

Our team members have:

Proposed new mechanisms of disease, considering the role of cells called glia in brain function, neurodegeneration and psychological disorders

Developed evidence for unprecedented stimulation of regeneration, with profound implications for treating neurological and spinal conditions, because it suggests that we may be able to develop medicines to stimulate regeneration and recovery

Discovered a new therapeutic target – brain energy metabolism – with potential to slow, and potentially halt, some diseases

Revealed novel therapeutic targets for slowing or reversing the underlying disease processes in Parkinson’s disease and dementia