Showcase Research Facility Now Open

The Queensland Brain Institute's seven-storey facilities are purpose-built for neuroscience, including many innovative solutions to enhance scientific discovery and interaction.

Site preparations for the new QBI began in December 2006 with the demolition of several old glasshouses and relocation of the Australian Equine Genetics Research Facility.

Designed by John Wardle and Associates and Wilson Architects and built by Watpac, the $63 million project was completed on-schedule and to budget, and was officially opened in November 2007.

Each of the state-of-the-art research laboratories on levels four to six is skirted by a glass-lined corridor, which allows staff and authorised visitors controlled access without blocking sight lines.

Located conveniently beside each laboratory, a series of offices, well-equipped work stations and computer terminals help to ensure QBI’s neuroscientists don’t have to move far from the laboratory to write up their experiments.

In addition, QBI’s computer systems have been designed to manage vast amounts of electronic data generated by the institute’s advanced imaging technology, and to ensure that data is backed up securely.

The building’s computer controlled air-conditioning system is one of the most sophisticated in the country, circulating and cleaning the air within a myriad of rooms and suites.

A 200-seat auditorium on level seven provides an ideal venue for QBI’s weekly Neuroscience Seminars.

Equipped with the latest audio-visual equipment, the room promises to
be popular among conference organisers and is often a venue for QBI events.

Many other design innovations lie behind the scenes. The goods-receiving area on the lower-ground floor has a service lift to streamline moving supplies to the laboratories above, and a sophisticated series of sensors throughout the building minimises power consumption.

The complex houses laboratories for a diverse range of scientific studies including molecular biology, computational neuroscience, as well as cognitive and visual neuroscience.