INFLUENCE OF GUT MICROBES AND INFLAMMATION ON BRAIN FUNCTION AND BEHAVIOUR IN AUTISM
With
Angela Renata Jiménez Perez,
PhD Candidate,
Gut-Brain Axis Laboratory, RMIT University
Melbourne, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne, Australia | August 2026
Third-year PhD candidate Angela Jimenez is part of the Gut-Brain Axis Laboratory at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Angela holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience (Honours) from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and her doctoral research is currently supported by the RMIT–Mexico International Scholarship program.
Angela’s project focuses on describing how gut microbes and inflammation influence brain function and behaviour in autism. Using a mouse model that carries an autism-associated gene variant, she investigates how inflammatory challenges alter behaviour and brain function. Her work has been presented at both national and international forums, including the Australasian Neuroscience Society (ANS) annual meeting in 2025 and the FENS Forum 2026 in Barcelona.
A central aspect of her work explores how metabolites produced by bacteria in the gut can influence neurobiological responses, with the long-term aim of identifying microbiota-targeted therapeutic strategies for individuals with high-support needs autism.
Angela’s broader scientific objective is to advance mechanistic understanding of how other systems, particularly the immune system and microbiome, contribute to behavioural outcomes in neurodevelopmental conditions. She aims to bridge fundamental neurobiology with translational approaches that can lead to future therapeutic development.
Source: Supplied
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Brain ageing, dementia and psychiatric disorders
Professor Perminder Sachdev graduated from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in 1978 and completed his MD in Psychiatry there in 1983. Following time in New Zealand, he relocated to Australia, where he completed psychiatric training and a PhD at UNSW in 1991. His doctoral work examined ethnopsychological concepts in Māori culture. His early research focused on drug-induced movement disorders, including akathisia, tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, while his later work has centred on dementia and pre-dementia syndromes, particularly neuroimaging, biomarkers and risk factors.
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