Dr Juliette Cheyne's research focusses on how brain cell activity controls behaviour and what happens when this goes awry in disease. She utilises cellular recording in live mice (‘in vivo’) using a range of different imaging technologies and has custom-built two specialised microscopes for this purpose – a two-photon microscope that allows high resolution deep imaging, and a ‘mesoscope’ with a wide field of view that is capable of imaging the entire mouse cortex. In addition, she uses minaturised microscopes ('miniscopes') to record cellular activity in freely moving animals. These techniques allow her to track activity in the brain in real-time and relate the activity to behaviour or sensory input. Her current research is investigating on Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and Spinal Cord Injury.

About Dr Juliette Cheyne

Research Fellow, Physiology and Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland

I did my BSc (Biomedical Science), Honours and PhD at the University of Auckland then moved to Amsterdam for 6 years as a Postdoctoral Fellow. In 2016 I returned to the University of Auckland on a Neurological Foundation Repatriation Fellowship. This Fellowship was co-funded with an Auckland Medical Research Foundation Project grant and allowed me to establish in vivo imaging in Auckland. Together with a Marsden Fast-Start this funding has enabled my team to investigate development and function of the auditory and prefrontal cortex in a mouse model of Autism Spectrum Disorder. In 2018 I obtained equipment funding from Maurice Paykel Trust and Lottery Health Research to customise a two-photon microscope for in vivo brain imaging. With funding from the Faculty of Science Research Development Fund and a Neurological Foundation Project Grant we are now applying this technology to better understand cellular activity in the auditory cortex in Autism Spectrum Disorder. We have recently established minaturised microscopes ('miniscope') recordings in the lab with funding from Neurological Foundation Small Project Grant and Brain Research New Zealand.

To find out more about ABI news and events, subscribe to our newsletter: www.auckland.ac.nz/supportabi