THE University of Queensland’s Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Biosecurity received a funding boost today with the Queensland Government announcing more than $4 million will go to the new facility due to open in July.
Premier Beattie announced the funding in Washington yesterday, which will include financial and in-kind support and will take government funding for the Centre to almost $22 million after initial funding of $17.5 million from the Federal Government.
Recent global events place biosecurity at the centre of Australia’s national interest and the Centre will help develop advanced early warning systems to safeguard the nation.
The Centre will focus on developing new technology to detect disease as well as new surveillance measures such as hand-held devices and satellite imagery.
Research outcomes will include devices to detect pathogens on-site and new technologies to enhance the speed, sensitivity and specificity of laboratory and on-site tests.
UQ acting Vice Chancellor Paul Greenfield said in some cases new tests could be produced rapidly.
Professor Greenfield said the Centre would use some of the facilities of the new Institute of Molecular Bioscience and the faculty of Biological and Chemical Sciences.
He said the key to preventing bioterrorism, and dealing with the outbreak of new infectious diseases such as SARS, was developing rapid tests that could work at the very early stages of the disease and also to create a system that could analyse data quickly.
The other key was to train people to have expertise in dealing with these threats.
The new Centre’s aim is to protect Australia’s health, livestock, wildlife and economic resources by developing new methods of monitoring, assessing, predicting and responding to threats.
It will also address a critical specialist skills shortage by producing research graduates with high-level experience in virology, parasitology and applied epidemiology.
Professor John Mackenzie from the School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences will be the CRC’s interim Chief Executive Officer while Associate Professor Hamish McCallum from the School of Life Sciences will conduct mathematical modelling on the diseases and their spread.
“The CRC will enable Australia to be more pro-active in knowing what’s coming our way,” Professor Mackenzie said.
Other partners in the new CRC include: the CSIRO Animal Health Laboratory; the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI); the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing; Queensland Health; Northern Territory Health; Northern Territory Fisheries; Sydney University; the Committee of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Australia; Curtin University of Technology; and the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
The funding boost is part of a $150 million innovation package from the Queensland Government that also included $1.7 million for the Queensland Animal Breeding Facility at the Herston Medical Research Centre, which is managed by UQ.
Premier Beattie’s announcement also confirmed the Queensland Government would match university contributions for Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence.
The UQ led COE for Integrated Legume Research will receive $3.4 million; while UQ will be partnered in $625,000 to the COE in Biotechnology and Development at the University of Newcastle; $1.7 million to the COE for Quantum Computer Technology at the University of NSW; $750,000 to the COE for Quantum-Atom Optics at the Australian National University; and $125,000 to the COE for Mathematical and Statistical Modelling of Complex Systems at the University of Melbourne.
Media: For more information contact Andrew Dunne (telephone 07 3365 2802) at UQ Communications.
