Brain And Mind Centre

16/02/2026

🫂🧠Dementia advocates demand

Dementia Roundtable - Last week, clinicians, researchers, advocates, and those living with or caring for someone with dementia met on Wednesday to discuss a national dementia navigation model.

Australia’s leading brain health experts warn that anything less than full commitment to dementia navigators would be a “failure” as the nation’s death rates soar.

Scientia Professor Brodaty from the UNSW Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) (CHeBA) – along with Professor Lee-Fay Low from the University of Sydney and Dementia Australia – put in a formal submission to the NSW Government for a Dementia Navigator Network.

The $24.5m proposal is a key ask and would allow support workers to be embedded in all 15 Local Health Districts across the state.

A co-designed national Dementia Navigation Model is currently being worked on.

Read story -> https://lnkd.in/dHXPY8E9

11/02/2026

On International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we’re celebrating our researchers.

Photographed below: A/Prof Rachel Tan, Co-leader of the Neurotherapeutic Innovations research team.



University of Sydney Sydney Health

04/02/2026

⏩'Right Care, First Time, Where You Live' - Program Overview ⏩

Watch the Program Overview for RightCareFirstTimeWhereYouLive’, which aimed to deliver a bold vision to get young people back to work, back to school, and thriving in their communities.

As this Program concludes, the and Technology team would like to thank the six communities in Australia for their generous support of young people with lived experience of mental illness. It enabled the team to develop a clear picture of what the mental health system looks like for young people in these regions.

The five-year program was enabled by a $12.8 million investment from the BHP Foundation.

Watch Video> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56gewqXo1rA

https://www.rightcarefirsttimewhereyoulive.com.au/

03/02/2026

⭐Sydney researchers receive 29 NHMRC Ideas Grants

University of Sydney researchers have been awarded more than $38.9 million in National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grants funding to support a diverse range of health and medical research projects, from cancer and gene therapies to antimicrobial resistance and mental health.

Congratulations to Prof Adam Walker, co-leader of the Biometals in Neurological Diseases (BiNDs), Sydney Horizon Fellow Dr Morgan James of the Translational Psychopharmacology team, and Dr Kristi Griffiths of the Child Development and Mental Health team.

A total of 29 NHMRC Ideas Grants projects were awarded this round to researchers spanning the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Medicine and Health and Faculty of Science.

Read full list>https://lnkd.in/ewsvUXg5

Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, University of Sydney Sydney Health

03/02/2026

💉 Wins Over Side-Effects💉

A study published by Dr Hannah Bowrey and Dr Morgan James from the Translational Psychopharmacology team at Brain and Mind Centre, found that people cared more about whether drugs like Ozempic helped them lose weight than about the side effects, even if they were moderate. Many patients reported gastrointestinal side effects like nausea or vomiting.

Attitudes toward Ozempic were shaped primarily by its perceived effectiveness in promoting weight loss, with gastrointestinal side effects exerting minimal influence on overall satisfaction. For many users, the benefits of appetite suppression and weight reduction outweighed treatment-related discomfort.

Read study> https://lnkd.in/egmS4vj7

Research team>https://lnkd.in/eNWmJcjD

University of Sydney

01/02/2026

Some anxiety is normal for NSW students as they return to school next week, says Professor Caroline Hunt from the Brain And Mind Centre at the University of Sydney.

"But this anxiety should settle once they get back in a school routine, so it is important for them to face their fears and not avoid. If your child usually enjoys school but starts to want to avoid going, and seems quieter or more withdrawn than usual, it is important to ask them gently what might have changed at school. If they report being bullied, stay calm, listen, and ask them how they would like you to help them."

16/01/2026

less effective for many living with atypical , new study finds

Read now 📰https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-16/antidepressants-less-effective-atypical-depression/106231014?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=whatsapp

Paper - https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(26)00004-1/fulltext

New research has found common antidepressants are failing to help many people with atypical depression. From the Youth Mental Health and Technology research team at Brain and Mind Centre

The research also found those with atypical depression were more likely to experience side effects from standard pharmaceutical treatments.

Advocates and doctors say the research paves the way for more effective and personalised treatments.

