Knowledge Transfer
Media
NHMRC Program Grant awarded
Chief Investigators
CIA Prof Patrick D MCGORRY from ORYGEN Research Centre
CIB Prof Anthony F JORM from ORYGEN Research Centre
CIC Prof Ian B HICKIE from Brain and Mind Research Institute
CID Prof Christos PANTELIS from Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre
CIE Prof Alison R YUNG from ORYGEN Research Centre
Scientific Title
Emerging Mental Disorders in Young People: Using Clinical Staging for Prediction, Prevention and Early Intervention.
Administering Institution
University of Melbourne
Budget
$10,027,500.00 (Years 2009 - 2013)
Lay Description
Mental disorders are a major cause of disability in Australia, especially for young people. We have developed a clinical staging model covering the earliest symptoms through persistent disorder to chronic disability. We are investigating neurobiological, personal and social factors which increase the risk of progression through these stages, and novel treatment strategies which may prevent or delay onset and relapse, reduce the impact of illness, and promote recovery. Major public health benefits and better understanding of the onset and progression of illness will result.
2008 Press Releases
Long-Term Cannabis Users May Have Structural Brain Abnormalities, Monday 2nd June, 2008
"CHICAGO – Long-term, heavy cannabis use may be associated with structural abnormalities in areas of the brain known as the hippocampus and amygdala, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals." JAMA/Archives journals press release, Monday 2nd June, 2008
Murat Yücel, Ph.D., M.A.P.S., of the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre at the University of Melbourne, Australia, ORYGEN Research Centre and with colleagues from the University of Wollongong have published a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry investigating the long-term effects of using cannabis on the brain.
The Alfred Deakin Public Lecture
Dr Yücel will be participating in the "Starting with the Brain" Alfred Deakin Public Lecture at BMW Edge, 6pm, Friday, 6th of June.
"It all begins with the brain. In a world where new designer drugs offer the potential to make us smarter and to change how our minds work, this lecture takes on a journey into the brain and looks at recent research into neuroscience and some of the ethical issues in the latest directions."
This session is presented in association with the University of Melbourne and is moderated by Natasha Mitchell, Presenter All in the mind, Radio National
2007 Press Releases
"Unhealthy" frontal brain regions may drive addiction, Monday 20th August, 2007
Previous research has suggested that drugs of abuse are addictive as they are able to ‘hijack’ the brain’s reward system. However, researchers from the ORYGEN Research Centre and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre at the University of Melbourne, suggest that this theory fails to account for the addict’s inability to control drug use when faced with apparently dire consequences. Instead, they suggest that the compulsive nature of addiction can be better explained by “diminished health” of key regions in the frontal cortex that help inhibit inappropriate behaviours. Moreover, they have now found evidence to support these notions.
Article in The Age, Monday 20th August, 2007. Brain dysfunction blamed for drug fix
Yucel M, Lubman D I, Harrison B J, Fornito A, Allen N B, Wellard R M, Roffel K, Clarke K, Wood S J, Forman SD, Pantelis C. A combined spectroscopy and functional MRI investigation of the dorsal anterior cingulated region in opiate addiction. Molecular Psychiatry 2007: 12, 691-702
The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1 No. 13
The University of Melbourne Visions Video Podcast