Nine of the nation's leading scientific research institutions will launch a new partnership today to boost Australia's research capacity for tackling major health problems including cancer, diabetes, deafness, infertility, autoimmune disease and arthritis.
The Australian Phenomics Network (APN) is providing Australian and International researchers with the latest infrastructure for the study of human disease. The alliance brings together facilities, equipment and expertise to accelerate progress in the provision of biological models for medical research. This facilitates Australia making genuine inroads against all kinds of diseases.
"This is incredibly exciting science – frontier science – and it's great to see Australian researchers leading the way," said Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
APN Chief Scientific Officer Professor Chris Goodnow said: "Together we'll be able to access biological models that have been developed for specific research projects. Combining our technical resources means we can spend more time actually doing the research that will make a real difference in our efforts to combat diseases."
APN Convenor Associate Professor Moira O'Bryan from Monash University said the project is about combining efforts and supporting all Australian researchers. "Australia has a wealth of talent in medical research, spread across a number of institutions. Each organisation has its own strengths in different areas," she says. "The APN will allow our resources to be combined and greatly enhance Australia's research capacity."
The APN is also working with the Atlas of Living Australia project to develop a framework for building web resources that capture, annotate and disseminate research data and will enable research outcomes to be translated to clinical outcomes more rapidly.
The APN is funded by the Australian Government's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), contributions from state governments, and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
The network combines the resources of the Australian National University, Monash University, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research, the University of Melbourne, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, Menzies Research Institute and the Animal Resource Centre.
The APN's expertise is complemented by national and international partnerships with the Garvan Institute, the Institute of Molecular Bioscience, the National Institutes of Health (USA), the Wellcome Trust (UK) and the University of Manitoba (Canada).