
BSc (Hon) (UNSW)
PhD (UNSW)
I am a behavioural neuroscientist. My research is concerned with the fundamental behavioural and brain mechanisms for learning and motivation and understanding how these apply to clinical conditions such as addictions, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders. I am interested in identifying these mechanisms, at the cellular, circuit, and systems level and also in translating this fundamental information into new treatments of psychological conditions. To do so, I adopt a systems neuroscience approach combining well controlled behavioural approaches with a variety of approaches (optogenetics, chemogenetics, in vivo calcium imaging, whole brain circuit mapping) in normal and transgenic animals to map and manipulate, at cellular and circuit levels, brain mechanisms.
My research is supported by both the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. I have previously been an ARC QEII (2008-2012) and Future Fellow (Level 3) (2013 - 2016).
The lab currently comprises 5 Research Fellows and 3 PhD students. Please contact me if you would like to join us.
Education
BSc (Hon) (UNSW)
PhD (UNSW)
Awards and Honours
2009 Association for Psychological Science, International Rising Star
2010 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
2010 UNSW Faculty of Science Staff Excellence Award for Research and Training
2011 Pavlovian Research Award, The Pavlovian Society
2017 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association
2017 Fellow, American Psychological Association
2019 Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
2021 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association
Current Research Staff
Postdoctoral
Dr Zhi Yi Ong
Dr E. Zayra Millan
Dr Joanna O-Y. Yau
Dr Phillip Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel
Dr Eun A Choi
PhD
Si Yin Lui
Sophia Gilchrist
Eddie Wise
Current Funding
Australian Research Council
Discovery Project, 2022 - 2024. Punishment learning: From cells to circuits to behaviour (CI: McNally).
Discovery Project, 2020 - 2022. How the brain resolves motivational conflict (CI: McNally).
National Health and Medical Research Council
Synergy Grant: 2022 - 2026. Linking clinical and basic science discovery to find new treatments for alcohol-use disorder (CIs; Haber, Morley, Lawrence, Manning, Lubman, McNally, Millan, Arunogiri).
Ideas Grant: 2022 - 2026. Novel pathways to abstinence from alcohol seeking (CIs: McNally, Millan, Power).
Project Grant: 2018 - 2022: The actions of naltrexone in midbrain reward circuits (CI: McNally).
2009 Association for Psychological Science, International Rising Star
2010 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
2010 UNSW Faculty of Science Staff Excellence Award for Research and Training
2011 Pavlovian Research Award, The Pavlovian Society
2016 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association
2017 Fellow, American Psychological Association
2019 Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
2021 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association
PSYC2081 Learning & Physiological Psychology
PSYC3051 Physiological Psychology