Facilities

PMRI Research facilities are located on the campus of Royal North Shore Hospital and also within the Anderson Stuart Building on the main campus of the University of Sydney.

On the RNSH campus, excellent new basic research facilities have been progressively developed within the main building of RNSH, in close proximity to the clinical facilities of PMRC. There is also a large animal (sheep) facility located in a separate building and access to a small animal breeding facility.

Core Laboratory Facilities and Staff

Basic Research at PMRI has several core laboratory facilities, including short term animal holding rooms, behavioural laboratories, animal surgeries, tissue culture facilities,  immunohistochemistry, histology and molecular biology facilities, fluorescence microscopes and an imaging laboratory that houses a live cell confocal microscope with physiological capacity. All of these facilities are run cooperatively by the groups using them and each has a responsible senior member of staff with overall responsibility. These laboratories are equipped both from competitive funds awarded to individual users as well as the PMRI Limited budget.

Facilities and Equipment

Animal Holding Facilities are present in the vicinity of the PMRI with separate holding rooms for mice and for rats. We have a fully equipped animal surgical laboratory with stereotaxic frames, teaching microscope, inhalational anaesthesia facilities and recovery facilities.

The Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Laboratory is equipped with a cryostat, ovens, two thermocyclers, bacterial culture incubators and autoclaves.

The Analytical Laboratory houses a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, liquid chromatograph – mass spectrometer, and two auto-sampling HPLCs.

Our Tissue Culture Laboratory has been constructed to PC 2 standards as one bio-hazard hood and currently two incubators and microscopes.

The Behavioural Research Laboratories are equipped for a range of pain tests in four isolated observation rooms. They currently have automated hot plate, plantar radiant heat, plantar dynamic pressure and tail flick latency devices, a Hargraves thermal hyperalgesia platform, rotorod and von Frey testing chambers.

The Cellular Physiological Laboratories currently house a total of 13 patch clamp recording systems. This includes five inverted microscope systems for cultured and isolated cells, four of which have fluorescence capability. Of the seven upright systems with infrared Nomarski optics, four have fluorescence capability. A thirteenth patch clamp recording system fits with the confocal microscope.

In the Imaging Laboratory an Olympus FV300 confocal microscopy system is fitted to an additional upright patch clamp electrophysiology system. In addition a fluorescence imaging system with cooled CCD camera and imaging software forms part of this system.

Peripheral Mechanisms and Injury Laboratory houses immunhistochemistry, tissue culture, molecular biology and small animal surgery facilities. It also contains two fluorescence microscopes, imaging and graphics facilities.

Additional equipment for organ bath pharmacology and intracellular electrophysiological recording is currently housed within the Cellular Physiological Laboratories at PMRI.

A Large Animal (sheep) Facility has been developed over the last 15 years which houses a chronic multi-catheterised sheep preparation that permits simultaneous pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies, providing direct measurement of regional drug kinetics and effects on organ function. This preparation has recently been expanded to include site directed drug delivery, permitting determination of isolated effects on brain and heart.

A Phase I Clinical Research Facility has been developed immediately adjacent to the Main Operating Suite to permit studies of first drug use in human volunteers (Phase I studies).

A Clinical Research Facility is incorporated into the Pain Management & Research Centre for Phase II/III studies.
The main administrative resources of the PMRI are located on level 4 of the Main Building, RNSH and these include offices, conference room, a library and the Phase I Clinical Research Laboratory. The basic research laboratories are located on level 5, the clinical facilities of PMRC are located on level 9 with the Educational Program on Level 10.