Some of NSW’s most innovative researchers and startups will benefit from a share of $6 million in funding to accelerate the scale up and investment of synthetic biology and biomanufacturing products, creating even more jobs and economic opportunities.
Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Alister Henskens said the projects being funded by the NSW Liberal and Nationals Government bring together universities, industry experts and research partners to attract further investment and scale-up opportunities.
“As part of the NSW Liberal and Nationals Government’s long-term economic plan, we are investing in areas of comparative advantage to help translate our R&D capabilities into real world outcomes, jobs and economic prosperity,” Mr Henskens said.
“The two university-led consortia being funded will provide specialised equipment, facilities and training programs to enable startups to prototype, test and scale up, which is a huge helping hand to our next generation innovators and researchers.”
Macquarie University’s Australian Genome Foundry consortium will drive talent generation, startup incubation and fermentation capacity, and the resulting increase in biomanufacturing capacity will support product validation and earlier market entry.
The University of Sydney with UNSW Sydney and the Children’s Medical Research Institute will develop a range of human cell models (or organoids) to shorten the time between drug discovery and its use as a treatment.
University of Sydney and the consortium’s academic lead Professor Michael Kassiou said advancements in this space will turbocharge the biomedical ecosystem in NSW and establish a world-class stem-cell research and drug discovery hub for Australia.
“Organoid technology bridges the gap between initial discovery and testing directly in humans, with potential to targeting processes and rapidly accelerate relevant drugs to treat diseases you are interested in,” Professor Kassiou said.
Synthetic biology and biomanufacturing was identified as an area of competitive advantage for NSW in the 20-Year R&D Roadmap. More details are available online.
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Caterina Polistina | Minister Henskens | 0419 463 370