Systems Neuroscience Group

Group Leader 

Professor Michael Breakspear

Summary

Systems Neuroscience is an approach to brain sciences that seeks the fundamental principles of brain organisation, dynamics and function across a hierarchy of spatial and temporal scales. It is a rapidly growing field that differs considerably from the traditional reductionist paradigm in neuroscience that seeks purely sufficient causes for local phenomena. In contrast, systems neuroscience seeks unifying explanations for emergent phenomena.

The work of our group embodies these principles across three broad domains - empirical, computational and clinical neuroscience. The overarching aim of this work is to contribute towards unifying models of brain architecture, dynamics and cognitive (dys)function. These models then inform the design of brain imaging experiments into major mental illnesses.

Conditions researched

• Schizophrenia
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Dementia
• Epilepsy

Current research

• Quantitative assessment of affect in major depression
• Psychosis and errors in perception during natural vision.
• Cortical rhythms: The role of dynamics and noise
• Brain network mechanisms of resilience to acquired cognitive impairment
• Fundamental mechanisms of perception and motor control

Staff

Group Leader: Dr Michael Breakspear

PhD students: Anton Lord, Mika Rubinov

Postdoctoral staff: James Roberts

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the following funding agencies:

• Australian Research Council
• James S. McDonnell Foundation, "Brain Network Recovery Group"
• National Health and Medical Research Council
• Rotary Australia
• The John Thomas Wilson Foundation and E M Squires Charitable Trust managed by Perpetual
  

Collaborators

Peter Ashwin, School of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Exeter, UK

Stephen Coombes, School of Mathematical Sciences, Nottingham, UK

Andreas Daffertshofer, Research Institute MOVE, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Karl Friston, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London, UK

Viktor Jirsa, Theoretical Neuroscience Group, Marseille, France

Randy McIntosh, Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, Canada

Petra Ritter, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany

Peter Robinson, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia

Olaf Sporns, Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

Klaas Stephan, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London, UK and Branco Weiss Laboratory, Zurich, Switzerland

John Terry, Department of Engineering Mathematics, Bristol, UK