NHMRC funding success 2016
Associate Professor Deborah Hodgson has been awarded more than $636,000 in NHMRC Project Grant funding commencing in 2016 for her research project Maternal immune activation and adolescent exposure to cannabis in rodents: Do two developmental "hits" lead to schizophrenia-like changes in brain and behaviour?
About the project
The cause of schizophrenia most likely lies in early brain development due to either genetics or adverse environments. We will examine two successive environmental 'hits' in a rat model: infection during pregnancy followed by early adolescent cannabis use. We will track changes in the brain that occur in late adolescence and in young adults. We will also assess behaviour and brain function in adulthood to see if the animals exhibit patterns that mimic those that we see in schizophrenia.
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