Professor Michael Breakspear is a clinical psychiatrist, and Head of the Program of Mental Health Research at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

1. What sparked your interest in neuroscience?

I was practising in psychiatry and frustrated with the lack of progress on new therapies.

2. Why do we need to crack the brains code?

The brain is the final frontier of knowledge but also the seat of much of our burden of illness.

3. If you weren’t a reseacher what would you be instead?

A forensic psychiatrist.

4. What’s your favourite fact about the brain?

The brain is very active even when we are resting and not solving any difficult problems. Its actual activity only changes by a few percent when we take on complex perceptual and thinking tasks.