Howard Florey Institute: Research

Research at the Florey

The Florey has research programs in a number of basic neuroscience areas that are aimed at developing better treatments for a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions. There are six major neuroscience research themes being pursued using techniques that range from molecular biology, genetics, biophysics, population studies, peptide chemistry, cell and tissue investigations, animal behaviour (particularly in genetically modified mice), clinical studies, investigation of brain structure and function using MRI and other forms of neuroimaging, and clinical trials.

Six major research themes:

Understanding the development of the normal brain and how this may go awry in neurodevelopmental disorders

Mechanisms of brain injury and repair including neural plasticity - ranging from acute brain or spinal cord trauma, stroke, through to chronic neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, motor neuron disease and addiction

Multiple sclerosis is being investigated from the point of view of understanding cellular repair processes that lead to remyelination and how these may be boosted to achieve recovery

Neurochemistry with a focus on neuropeptides, particularly of the relaxin family, including the newly discovered relaxin-3 that may have many central actions including modulation of CRF-mediated stress responses. The aminopeptidase, IRAP, is being studied because of its involvement in memory and learning and as novel targets of cognitive enhancing drugs.

How ion channel mutations lead to human disease, particularly epilepsy. These studies begin with the functional validation of epilepsy causing gene mutations found in families by Professor Samuel Berkovic's team at the University of Melbourne. The Florey’s group uses multidisciplinary approaches from biophysics of single ion channels to behavioural analysis of mice.

Brain mechanisms involved in regulating homeostasis processes such as blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte balance, food intake and energy metabolism and body temperature.

Neuroscience is a very fast-moving field and now holds great promise for our mission to decipher the brain's complex functions. Understanding how these processes malfunction in neurological and psychiatric disease is the key to ultimately developing effective treatments and preventions.