Researcher Profiles

My research investigates the neurophysiological properties of target-detecting neurons in the dragonfly brain, and the neuroanatomy of the brain structures that house these neurons.

Ninuk Hariyani is a PhD student in Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH). Her background is a dentist who works as a lecturer in the Faculty of Dentistry, Airlangga University, Indonesia. Her research interest is about epidemiology and the measurement of oral diseases. Her on-going research project is about the increment of root caries in older Australian adults.

Intellectual disability (ID) affects 1 in 50 people worldwide, with genetic causes responsible for ~40% of these case. Up to 30% of children with ID also present with seizures, most unresponsive to anti-convulsant therapy, thus the need for treatment is high. Using mouse models with mutations in a known ID and seizure gene, ARX, we will investigate the effectiveness of short-term estradiol treatment on symptom alleviation. As part of this analysis I will monitor improvements to the onset and frequency of seizures, in conjunction with improvements in behavioural and cognitive deficits.