Dr Dhanisha Jhaveri

Dr Dhanisha Jhaveri has a joint appointment at Mater Research and the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) and is a Mater Foundation Senior Research Fellow and the leader of the Neural Stem Cell Biology Research Group. Dhanisha’s research group is investigating the fundamental mechanisms that drive the renewal of neurons in the adult brain, with the goal of harnessing this form of neural plasticity to relieve the emotional and cognitive burdens associated with chronic stress and depression.

Dhanisha received her PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India, under the supervision of Professor Veronica Rodrigues, where she unravelled the molecular mechanisms that wire the olfactory axons in the fly (Drosophila) brain. In recognition of her doctoral work she was awarded the Indian National Science Academy medal for Young Scientist of the Year in 2003. Fascinated by the discovery that the production of new neurons continues in the adult brain, she then joined the laboratory of Professor Perry Bartlett at the Queensland Brain Institute as a Human Frontiers Science Program Postdoctoral Fellow. She has made major discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the regulation and roles of neural stem cells in the adult brain. Her work uncovered that a subclass clinical antidepressants directly activates neural stem cells in the hippocampus, a brain region implicated in regulating mood and cognitive functions. She also pioneered the development of a new cell sorting protocol to purify neural stem cells which revealed presence of distinct stem cell populations in this brain region.

Her research group is currently focused on understanding the molecular and functional potential of these distinct stem cells, how their activity is modulated by stress and what role they play in the regulation of mood versus cognition in pre-clinical models of anxiety and depression. A key aspect of her research program is to determine whether enhancing new neuron production via selective activation of neural stem cells could provide a new approach for the treatment of anxiety/depressive disorders and lead to the development of novel, effective and safe antidepressants.

Dhanisha’s research has resulted in multiple publications, successful grant funding, and an Australian patent, which has led to numerous invitations to speak at national and international meetings. She has expertise in neural stem cell biology, neurogenesis and pre-clinical models of anxiety and depression.

"I believe that discovering fundamental mechanisms that underpin how emotion and cognition are encoded and regulated in the brain will allow us to develop novel strategies to maintain and promote these in health and disease."