There has been a rapid realisation that mental illness is responsible for one of the largest disease burdens in Australia.
The major psychiatric disorders schizophrenia and bipolar disorder each affect around 1% of the population, and the Institute now has active programs in each of these areas. Other mental health conditions, such as depression, will affect up to 20% of the community. Individual and family costs of these disorders are substantial and this is further reinforced by the high financial costs of these disorders.
The Institute is dedicated to fundamental and clinical neuroscience research. Our outstanding medical research initiatives are founded on excellence in research leadership and will accelerate discovery and redefine neuroscience to reduce the global burden of disease. The overall theme is research at the interface between basic and clinical studies. Research programs are in neurological sciences and diseases, an area of strength in Australian medical research. The Institute has an established record of research leadership in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other dementias, stroke, spinal cord and nerve injury, child injury in car accidents, pain mechanisms, vestibular function and falls, especially in the elderly, neural regulation of autonomic function and breathing and macular degeneration and blindness.
The Institute continues to develop new research programs using molecular, cellular and genetic approaches to our existing research strengths in neurological disease, especially in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. We have also undertaken a strategic expansion into research on the major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.
Karl Group The Karl Group seeks to model schizophrenia using genetic, pharmacological and environmental tools in order to discover the underlying mechanisms responsible for this debilitating disease. |
Lenroot Group The development of the human brain occurs through a marvelously orchestrated interplay of precisely timed genetic and environmental factors. |
Schofield Group The Schizophrenia Research Laboratory (jointly supported by the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, the Schizophrenia Research Institute and the University of New South Wales) endeavours to de |
Shannon Weickert Group The Schizophrenia Research Laboratory (jointly supported by the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, the Schizophrenia Research Institute and the University of New South Wales) endeavours to de |
Weickert Group Schizophrenia is a debilitating disease characterized by cognitive impairment due to both general and regionally specific brain dysfunction which appears to have polygenic contributions. |