POWMRI - News

Art auction raises funds for vital brain research

Artworks by some of Australia’s leading contemporary artists and photographers were auctioned at Randwick’s Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute (POWMRI) on Tuesday night.

The auction was held to raise money for the Institute which is a world leader in studies of brain disorders including dementia, falls in the elderly, spinal injury, schizophrenia and motor neurone disease.

Sotheby’s Georgina Pemberton was the auctioneer for the evening. Ms. Pemberton is Sotheby’s Director and Head of Australian Paintings.

Artists on display included works by Kate Shaw, Fiona Hall, Janet Laurence, Marion Borgelt, Peter Alwast, Guan Wei and Richard Stanford and photographers Bill Henson and Tracey Moffatt.

Two indigenous artists’ work, by Regina Wilson and Gloria Petyarre, were also featured in the auction.

The selection of works was negotiated by art valuer Annette Larkin, formerly Associate Director and Head of Contemporary Art at Christie’s Australia.

The Institute’s CEO, Prof. Peter Schofield, hosted and MC’d the event with Chairman of the Board of the The Brains Trust, Mr. Paul Brassil, of Price WaterhouseCoopers.

A new $3 million dollar medical research facility which will focus on studies of dementia, falls in the elderly, spinal injury, schizophrenia and motor neurone disease was opened in Sydney today by the NSW Minister for Science and Medical Research, Jodi McKay.

The Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute’s Prince Henry Wing will accommodate some of the world’s leading clinical researchers into some of the major brain disorders that afflict more than three million Australians each year.

Chief Executive of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute (POWMRI), Prof Peter Schofield said the new wing was named in recognition of the Prince Henry Hospital Centenary Research Fund’s support for medical research, and the historical importance of now closed Prince Henry Hospital in the establishment of the Institute.

“Medical research has always relied on philanthropic support, and in the current environment many organisations are under real financial pressure,” Prof Schofield said.

“The generosity and foresight of the Prince Henry Hospital Centenary Research Fund (PHHCRF) to continue the support of the Institute through its $1 million donation has helped make this new wing a reality.

"The Prince Henry Wing, which is also supported by a grant from the Australian Government, is strategically critical to our work.

“We urgently need the space that the Prince Henry Wing will provide to manage our growth and needs for our current research projects” said Prof Schofield.

POWMRI’s capital development program plans will see the development of a new purpose-built medical research facility – the Neuroscience Research Precinct.

The Federal Government has provided a $30 million capital grant towards the development of the Neuroscience Research Precinct, based on POWMRI providing or fundraising an additional $5 million.

“The development of the Neuroscience Research Precinct has been planned to allow staged growth of the Institute and to provide an opportunity to co-locate with other researchers from the Hospital and University,” Prof Schofield said.

“However, we still need to raise significantly more funding to reach the required target to allow complete fit out of the Neuroscience Research Precinct.”

The NSW Government has also been an ongoing supporter of Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute through its Medical Research Support Program funding.

“The Medical Research Support Program funding is crucial to us providing the infrastructure that allows our research to be undertaken. The $4.5 million funding for POWMRI helps us to leverage Commonwealth and philanthropic support. The Institute, staff and those who benefit most from our research outcomes are most appreciative of this support from the NSW government,” Prof. Peter Schofield, CEO of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, said today.

The Neuroscience Research Precinct has been submitted as a Major Project Planning Application to the Department of Planning.

For more information: John Hanrahan, Lighthouse Communications – 0411 212 965.

As highlighted in the ABC’s Australian Story on Monday 11 May, new findings open up significant opportunities for treatments for schizophrenia, commencing with a world first, three-year clinical drug trial commencing in July at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute.

Leading schizophrenia researcher, Prof Cyndi Shannon Weickert, has discovered that a brain receptor that normally stimulates growth during adolescence can be abnormal in people with schizophrenia. Prof Shannon Weickert is the Macquarie Group Foundation Chair of Schizophrenia Research, a joint initiative of POWMRI, SRI and UNSW.

The research trial, which plans to recruit 88 male and female people with schizophrenia who are 18 to 45 years old, is being co-led by the Institute’s Dr Thomas Weickert who is also a senior lecturer at UNSW School of Psychiatry.

“We now know that this brain receptor does not work correctly in many people with schizophrenia,” said Prof Shannon Weickert. “With this drug trial, we plan to stimulate the faulty receptor to restore its function. This change in receptor function should lead to improvements in thinking ability, language, memory, motivation, and social skills.”

Participants will take Raloxifene, which is already used to treat cancer and osteoporosis, in addition to their ongoing medication. Raloxifene stimulates the oestrogen hormone receptor in the brain but does not produce feminising side-effects in males.

The aim is to learn how this oestrogen receptor regulator can influence thinking ability and social function in people with schizophrenia to determine whether this drug can also be used as a new additional therapy for these treatment resistant problems in people with schizophrenia.

If you are interested in taking part in the trials, contact Dr Richard Morris on 02 9399 1142 or email r.morris@powmri.edu.au