The University of Newcastle’s Professor John Rostas has formally started his role as President of the Neuroscience Society of Australia and New Zealand (NSANZ).

The NSANZ – formerly the Australian Neuroscience Society – is a not-for-profit organisation of scientists who study the brain and nervous system.

Professor Rostas is Deputy Head of Faculty (Research) in the university’s Faculty of Health and was the inaugural Director of the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

“For more than 30 years, the Australian Neuroscience Society has been the peak body representing the interests of researchers and teachers in the complex and exciting world of neuroscience,” he said.

“As President, it is my job to lead the organisation’s activities promoting neuroscience across Australia and New Zealand and to help our members promote their work to the community.

“The recent change in name to the Neuroscience Society of Australia and New Zealand recognises the role that this society has played, and will increasingly play, in coordinating activities in both countries and the region.”

Professor Rostas is an internationally-recognised authority in the area of ‘synaptic plasticity’ – modifications of the connections between nerve cells responsible for wiring the nervous system.

Synaptic plasticity underpins the ability of the nervous system to adapt to change either through normal brain development, in response to an injury such as stroke or trauma, or through learning.