Alfonso Argueta
BSc Hons (Syd)

e alfonso@anatomy.usyd.edu.au

Scholarships & Awards

• Australian Postgraduate Award (2007)
  

Eszter Kalman
BSc Hons (Syd)

My research is focused on understanding the morphological variations in the hippocampus that dispose animals (possibly including humans) to a failure to cope with stressors such as chronic pain.  From previous studies, as well as every day experiences, we know that individuals all respond to stress differently, this includes our furry rat friends, and I am interested in finding out if the hippocampus is partially responsible for this differentiation in behaviour.  When I am not tracing hippocampal images I like to spend my time playing football, reading books and enjoying the outdoors. 

e eszter@anatomy.usyd.edu.au

Scholarships & Awards

• Honours Dreher Prize (2008)
• University Postgraduate Award (2008)
• EMBL - Bridging Clinical & Animal Model Research: Student Travel Fellowship (Heidelberg, Germany - 2009)
• Invited Speaker at Seimelweis University (Budapest, Hungary - 2009)
  

Elisabeth Kilburn-Watt
BSc (Syd), BA (York), MA (Macquarie)

My research has focused on whether altered hypothalamic regulation of the HPT axis could contribute to the inability of some individuals to cope with chronic stress. Low peripheral thyroid hormones with evidence of altered central regulation are seen in a sub-population of patients with chronic diseases; mood and cognitive change are part of the syndrome of disability seen in some patients with chronic disease; these non-specific symptoms are seen in hypothyroidism. In the rat model of chronic stress that we use in the lab, behavioral change is seen in a sub-population and in the same group we have shown altered thyroid hormones and evidence of altered hypothalamic regulation. 

e ekil7921@uni.sydney.edu.au

Jonathan Hakim
BSc Adv Hons (Syd)

My interest is in the role the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc), a major component of the mesolimbic reward circuit, has in modulating both reward and pain. Careful observation of pleasure and motivational drive behaviours in rats is conducted before and after sciatic nerve injury, and observed changes in behaviour are then analysed with respect to changes in markers of dopaminergic, opioidergic and glutamatergic transmission in the NAcc. When I'm not busy in the lab, I'm most likely busy photographing people doing cool things.

e jono@anatomy.usyd.edu.au

Scholarships & Awards

• Honours McAvoy Prize (2010)
• University Medal (2010)
• Australian Postgraduate Award (2011)
• ANS Istvan Törk Prize (2011)
• NWG Macintosh Fund (2011)
  

Dr Paul Austin
BSc Hons (Bath), MSc (Bath), PhD (Kings Lond)