National neurosciences facility launched

The AUD$4.1 million Integrative Neuroscience Facility of the National Neuroscience Facility was opened today at the NNF headquarters in Melbourne.

The INF will provide researchers around Australia with access to animal models and phenotyping services for researching brain and mind disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, addiction, schizophrenia, depression and epilepsy.

The head of the INF, the Howard Florey Institute's Prof Mal Horne, said there was a recognised and increasing need for a platform to perform phenotyping studies to examine the effects of genes on the brain and mind including assessments of behaviour, morphology, physiology and pharmacology.

"If Australian science is to remain internationally competitive, we have to provide these platform technologies," Horne said.

The facility will also be used to test new drugs on brain morphology and behaviour, according to Horne, with a number of collaborations already in place with drug companies.

"We're at the stage where we are worrying about the capacity of the facility -- that underlines the importance of this," he said.

The INF's laboratories are located at the Howard Florey Institute and the Mental Health Research Institute.