Our team aims to discover and develop novel treatments for disorders of the brain and mind.
Translational Pharmacology is the translation of knowledge gained to advance the innovation into practice in a clinical setting, in the form of medications to treat conditions of the brain.
Our team contributes to the discovery and development of new therapeutics for disorders that currently lack safe and effective treatments or where the existing therapeutics have substantial room for improvement. Our research questions are focused on improving our ability to:
Our early priority program includes a focus on novel preclinical and early clinical stage therapeutics developed for treating social dysfunction and neurodevelopmental disorders and for managing various symptoms in dementia.
Other major programs include: understanding the mechanisms driving the transition from acute to chronic pain to facilitate the development of more effective treatments.
Our work also goes towards supporting the development of KNX100, one of the only novel molecular entities in clinical development, for the treatment of opioid use disorder globally.
To conduct this work, we will partner across academia, industry and government and utilise a range of techniques including genetic tools, omics, disease models, real-time in-vivo recordings, advanced computing, microscopy, and preclinical and clinical imaging.
We are developing this lead candidate in partnership with Kinoxis Therapeutics and the US NIH for the treatment of opioid use disorder and agitation and aggression in dementia. KNX100 has a novel, undisclosed mechanism of action and is currently in Phase I clinical trials.
In partnership with Kinoxis Therapeutics, we are developing novel pharmacological treatments targeting the brain oxytocin system that are aimed at treating social impairments in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.
We are exploring the utility of targeting extrasynaptic GABAA receptors to treat neurodevelopmental disorders.
A primary early objective for our team is to establish a preclinical pharmacological fMRI (phMRI) pipeline & harmonisation of techniques used in preclinical and clinical research has been identified as an area that holds significant promise for improving translational outcomes in the CNS space.
We are conducting research to further our understanding of the physiological processes that govern how acute pain transitions into chronic pain, which may enable the design of better ways to prevent or treat chronic pain following nerve injury.