Hopwood Centre for Neurobiology
Hopwood Centre for Neurobiology (formally the Lysosomal Diseases Research Unit)
The Hopwood Centre for Neurobiology (formally the Lysosomal Diseases Research Unit) was established at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in the mid-1970s to improve the diagnosis of lysosomal storage disorders and to develop treatments. To achieve its aims, the centre has fostered a highly interactive and multidisciplinary approach to its research, which has led to first-ever treatments for two lysosomal storage disorders (MPS VI and MPS II).
Lysosomal storage disorders continue to be a focus of the Centre’s research and are being utilised as model systems (both cellular and animal) to explore the contribution of a dysfunctioning endosomal/lysosomal network to the onset of more common health problems, such as neurodegeneration, stroke and heart disease.
The Centre currently employs 24 staff, with a range of expertise, including mass spectrometry, neuropathology, histology, animal models, molecular genetics, cell biology, protein and organic chemistry.