Dr. Mary Ardren
by Mary Ardren, 08 May 2024
Dr Mary Ardren is an early career research fellow at the Bionics Institute and holds an honorary appointment at the Medical Bionics Department at The University of Melbourne. Her research involves using electrical and optical stimulation of peripheral nerves to manage chronic health conditions (e.g., chronic pain). She is particularly interested in how pain signalling is altered in the periphery during disease/disorder states, and how this alters central nervous system activity. Her expertise lies in cellular and sensory neuroscience, electrophysiology and optogenetics.
Dr Ardren completed a Bachelor of Arts (English Literature) and Bachelor of Science (Psychology, Hons I) at the Australian National University (ANU) in 2018. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy (Neuroscience) at the Eccles Institute of Neuroscience, ANU in 2023, where she described how glutamate receptors in cortical neurons contribute to olfactory processing. Dr Ardren is broadly interested in cellular neuroscience, and how brain states can modulate sensory inputs for perception and behaviour.