Phenomics Australia and Bioplatforms Australia are proud to announce a new national initiative aimed at advancing knowledge of the causality and treatment of mental disorders through large-scale omics data generation and high throughput phenomics.
This initiative responds to the urgent need to improve our understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying mental disorders that affect 1 in 5 Australians and contribute significantly to the national and global burden of disease.
Mental health research has long faced challenges in identifying causal pathways due to limited access to pathological patient samples and the complexity of psychiatric conditions. To address this, Phenomics Australia and Bioplatforms Australia are supporting the Consortium for Preclinical Psychiatric Research (CPPR) led by Professor Suresh Sundram and Associate Professor Rachel Hill from the Department of Psychiatry, Monash University. This is a collaboration of leading experts across psychiatry, neuroscience, and molecular biology to develop the Australian Psychiatric Research Knowledge Bank.
The Australian Psychiatric Research Knowledge Bank will provide a nation-first comprehensive and collaborative multi-omic data set derived from human samples and preclinical models to interrogate for causative pathways and ‘biosignatures’ of complex psychiatric disorders and better equip researchers to address the current diagnostic and treatment crisis for psychiatric and mental disorders.
The initiative will leverage cutting-edge omics technologies, including proteomics powered with transcriptomics, combined with precision genome engineering to create a comprehensive dataset that will drive discoveries for psychiatric research. The initiative’s key aims include:
- Identifying biological pathways underlying schizophrenia and related mood disorders
- Improving diagnostics and treatment targets by identifying changes to gene and protein expression patterns linked to disease progression and treatment responses.
- Establishing a nationally coordinated and reusable multi-omic dataset to support researchers in addressing the current diagnostic and treatment crisis in psychiatry.
- Global integration of data with international mental health research efforts
The Australian Psychiatric Research Knowledge Bank marks a significant step toward transforming mental health research in Australia. Through collaboration, standardisation, and innovation, Phenomics Australia, Bioplatforms Australia, and the Consortium for Preclinical Psychiatric Research are working to bridge critical knowledge gaps and pave the way for a new era in biological psychiatry.