Atypical depression is considered a distinct clinical subtype of major depression, yet its predictive validity and clinical utility remain contested. We investigated association between atypical depression and clinical characteristics, genetic profiles, and antidepressant responses.

17/12/2025

Groundbreaking study to Pave Way for Oxytocin Tracing in Humans

from Professor Adam Guastella

Read now ✅ https://www.sydney.edu.au/brain-mind/news-and-events/news/2025/12/17/groundbreaking-study-to-pave-way-for-oxytocin-tracing-in-humans.html

A first-of-its-kind study could answer one of the most important neuroscience questions about the impact of oxytocin on the brain and body

Researchers at the Brain and Mind Centre (BMC) have released the first-of-its-kind data for a oxytocin-based radiotracer that can be used in animals and humans, based on the Oxytocin ARC linkage radiotracer study.

Study -> https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-025-01649-1

“Thrilled to see the strong preclinical results from this groundbreaking project! Sydney Imaging is ready to support Adam and his team as they advance to human studies, providing world-class radiochemistry expertise and Total Body PET imaging.” Professor Fernando Calamante. Director, Sydney Imaging Core Research Facility.

The human trial will be completed with the Australian National Total Body PET Facility, Australia’s first open-access facility with dedicated research capacity. The Facility is the result of a partnership between the University of Sydney, the National Imaging Facility (NIF) and the Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD).

The oxytocin/oxytocin receptor (OT/OTR) signalling system is a promising therapeutic target for socioemotional disorders, yet its clinical potential is limited by a lack of in vivo molecular tools. Here, the authors develop and validate [18F]dOTK8[SFB] as a PET radiotracer, demonstrating its specifi...

11/12/2025

PERIscope Commercialisation Awards 🏆 Congrats to Dr Ann-Na Cho, Dr Hannah Bowrey and Dr Morgan James of Brain and Mind Centre

14 teams in total received funding and training to accelerate the translation of research into real-world impact.



Dr Morgan James and Dr Hannah Bowrey. Project: A novel, first-in-class pharmaceutical to treat binge eating disorder

Dr Ann-Na Cho and Henry Howard. Project: 'Brain on a chip' to study life-changing conditions like dementia and epilepsy and develop personalised treatments

Both projects are sponsored by the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator.

The program is run by the Sydney Knowledge Hub, the University of Sydney’s startup incubator and research commercialisation hub that bridges the gap between research and industry.

Sydney Health

University of Sydney

10/12/2025

Congratulations to A/Prof Frank Iorfino and Christine Song - recipients of University of Sydney 2025 Vice-Chancellor's Awards ⭐

Congratulations to the 68 award recipients – 13 individuals and 7 teams – who were honoured this year.



🏆 A/Prof Frank Iorfino received the Early Career Researcher of the Year award

🏆The Fast Track Contracts Collaboration Team received a Better Place to Work award - congrats to Yun Ju Christine Song from the team (Medicine and Health - University of Sydney, Central Clinical School)

All recipients -> https://lnkd.in/gXbVtb_S

08/12/2025

This project will invesitgate whether the brain orexin system drives overeating, anxiety, and sleep disruption in Prader-Willi Syndrome. This research could fast-track existing orexin medications (already used for insomnia) toward improving daily life for people with PWS.

17/11/2025

Congratulations to Prof Ian Hickie AO and Prof Glenda Halliday, two of twenty-five academics from the University of Sydney named in the annual Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers List, recognising the most influential researchers whose papers rank in the top one percent of citations for their field.

🏆Professor Glenda Halliday | is a neuroscientist and research neuropathologist, specialising in neurodegeneration. Professor Halliday is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow, recognising her influential work to improve outcomes for patients with Parkinson’s disease, alcohol toxicity, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia and motor degenerative diseases. She was named NSW Scientist of the Year in 2022.

Professor Ian Hickie | Co-Director of Health and Policy at the Brain and Mind Centre, has led major public health campaigns in Australia to support early intervention for young people with mental health conditions, based on his extensive research, clinical expertise, and co-designed with young Australians. He is supported by an NHMRC L3, Investigator Grant.

Read the full list: https://lnkd.in/gMA-6vmZ

Sydney Health University of Sydney