Baby boomers to benefit from new research centre

Baby boomers will reap the benefits of a new medical research institute opened today at Concord Hospital, in western Sydney.

Prof Garth Nicholson, who heads the ANZAC Research Institute, said its research would focus on finding cures for diseases of lifestyle and ageing.

He said the sort of disorders that would be researched would be those affecting baby-boomers as they grew older.

"They will be confronted with neurone disease, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease," he said.

"These diseases will become more common in the next 10 years because of the ageing population." Nicholson's research has been focused on discovering the mutated genes that underlie rare neurological disease. "It holds the key to processes which may be affected in the more common forms of these sporadic diseases," he said.

For example, by discovering the genetic mutations that underlie the sporadic form of genetic Parkinson's, the centre hopes to shed light on the processes underlying the more common form of the disorder.

Twelve months ago Nicholson made a major research breakthrough, discovering the gene that causes a crippling form of nerve damage known as hereditary sensory neuropathy. A pre-natal screening test has since been developed for babies.

"Because of the better understanding of the molecular biology of these diseases, possible treatment avenues are opening up," he said.

Male health issues that come with ageing such as prostate cancer and hormone therapies as well as bone diseases such as osteoporosis will also be researched at the new institute.

The Federal and NSW governments have poured more than $6 million into the research centre, which will ultimately house up to 100 medical scientists.

The Governor-General, Peter Hollingworth, opened the medical research centre.