Media

$4.1 Million Facility Joins the Fight against Brain and Mind Disorders

9 August 2004

A new facility, which will greatly enhance Australian research into brain and mind disorders, was launched in Melbourne today.

The $4.1 million Integrative Neuroscience Facility (INF) provides researchers with access to a comprehensive library of animal models and phenotyping services for research into and testing of treatments for brain and mind disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, addiction, schizophrenia, depression, epilepsy as well as other neuro and psychiatric disorders.

"These animal models will now be made available at an affordable price to researchers from Australia and overseas," INF Chief and Deputy Director of the Howard Florey Institute, Professor Mal Horne said at the launch. "By making these world class facilities accessible to the broader research community, smaller research groups are able to access technologies that would previously have been too expensive, allowing them to perform research they would not have been able to afford in the past."

The INF has been funded as one of the eight research platforms of the National Neuroscience Facility (NNF), created through the Australian Government's Major National Research Facilities programme.

NNF Chief Executive, Associate Professor William Hart said that the collaborative approach embodied by the NNF platforms was the way of the future for neuroscience research.

"Through collaboration and integration of leading edge technologies and expertise, the NNF aims to provide all neuroscience researchers with access to the facilities they require to advance neuroscience research and lessen the impact of brain and mind disorders in Australia," Assoc Prof Hart said, adding that neuroscience is a critical area for research, with 75% of Australians expected to suffer from a brain or mind disorder during their lifetime.

Click here for photos of the event