Resources
Neuro & Bioinformatics
In collaboration with other research groups, the MNC plans to assemble a database of up to 5,000 brain scans and associated clinical data. This would then be linked with other biobank facilities currently being developed (e.g. the ORYGEN Biobank). This database could be accessed and examined for morphological markers across disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, substance abuse disorders, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, developmental disorders of adolescence, and other neuropsychiatric conditions.
Using this approach we have the potential to gain important new insights into the similarities and differences between these disorders, by examining factors such as:
Building and data mining a large-scale database would enable a fundamental shift in how research is conducted into the genesis and development of serious mental illness. We would move from small-scale patient studies of specific regions of interest in the brain (typical cohort size between 20 to 100 subjects), to large-scale analyses of data across thousands of subjects.
Significant progress was made in 2005/06
Over $250,000 has been invested in establishing MNC’s Neuropsychiatry Imaging Laboratory neuroimaging facilities, with capacity for growth.
The MNC has attracted funding through the Clinical Neurobiology of Psychiatry Platform. Dr Katherine Manson, an astrophysicist who previously worked on ‘databasing the stars’, was recruited as a database design expert. Dr Manson will develop a sophisticated relational data model to map and integrate the various brain indices with clinical and genetic data. This will involve integration with the Biobank at ORYGEN Research Centre.
Mr Andrew Zalesky has been appointed as Technical Research Fellow to provide scientific programming expertise. Mr Zalesky is an electrical engineer who recently completed his PhD in applied mathematics.
The MNC has developed a collaboration with the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSSE) of The University of Melbourne. The Department of CSSE is funding Dr Joselito (Joey) Chua on 0.2 EFT to help identify the methodological issues related to machine learning and to provide advanced computational methods for analysis of our brain images.
The MNC has begun discussions regarding possible linkages with Bio 21 Molecular Medicine Informatics Model (MMIM) platform. This is a platform for clinical and scientific research teams to access and share clinical, bio-technical and genomic data across multiple organisations.