About NNF

The National Neuroscience Facility (NNF) was created as a result of Major National Research Facility (MNRF) and Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) grants of $18 million and $4.5 million from the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments respectively. The grants were awarded to a consortium of neuroscience-based research institutes and university departments led by Neurosciences Victoria Ltd.

A new national company, Neurosciences Australia Ltd (NSA) was incorporated with an independent board drawn from three States and Territories. The board decided that the new grants should be primarily invested in new research infrastructure, rather than in operational project work, thereby establishing a framework to support research now and well into the future. Major refits and refurbishments will result in greatly enhanced physical facilities and equipment that will be fully operational by 2006.

The NNF builds upon a set of six infrastructure and services platforms (neuroimaging technologies, animal phenotyping facilities and so on), which were originally funded by NSV. An additional two platforms will be funded through MNRF funds by 2006.

Several Platforms, notably the Neural Tissue Repository and Clinical Neuroscience platform, already represent significant nation-wide collaborations.

The consolidated activities of NSA and NSV, through the National Neuroscience Facility, are already demonstrating that significant research collaborations can result in both major scientific output and in new commercial investment and other economic outcomes. The major investment in new infrastructure will mean that, by 2006, a fully functional NNF will provide an environment in which neuroscience research and its translation into new devices, diagnostics and drugs, can flourish.