Lab News
Read about what's been going on in the Mattingley Lab lately. Click on the images to see a larger version.
~ 2015 ~
Lab Photo 2015
Back row: Kirstie Petrie, Nicholas Bland, Martin Sale, David Lloyd, Delphine Lévy-Bencheton, Roxanne Jemison, David Painter, Marc Kamke
Middle row: Amanda Robinson, Eloise Crawshaw, Angela Renton, Jessica McFadyen, Oliver Baumann, Anthony Harris, Michelle Hall, Zoie Nott
Front row: Susan Travis, Cooper Smout, Oscar Jacoby, Jason Mattingley, Lisa Wittenhagen, Corinne Bareham
Absent: Ashika Verghese, Hannah Filmer, Natasha Matthews, Luke Hearne, Morgan Spence, Abbey Nydam, Matthew Tang, Barbara Jachs
Systems & Computational Neuroscience Down Under Conference
15-17 December 2015
Members of the Mattingley Lab took part in the SCiNDU conference held at the Queensland Brain Institute this week. Professor Jason Mattingley and Dr. Marta Garrido (pictured along with other speakers from the conference) gave oral presentations on some of their recent work. Poster presentations were delivered by Anthony Harris, Dr. David Painter, Jessica McFadyen, Lisa Wittenhagen, Luke Hearne, and Dr. Marta Garrido.
Congratulations to Daina Dickins for being awarded her PhD
Monday 14 December 2015
Well done to former lab member Dr. Daina Dickins who graduated with a PhD this evening. Under the guidance of Dr. Marc Kamke, Dr. Martin Sale and Professor Jason Mattingley (also pictured), she used TMS to investigate whether plasticity in the human motor cortices is altered in older adults. To access her PhD thesis, go to http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:372851
Congratulations to Angela Renton for graduating from Honours
Monday 14 December 2015
Well done to Angela Renton who graduated with a BSc Hons (1st Class) this evening. Under the guidance of Professor Jason Mattingley and Dr. David Painter (also pictured), she used EEG to investigate the neural correlates of attention for active approach and avoidance.
ACNS 2015
26-29 November 2015
The Mattingley Lab was very well represented at the 5th Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference held in Auckland, New Zealand, this week. Five postdocs (Dr. Oliver Baumann, Dr. Delphine Levy-Bencheton, Dr. David Painter, Dr. Hannah Filmer, and Dr. Natasha Matthews), and seven students (Anthony Harris, Cooper Smout, Lisa Wittenhagen, Luke Hearne, Jessica McFadyen, Angela Renton, and Zoie Nott) from the lab presented some of their latest work. Professor Mattingley also jointly ran an Early Career Research workshop, which involved presentations and discussions on how to build a successful career in cognitive neuroscience. Several special congratulations are in order: To Luke Hearne for winning the prize for the best PhD student oral presentation, to Lisa Wittenhagen and Cooper Smout for winning prizes for the best PhD student poster presentations, and to Jessica McFadyen for winning a student travel award to present at the conference. Click here for some conference photos.
Welcome to Matthew Tang
Monday 16 November 2015
Matthew Tang joined the Mattingley Lab as a postdoc today, having recently completed in postgraduate studies at the University of Western Australia. He will be investigating the neural basis of attention, expectations and decision making.
Grant Successes
Tuesday 10 November 2015
Congratulations to Mattingley Lab members Dr. Luca Cocchi and Dr. Oliver Baumann, who were both successful in obtaining grant funding in the 2015 NHMRC grant application round. Dr. Cocchi and his colleagues Professor Jason Mattingley, Professor Olaf Sporns, and Dr. Andrew Zalesky obtained a 3-year grant of $531,495.50 to investigate selective modulation of neural network activity using focal brain stimulation. Dr. Baumann and his colleague Dr. Christine Cong Guo obtained a 3-year grant of $336,012.00 to perform high-resolution imaging studies investigating the non-motor functions of the cerebellum.
