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The source of this article is The Australian: http://tinyurl.com/4zuz2 '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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn