Scientia Professor Bernard Balleine
1988 BA Honours 1st class & University Medal – University of Sydney
1992 PhD – University of Cambridge, UK (Graduated Jan 1993)
Bernard Balleine received his BA with first class honours and the University Medal from the University of Sydney in 1987 and his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK in 1992. Subsequently, he was elected to a Research Fellowship at Jesus College Cambridge and spent three years conducting post-doctoral research in behavioural neuroscience in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University. He was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995, Associate Professor in 2000, and Full Professor in 2004. He was elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 2004 and, in 2005, was appointed Director of Research in the Brain Research Institute at UCLA. He was awarded an inaugural Australian Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council in mid-2009 and was appointed to a Professorial position at the University of Sydney in that year. In 2015 he was made a Senior Principal Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and subsequently an NIMH Senior Investigator in 2020. In 2016 he moved his laboratory to the University of NSW (UNSW Sydney) and was appointed a UNSW Scientia (Distinguished) Professor during that year.
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- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
GNT1175420 1/1/20-31/12/2024
NHMRC Investigator Grant Direct costs: $1,914,609
Title: Action memory and executive dysfunction in the cortical-basal ganglia network.
This project will test the hypothesis that executive dysfunction reflects a deficit in a specialised ‘action memory system’ in the brain. I will use novel behavioural, circuit and cellular tools together with cutting edge neuroimaging to reveal changes in the networks, circuits and cells that mediate normal and abnormal action control.
Role: Balleine: Chief Investigator (CIA)
GNT1089270 1/1/15–31/12/2019
NHMRC Project Grant Direct costs: AU$591,864
Title: Dysfunctions of decision-making and the cognitive control of action
In this proposal, we will investigate the relationship between DOR activity in NAc-S and the influence of predictive learning on choice between goal-directed actions, and assess changes in DOR-related functions induced by exposure to drugs of abuse.
Role: Balleine: Chief Investigator (CIA)
GNT1079561 1/1/15–31/12/2019
NHMRC Fellowship Funding Direct costs: AU$850,000
Title: Translational studies in decision-making
The aim of this research fellowship is to assess decision processes in healthy rodent and human subjects, and in animal models of, and humans suffering from, specific psychiatric disorders to establish the functional changes in brain circuits mediating cognitive-emotional integration during decision-making.
Role: Balleine: Senior Principal Research Fellow
DP200103401 1/1/2020–31/12/2024
Australian Research Council Direct costs: AU$1,280,000
Title: The neural bases of decision-making
This discovery grant will contribute critical new knowledge on the learning, memory and emotional processes engaged during the acquisition and choice between goal-directed actions and the neural bases of these processes.
Role: Balleine: Chief Investigator (CIA)
DP160105070 1/1/16–31/12/2020
Australian Research Council Direct costs: AU$1,195,400
Title: PET imaging of learning-related plasticity in awake behaving rats
This project will combine an investigation of basic learning processes with functional PET imaging in awake behaving rats in order to answer critical questions about the neurobiological basis of learning and decision-making in the brain. We will observe whole-brain changes in dopamine neurotransmission as rats learn to predict motivationally relevant outcomes based on environmental cues and on their own actions.
Role: Balleine: Chief Investigator (CIA)
DP150104878 1/1/15–31/12/2019
Australian Research Council Direct costs: AU$1,065,800
Title: The neural bases of decision-making
This discovery grant will contribute critical new knowledge on the learning, memory and emotional processes engaged during the acquisition and choice between new behavioural strategies and the influence of neuropathology on this process.
Role: Balleine: Chief Investigator (CIA)
GNT1148244 1/1/18–31/12/20
NHMRC Project Grant Direct costs: AU$542,055
Title: The role of the orbitofrontal cortex in disorders of response inhibition
The objective of this project to investigate the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in maintaining response inhibition in the face of stimulus events that predict primary reward.
Role: Balleine: Chief Investigator (CIA)
GNT1147207 1/1/18–31/12/20
NHMRC Project Grant Direct costs: AU$473,446
Title: Cognitive inflexibility in disorders of decision-making
The objective of this project is to investigate changes in cellular plasticity at dopamine D1 and D2 neurons in the striatum associated with exposure to drugs of abuse, most notably cocaine.
Role: Balleine: Chief Investigator (CIB)
GNT 1165346 1/1/19–31/12/2022
NHMRC Project Grant Direct costs: AU$540,000
Title: The prefronto-striatal circuit and disorders of action control
In this project we will investigate the role of intratelencephalic neurons in the prelimbic cortex on plasticity in dorsomedial striatum associated with the acquisition of new goal-directed actions.
Role: Balleine Chief Investigator (CIA)
GNT 1166008 1/1/19–31/12/2022
NHMRC Project Grant Direct costs: AU$528,000
Title: A novel G-protein coupled receptor-based memory mediating the cognitive control of action.
We will investigate the role of the basolateral amygdala and paraventricular thalamus in the changes in ventral striatum associated with predictive learning and that control of decision making. These changes are associated with the translocation of a g-protein coupled receptor.
Role: Balleine Chief Investigator (CIA)
1987 University Medal, University of Sydney
Australian Psychological Society Prize
Thomson Prize for Psychology Honors
1989 Research Scholarship, Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Commission
College Scholarship, Churchill College, Cambridge.
1992 Research Fellowship, Jesus College, Cambridge.
1997 FIRST Award – National Institute of Mental Health
2003 Elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association
2008 Research Award, The Pavlovian Society
2009 Laureate Fellowship, Australian Research Council
2015 Senior Principal Research Fellowship, National Health and Medical Research Council
2017 Paxinos Prize, Australasian Neuroscience Society
2020 NHMRC Senior Investigator
The smooth integration of cognitive and emotional processes is necessary for everyday decisions. Dysfunction in this integrative capacity accompanies many major psychiatric conditions, neurodegenerative disorders and addiction. We seek to understand the neural bases of this integration in decision-making using cutting edge behavioural, cellular, molecular and genetic tools to establish how the brain controls action selection, evaluation and choice. We hope to contribute critical new knowledge on the learning, memory, motivational and emotional processes engaged during decision-making generally, and particularly when engaged in the acquisition of new goal-directed strategies, how these change as actions become habitual and how they are influenced by neuropathology.