University of Queensland meets demands of science’s new age

Queensland’s reputation as a hub for scientific innovation will be further enhanced next year when work begins on the $60 million Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) complex at The University of Queensland.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay announced the AIBN complex on November 26 when Queensland’s Innovation and Information Economy Minister Paul Lucas presented a cheque for $5 million for the project.

The State Government will contribute $17.5 million to the AIBN through the $100 million Smart State Research Facilities Fund. Other funding for the complex, scheduled to begin in July 2004 and open in late 2005, has been sourced from private benefactor The Atlantic Philanthropies ($17.5 million) and the University ($15 million).

Professor Peter Gray has been appointed inaugural Director, joining UQ from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Professor Hay said the AIBN, the University’s Institute of Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and other new research centers would make a major contribution to reversing the “brain drain” of scientists from Queensland.

The $105 million Queensland Bioscience Precinct at UQ, which houses 700 IMB and CSIRO scientists, opened in May this year.

Professor Hay said the AIBN is at the leading edge of discovery especially in the field of organ replacement, where developing artificial organs that are not rejected by the body is becoming critical.

“This is driving the University’s goal of building research areas in which it is a leading player both in Australia and overseas and reflects Queensland’s growing status as a region for research excellence,” he said.

“The University has provided the intellectual engine-room for this change, playing a major role in reversing the so called ‘brain drain’ from the State.”

A number of University researchers, and the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, will be housed in the new AIBN complex.

The ARC Centre, headed by Federation Fellow Professor Max Lu, is developing nanomaterials for health, clean energy and environmental technologies.

The complex will also house the UQ Centre for Nanotechnology and Biomaterials, headed by Professor Matt Trau, which is designing artificial human organs and tissues less likely to be rejected by the body.

Media: For more information, contact Professor Gray (telephone 07 3365 4833, mobile 0419 292 261, email peter.gray@uq.edu.au or Brad Turner at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2659, email b.turner@uq.edu.au