 Hi, I'm LaChan. I'm a PhD student here on behalf of the Associate Professor Bruno Maloney, Professor Neville Nocchi, Jane Cross and Mr Vince Clark, we're part of the Stroke Research Group at the West Australian Neuroscience Research Institute in affiliation with Sir Charles Gardner Hospital and the University of Western Australia. Before I begin, I'd like to thank the Brain Foundation and their donors, as well as the private donor of my PhD scholarship. I'm entirely grateful for your contributions and for giving us the opportunity to pursue this project. Now as you may already be aware, brain injury or neurotrauma as a result of traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially in younger populations. There may be the result of motor vehicle accidents, falls, street violence, contact sports or explosive blast waves, the latter of which is particularly prevalent in military personnel. TBI is broadly defined as encompassing any damage to the brain as a result of external mechanical forces. Since the initial primary injury from mechanical forces can only be subject to preventative measures, the development of treatments that target the damaging secondary processes that occur hours to days after the initial insult has the potential to drastically reduce the consequential social and financial burden. In developing a therapeutic that is neuroprotective, we aim to preserve neuronal integrity and function, therefore minimising secondary injury. Since these kinds of treatments are currently lacking, its development is of paramount importance. Our research group has recently demonstrated that peptides rich with the amino acid arginine are botanically neuroprotective, following brain injury as a result of stroke. This was seen in both neuronal cell cultures and in animal models. This is important as the damaging processes observed in stroke closely resemble those that are found in TBI. Arginine-rich peptides are part of a new and exciting class of neuroprotective agents. They are particularly appealing, most notably due to its suitability for use in the central nervous system and its effectiveness in targeting the early damaging events of injury. The aim of this project is to determine if selected peptides are able to reduce brain injury in an animal model that replicates the most severe grade of TBI. If successful, this could pave the way for translation from bench to bedside, where the efficacy of these peptides in minimising brain injury and improving patient outcomes may be assessed. Furthermore, the results from this project may also be applied to other areas of neuronal injury, such as spinal cord injury and neurodegenerative diseases. Thank you.