Discovering how memories are made

The $10,000 grant enabled the study of one-millimetre-long nematode worms that, although capable of sophisticated forms of learning for a worm, have a compact easy-to-study brain, with just 300 brain cells.

Conveniently, the worm brain cells are 80% genetically identical to human brain cells.

“For the project to succeed, we needed to do some new and advanced microscopy that no one else had done before, using hardware that we didn’t have,” says Dr Chew.

With the Seed Funding, Dr Chew was able to purchase the microscope required to view how the worm brain cells interact, as well as support PhD student Anna McMillen to carry out the necessary experiments.

“We discovered that the chemical dopamine was used by the worm brain cells to communicate with one another, in order to drive memory formation and retention.” 

Dr Chew hopes this fascinating finding can be used to understand how dopamine, also found in humans, functions in conditions where memories are lost – such as dementia.

Along with pursuing a new field of research, the funding helped to create connections, including a new collaboration with leading neurologist Dr Zhaoyu Li at the Queensland Brain Institute.

“As an early career researcher embarking on unique and unchartered research, it made a world of difference for this project to be supported by Seed Funding,” says Dr Chew.

“This work has great potential for advancing research into neurodegenerative conditions, and finding new ways of managing and treating conditions such as dementia.”

You can provide critical support for our early career researchers to explore new ground in research that changes lives and improves our community.

100% of your tax-deductible donation will support the work of emerging researchers through Flinders University’s Early Career Research Seed Funding grant program. 

^{Published October 2023. Author: Lynda Allen.}