Government pledges major support to Institute for Molecular Bioscience at UQ

The State Government today pledged $77.5 million funding over the next 10 years to support the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland.

Premier Peter Beattie announced the grant at the Bio'99 International Meeting and Exhibition in Seattle. Mr Beattie said the Institute would establish Brisbane as Australia's centre of excellence in biotechnology and a major hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay welcomed the Government's commitment to the 10-year plan which would position Queensland as the nation's leader for bioindustry development.

"I congratulate the Government on its magnificent vision in further supporting this project which has massive potential economic benefit and a significant number of jobs for the State," Professor Hay said.

Mr Beattie said funding would "underpin the Institute's ability to attract key individuals and chief investigators and to form strategic research programs and alliances with local and international industries."

"The funding will provide support in areas where Queensland has demonstrable leadership capacity such as new pharmaceuticals, diagnosis of human and animal diseases, tropical and subtropical agriculture, genomics, bioinformatics and computational biology," he said.

The Institute led by Professor John Mattick and Professor Peter Andrews at the University's St Lucia campus is part of a $100 million complex being developed by the University in conjunction with CSIRO and other research agencies. It will be Australasia's largest biological and biotechnology research facility when complete in 2002. It will house 700 world-class scientists.

"The State Government's commitment will provide a tremendous boost to the Institute and biotechnology research in Queensland," he said. "It will allow the Institute to recruit and retain outstanding scientists and develop innovative programs for the future. The Institute will also develop close relationships with industry."

The Institute will have space for industry groups and will provide a major platform for biotechnology development which could be worth several billions of dollars to the economies of Queensland and Australia. The State Government's commitment comes on top of the generous support of the Federal and State Governments who matched the University's $15 million seed funding for the complex with $15 million contributions each. Other major contributions were from CSIRO.

Media: For further information, contact Professor John Hay telephone 07 3365 1300

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