Elisa Hill

Prof Elisa Hill-Yardin leads the Gut–Brain Axis Laboratory at RMIT University, which focuses on (i) identifying the cause of gut dysfunction in transgenic mouse models of neurological disease, (ii) determining how neurons communicate with the lymphoid system and inflammation, and (iii) understanding interactions between the nervous system and bacteria.

Prof Hill-Yardin received her PhD in Neuroscience from The University of Melbourne (2002) and subsequently moved to Paris, France, to take up a CNRS postdoctoral role in the team of Prof Bertrand Lambolez to study cortical neuronal diversity using single-cell RT-PCR in combination with patch clamp electrophysiology. She returned to Melbourne as an NHMRC Howard Florey Centenary Fellow in 2006 to join the laboratory of Prof Steve Petrou to investigate changes in neuronal networks in genetic mouse models of epilepsy. Prof Hill-Yardin imported the Neuroligin-3R451C mouse model of autism to Australia in 2009 and has since studied changes in neuronal networks, microbes, behaviour and gut dysfunction funded by the NHMRC, US Dept of Defense CDMRP, CNRS, an ARC Future Fellowship and an RMIT Senior Vice Chancellor's Research Fellowship.

She has shown that gene mutations associated with autism in patients alter the numbers of neuron populations in the mouse enteric nervous system as well as gut motility and permeability. She found that these nervous system changes also disrupt the microbiome, modify responses to inflammation and increase aggression and repetitive behaviours in mice.

The team are expert in detecting changes in gut contraction patterns and gut permeability in rodents. Our video-imaging assays detect subtle changes in gut motility caused by impairments in the gut nervous system and we're enhancing this capability in collaboration with software engineers. We routinely assess for changes in neuron numbers and immune cells of the gut and brain using immunofluorescence in rodent models. We've built our capability to record neuronal activity in gut tissue using whole cell patch clamp electrophysiological recording. This is a powerful way to profile neuronal subtypes in gastrointestinal tissue – it combines neuronal function, gene expression and cell morphology data. In collaboration with Prof Ashley Franks at La Trobe University, we're focused on understanding interactions between the nervous system and gut microbes.

This work aims to clarify how the gut and microbes influence the brain and behaviour and identify new therapeutic targets to improve gut health.