CRC Mental Health

Brief description

The list of CRC partners (detailed below) includes Universities, Research Organisations, Commercial Entities, Health Care Providers and Philanthropic Organisations. This record is created for CRC Mental Health by University of Melbourne.

The CRC for Mental Health is undertaking research to identify and validate biomarkers for the early detection and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and psychoses. By bringing together industry, end users and health care providers, we aim to develop and commercialise our research findings in order to deliver changes to treatment in medical and health care practices.

In order to combat the personal, social, and economic effects of mental illness, the CRC aims to identify biological indicators that can be used to diagnose these diseases. These indicators are known as biomarkers. In some areas of medicine, disease biomarkers aid enormously in the early detection of disease. For example, blood sugar levels are commonly used as a biomarker for diabetes.

The biomarkers we seek could be specific cells, proteins or protein fragments, small molecules, genes, gene products, hormones, or subtle changes in the appearance of the brain under MRI or PET scanning. Once validated and put into practice, biomarkers will enable early diagnosis and treatment, enhancing opportunities for:

• determining the likelihood that a person may develop a mental illness or disorder
• diagnosing mental health conditions in the early stages of development
• monitoring disease progression and
• assessing responses to drug treatment.

Notes

A list of Participant Organisations in the CRC includes:

Universities

Deakin University
Edith Cowan University
The University of Melbourne
The University of Western Australia

Research Organizations

CSIRO
Florey Institute of Neuroscience %26 Mental Health
National Ageing Research Institute

Commercial Entities

CogState
Lawley Pharmaceuticals
Nucleus Network
Oceanic Medical Imaging Pty Ltd
Pfizer Inc

Health Care Providers

Austin Health
Barwon Health
Hall and Prior
Mercy Health Aged Care

Philanthropic Organizations

Alzheimer’s Association
Australian Alzheimer’s Research Foundation
Parsemus Foundation

The CRC programme supports industry led end user driven research collaborations to address the major challenges facing Australia. Australia’s networks of CRCs operates across all sectors of Australia’s economy and society. Further information about the CRC programme is available www.business.gov.au