'Super mice' lead science charge

[John Cottingham <jcott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The source of this article is The Australian: 

'Super mice' lead science charge

August 09, 2004
LOCAL scientists are breeding super mice in the race to be first to find new 
treatments for Alzheimer's, stroke, depression and other brain disorders.

Scientists hope the genetically altered mice will help them discover ways of 
slowing or halting the onset of neurological disorders, which affect 75 per 
cent of Australians at some stage of their lives.

Key to the research will be three laboratories, the second of which opened 
today at the National Neuroscience Facility (NNF) in Melbourne.

The $4.1 million laboratories ? the Integrative Neuroscience Facility (INF) ? 
will give Australian researchers access to a comprehensive library of animal 
models and services for research and testing of treatments for disorders 
including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, addiction, schizophrenia, depression and 
epilepsy.

There was palpable excitement among researchers that major breakthroughs that 
could change lives were now possible, Professor Mal Horne, INF chief and deputy 
director of the Howard Florey Institute, said.

"Neuroscience has really been a Cinderella science, in that we've really lagged 
behind what's been happening in cardiology and human development, and that's 
because the brain has really been inaccessible for a variety of reasons," he 
said.

"We're really in a position now where we're beginning to talk about making 
inroads into diseases like Alzheimer's, MS, depression, addiction."

The NNF would allow Australian researchers to share their discoveries in the 
search for medicine's holy grail.

"I think if Australia wants to participate in the dividend of scientific 
discovery ? both in a financial sense but also in the benefits to our community 
? we actually have to be there at the front, because the really big prizes go 
to those who are actually there at the discovery in the outset," Prof Horne 
said.

Australia and other countries are racing to be the first to get new treatments 
to the market, with investment in neuroscience research and development 
predicted to boom in the next 10 years.

Gene transplants and experiments carried out on the specially bred mice could 
lead to the breakthrough.

Because of Australia's ageing population and with health, aged care and social 
welfare costs expected to blow out over the next 40 years, there is urgency in 
finding treatments.

The NNF opened in June last year adjacent to Melbourne University in Carlton 
South, and will eventually be home to eight scientific "platforms" for 
researchers in brain and mind disorders from Australia and overseas.

The laboratories make up one of those platforms.

The Federal Government has provided $18 million in funding for the centre. 

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