΢Åĸ£Àû

20 January 2017

Genetic research projects aimed at improving healthcare, food production, the environment, and developing new technologies for tomorrow will be boosted with the formation of a new integrated genomics facility at ΢Åĸ£Àû.

΢Åĸ£Àûand the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) will combine collective resources at the university to improve accessibility to cutting edge genomics infrastructure.

said the integrated facility would provide a range of enhanced services to ΢Åĸ£Àûresearchers using genomics to solve some of the world’s toughest problems.

“This collaborative effort with AGRF will make it easier for ΢Åĸ£Àûresearchers to access the latest innovations and work at the leading edge of genomics research,” she said.

“The facility will be available for a broad range of research at UQ, such as genetic models of disease development, stem cell biology, regenerative medicine and drug discovery.”

In addition to consolidating genomics capability in Queensland, ΢Åĸ£Àûand AGRF will create a Genomics Innovation Core for the incubation of novel technologies and methods.

The centre will foster innovation and the development new techniques, and assess emerging technologies which will be available to ΢Åĸ£Àûresearchers.

Australian Genome Research Facility CEO Dr Irene Kourtis said the collaboration helped create a focal point for future infrastructure and research funding.

“This is an exciting new partnership with ΢Åĸ£Àûto jointly boost genomics capability and capacity that is available to the ΢Åĸ£Àûcommunity,” she said.

“AGRF looks forward to supporting UQ’s world leading genomic research programs”

Media: Stephen Love, s.love@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3343 1033; Ken McGrath, AGRF, ken.mcgrath@agrf.org.au, +61 7 3365 8815.