A collaboration between The University of Queensland and China is hoping to unravel the causes of brain disorders like schizophrenia and combat Hendra Virus.

Queensland Treasurer and Minister for Employment and Economic Development Andrew Fraser announced A$1.7 million in Smart Futures Funding for two Australian professors engaged in research projects with China.
Professor Perry Bartlett of UQ's Queensland Brain Institute will receive A$1 million to work with researchers at the Institute of Biophysics within the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing while Professor Anton Middelberg of UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, will receive $720,000 to collaborate with Tianjin University.
Professor Bartlett's work involves the study of brain function, learning and cognition in fruit flies which have 60 percent of genes in common with humans while Professor Middelberg's funding will enable work on the UQ developed Microbial Vaccine Platform.
Professor Bartlett said the funding would enable world-leading research to identify the genes involved in learning and memory and our understanding of what happens in disorders like dementia, depression and schizophrenia.
Earlier this year, Professor Middelberg was named the 2010 Smart Futures Premier's Fellow and will use the funding to advance his work on rapid and cost-effective vaccine development.
"We've been very keen to work with Tianjin University and create a truly collaborative approach to one of the big issues in world health - how to respond and prevent disease outbreaks quickly," Professor Middelberg said.
Professor Middelberg's research will target three diseases: Influenza, GAS (an infection prevalent in Australia's Indigenous community) and Hendra Virus.
The grants were funded under the Queensland Government's $91.3 million Smart Futures Fund's National and International Research Alliances Program.