Professor Anthony Hannan
PhD

Professor Anthony Hannan is Head of the Epigenetics and Neural Plasticity Group, and Research Co-Lead for the Mental Health Mission. Professor Hannan received his undergraduate training and PhD in neuroscience from the University of Sydney. He was then awarded a Nuffield Medical Fellowship at the University of Oxford, where he subsequently held other research positions before returning to Australia on an NHMRC RD Wright Career Development Fellowship to establish a laboratory at The Florey. He subsequently won other fellowships and awards, including an ARC FT3 Future Fellowship, the British Council Eureka Prize, the International Society for Neurochemistry Young Lecturer Award, the Federation of European Biochemical Societies Anniversary Prize, and NHMRC Senior and Principal Research Fellowships. He is a member of the Brain and Mind Committee, Australian Academy of Science (AAS), Co-Chair of the Australian Brain Alliance (ABA) Executive and Co-Chair of the International Brain Initiative (IBI) Executive.

Professor Hannan and colleagues provided the first demonstration in any genetic animal model that environmental stimulation can be therapeutic. This has led to new insights into gene-environment interactions in various brain disorders, including Huntington’s disease, dementia, autism, schizophrenia, depression and autism anxiety disorders. His research team at The Florey explore how genes and the environment combine via experience-dependent plasticity in the healthy and diseased brain. Their research includes models of specific neurological and psychiatric disorders that involve cognitive and affective dysfunction, investigated at behavioural, cellular and molecular levels so as to identify pathogenic mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets.