New neuroscience research opportunities at Macquarie
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Professor Paul Pilowsky |
Postgraduate research students now have the opportunity to work with one of Australia's premier neuroscientists at Macquarie University's Australian School of Advanced Medicine.
Professor Paul Pilowsky, who has received continuous funding from the National Health and Medical Research Foundation since commencing his research career, has taken up the position of Associate Dean and Head of Research at the new medical school.
Pilowsky has gained international recognition for his work which commenced with his PhD into the way the brain controls blood pressure and expanded to the way the brain controls airways and breathing. His research has led to new insights about how neurotransmitters affect different central pathways in the brainstem.
Neuroscience research group
There are currently 20 people in the neuroscience research group which features cardiovascular neuroscientist Professor Anne Goodchild, along with postdoctoral research fellows, honours students and PhD students. Later this year the group will be joined by University of New South Wales biomedical scientist Professor Albert Avolio.
"The group is trying to work out which individual nerve cells in the brain stem and spinal cord are responsible for blood flow to different parts of the body," explains Pilowsky. "The body has an intricate system for directing blood flow to its different parts and is controlled by discreet populations of nerves from the lower part of the brain which is regulated by reflexes and higher parts of the brain according to need.
"We think that the nerves that control the legs are different to the ones that control the kidney and different again to the ones that control the gut. Our group is also trying to establish how these different nerves are controlled and if they have different neurochemicals.
"People might say 'who cares' but this research is incredibly important, not only from a scientific perspective but from a clinical perspective particularly in the development of new treatments for high blood pressure, which is one of the major causes of organ damage to areas such as the brain, heart and blood vessels."
Graduate opportunities
Pilowsky is looking for as many graduates as he can get to join his neuroscience group. Any person from any field or background with an intellectual drive can find a place.
"Neuroscience finds a home in any area of our understanding," he says. "The challenge that a person faces is how much enthusiasm they have. You can't say a specific set of skills are required. You just need to bring your particular abilities to the problem and they are likely to generate a new vision that other people with a different set of skills or background may not have seen.
"The pleasure of research is that every now and then you have that moment when you see something that no-one has ever seen before,' says Pilowsky. "It is what differentiates research from working in an office or being a high class physician. It is one of the reasons I am more than satisfied being a scientist physician rather than a physician scientist. In science, one is looking for the chaos and trying to explain it."
For further information contact Professor Paul Pilowsky paul.pilowsky@vc.mq.edu.au or visit www.medicine.mq.edu.au