Zap My Brain Brisbane
Tuesday 10 November 2015
The Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function hosted a public outreach event called "Zap My Brain" at QBI today. The event aimed to increase public understanding of non-invasive human brain stimulation, and its use in brain research, clinical treatment, and cognitive performance enhancement. It involved informal presentations, practical demonstrations, and open floor discussions. The panel of presenters included several members of the Mattingley Lab, namely Professor Jason Mattingley, Dr. Hannah Filmer, Dr. Martin Sale, and Dr. Marc Kamke. The event was well attended, well received, and generated lots of interesting discussion. Well done to everyone involved! To watch a recording of the event, go to https://lecture.recordings.uq.edu.au:8443/ess/echo/presentation/d80d8435-e96e-4a91-b77b-6f95441162b6
Welcome to Barbara Jachs
Monday 2 November 2015
Barbara Jachs is a postgraduate student from the lab of Dr. Tristan Bekinschtein at the University of Cambridge. She has joined the Mattingley Lab for a six month visit prior to starting her PhD. During her stay in the lab she will be working on a project in collaboration with Dr. Valdas Noreika, investigating whether the rhythmicity of visual and auditory stimuli associated with windscreen wipers can induce drowsiness.
Farewell to Marc Kamke
Friday 30 October 2015
The Mattingley Lab wishes Dr. Marc Kamke all the best for his new position as Research Integrity Officer at UQ. Marc joined the lab way back in 2005, when it was based at the University of Melbourne, and moved with Jason to the newly established Queensland Brain Institute in January 2007. Marc built and managed the Human Brain Stimulation Lab at QBI from 2008 - 2015. He supervised honours and graduate students, worked on independent grant-funded projects, and was involved in many outreach events, including the annual Australasian Brain Bee Competition and UQ Open Day.
Marc will continue as a QBI affiliate, and will be involved in the installation and testing of a new TMS-compatible MR head coil in the 3T scanner in UQ’s Centre for Advanced Imaging.
We wish Marc all the best in his new job!
Congratulations to Lisa Wittenhagen for passing her M1
Thursday 29 October 2015
Well done to Lisa Wittenhagen who passed her M1 confirmation of candidature assessment today. During her PhD, she will investigate how visual filling-in processes (specifically, modal completion) occur in the brain, and seek to understand the role played by selective attention in these processes.
Neuroscience 2015
17-21 October 2015
Several members of the Mattingley Lab (Professor Jason Mattingley, Dr. Hannah Filmer, Dr. Luca Cocchi, and Luke Hearne) attended and presented their latest work at the 45th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago this week. Click here for some photos of their conference experiences. For more information about Neuroscience 2015, go to https://www.sfn.org/annual-meeting/neuroscience-2015
Congratulations to Angela Renton and Eloise Crawshaw
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Well done to our latest Honours students for sumbitting their Honours theses today. Angela Renton, who was jointly supervised by Professor Jason Mattingley and Dr. David Painter, is continuing on in the lab on a summer scholarship, during which she will extend on the research she conducted for her Honours project. Eloise Crawshaw, who was jointly supervised by Professor Jason Mattingley and Dr. Oliver Baumann, will also extend on her Honours project research as an RA in the lab.
QBI-MCN Symposium
7-9 October 2015
Several members of the Mattingley lab (Dr. Marc Kamke, Jessica McFadyen, and Anthony Harris) presented some of their latest research at the third symposium between the Queensland Brain Institute and the Munich Center for Neurosciences this week. For for information, go to http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/content/3rd-qbi-mcn-symposium
University of Western Australia Psychology Colloquium
Tuesday 15 September 2015
Professor Jason Mattingley presented some of our recent work at The University of Western Australia today, in a talk titled “What can evoked neural oscillations reveal about visual perception and selective attention?” For more details, see http://events.uwa.edu.au/event/20150825T014757Z-1953-15866@events.uwa.edu.au/whatson/academic
Master Stroke Business Lunch
Friday 11 September 2015
Several members of the Mattingley Lab attended this year's Master Stroke Business Lunch today, an event coordinated by the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Foundation to raise money for Stroke research at the RBWH. For more information on the event, go to http://www.rbwhfoundation.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=361:rbwh-stroke-research-group&catid=39:rbwhfoundation&Itemid=302
Bridge to Brisbane Charity Fun Run 2015Sunday 30 August 2015Well done to Delphine Lévy-Bencheton who, along with 25 other members of QBI, completed the Bridge to Brisbane today. Together, they raised nearly $3000 for vital priority research at QBI. For more information, go to https://b2b2015.everydayhero.com/au/qbi-team-1
Invited Seminar at The University of Minnesota
Monday 24 August 2015
Professor Jason Mattingley delivered an invited seminar at the Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota today, titled “What can evoked neural oscillations reveal about visual perception and selective attention?”
ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function (CIBF) Meeting18-19 August 2015 Several Mattingley Lab members (Professor Jason Mattingley, Dr. Marta Garrido, Dr. Luca Cocchi, Jessica McFadyen, Luke Hearne, and Roxanne Jemison) attended a meeting of the CIBF in Cairns this week. The meeting involved researchers from across Australia sharing and discussing their work relating to attention, prediction and decision-making across the levels of cells, circuits and systems. There was also an early career researcher workshop in which senior researchers shared their experiences and the lessons they’ve learned with the next generation of neuroscientists. Those involved found the meeting inspiring, educational, and a great opportunity to learn from and connect with researchers from other fields. For more information about the CIBF, go to http://www.cibf.edu.au/cibf
Presentation at Western Sydney University
Monday 10 August 2015
Professor Jason Mattingley presented some of our recent work at Western Sydney University today, in a talk titled “What can evoked neural oscillations reveal about visual perception and selective attention?” For more details, see http://www.westernsydney.edu.au/marcs/presentations_events/monday_evening_research_colloquium_professor_jason_mattingley
Lab tour by students from St Peters Lutheran College
Wednesday 29 July 2015
Thirty-four students studying Psychology at St Peters Lutheran College visited our lab today to find out about what we do as cognitive neuroscientists. Various members of the lab told them about their research, and how we used EEG, TMS, and fMRI to understand the fascinating inner workings of the human brain. The students were absolutely blown away with what they saw and heard, as were their teachers. For the lab members involved, it was a pleasure to inspire some very bright young people to consider a career in science, and also an excellent opportunity to practice their science communication skills.
Congratulations to Oscar Jacoby for being awarded his PhD
Friday 24 July 2015
Oscar Jacoby was awarded his PhD at a graduation ceremony today. Under the guidance of Professor Jason Mattingley, Dr. Marc Kamke, and Professor Roger Remington, he investigated the relationship between two executive control processes, feature-based attention and working memory. He is delighted to be able to continue on in the lab as a research assistant. To access his PhD thesis, go to http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:357104
Queensland Brain Bee State Finals
Wednesday 22 July 2015
Several members of the Mattingley Lab were involved in the Queensland state finals of The Australian Brain Bee Challenge held at QBI today. Dr. Martin Sale and Nicholas Bland demonstrated the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation to participants (pictured), Dr. Oliver Baumann gave a presentation on functional magnetic resonance imaging, and Lisa Wittenhagen served as a tour guide and helped with judging. For more information on the event, go to http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/content/are-you-smarter-tenth-grader
Welcome to our newest PhD student, Nicholas Bland
Monday 6 July 2015
Nicholas Bland, former Honours student and Research Assistant in the lab, has rejoined us as a PhD student, supervised by Dr. Martin Sale and Professor Jason Mattingley. His research will aim to employ transcranial current stimulation to change endogenous neural activity in a frequency- and phase-specific manner, with resultant effects on perception.
Welcome back from Cambridge, Martin Sale
Tuesday 30 June 2015
Dr. Martin Sale returned from his 6 month trip to The University of Cambridge today. He had been working with Dr. Tristan Bekinschtein investigating the role of gamma oscillations in different stages of the sleep/wake cycle. Specifically, they were testing whether artificially boosting endogenous gamma activity during NREM sleep could promote a more wake-like brain state.