"Our nervous system determines the way we perceive and respond to the world and is the ultimate command centre for the body. Understanding this complex organ will help prevent and treat a wide range of mental health and neurological disorders."

Program Leader, Professor Vaughan Carr

The HMRI Brain and Mental Health Program draws together more than 160 researchers from the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health, who are affiliated with the University’s Priority Research Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research.

Researchers working within the program are using unique methods to help unlock the mysteries of the nervous system to find better ways to diagnose and treat strokes, schizophrenia, compulsive behaviours and other neurological disorders. They are also investigating how cell connections are controlled in the brain to better understand how the circuitry of the brain works and what breaks down when the brain is in some way damaged.

The Brain and Mental Health Program has several key research themes. Those currently under investigation include:

• Molecular and cellular neurobiology
• The biology of behavioural disorders
• Clinical neuroscience, schizophrenia and allied disorders
• Alcohol, substance abuse and mental illness
• Stroke
• Pain