FABLS up in lights

The FABLS network was established in 2004 after Macquarie University's Professor Ewa Goldys proposed to some of her fluorescence buddies that they apply for funding to officially coordinate the fluorescence community in Australia. The group got together to strategise, each having their own personal networks already, and work out who was around, what interest there was and how to go about the whole thing.

The result was a successful bid to the newly announced Federal Government's Research Networks Program for approximately $2 million over five years.

"The challenge at the time was that fluorescence is a widely spread technology, and biologists rarely identify themselves with technique development but rather with the application," Goldys says.

"The fact of the underpinning technology rarely gets a mention. So, we have not been as articulate as other communities such as the nanotechnology or electron microscopy communities that actually centre on tech development with applications almost taking second place."

FABLS' goal is to connect people interested in fluorescence and its applications and to stimulate the creation of multi-disciplinary project teams with scientists from other fields, including chemists, physicists and engineers as well as biologists.

Associate Professor Robert Learmonth from the University of Southern Queensland, another founding member, says FABLS is also the only combined ARC/NHMRC research network, reflecting the scope and diversity encompassed within its charter.

There are two main aspects to the FABLS network: research and development, particularly that of a collaborative and multidisciplinary nature that enables people to get together and do things that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise; and education and training - the network recognises that many people use fluorescence without knowing the basics, which can lead to technical problems as well as not understanding how to use cutting edge technology to its full potential.

"Of course, there has been a fluorescence community within Australia for a long time, but given the diversity of participants it had not been organised to a high degree," Learmonth says.

In addition, different disciplines such as chemistry, physics and biology traditionally had little interaction, even those using similar instrumentation.

"So, we wanted to sponsor and stimulate a multi-disciplinary community, specifically focusing on research that may lead to larger things such as new technologies or novel applications of existing technology," he says.

Indeed, the range of research projects currently funded by the network reflects this aim, with project topics encompassing basic physics to bioengineering to clinical medicine.

"We have scientists developing new fluorescent probes for multiple uses through to those developing whole new microscope systems, through to people using the technology in completely novel ways," Learmonth says.

FABLS does not fund research projects per se but rather the ability for people to get together and do research or develop technologies that would not be possible otherwise.

Activities supported include personnel exchanges to learn techniques or develop applications (particularly good for students), planning and running of meetings and workshops, support for infrastructure access fees (a significant cost for sophisticated instrumentation such as laser scanning microscopes), and education and training programs.

"To get our funding, projects have to be truly collaborative and involve at least a couple of different places or disciplines - in fact, as many as possible," Goldys says.

FABLS is particularly interested in application-based and even platform-type technologies and conducts a funding round every six months, with the second round for 2007 now open for applications. The network's website at www.physics.mq.edu.au/research/fluoronet details the 100 or so projects funded to date and instructions for new applicants.

The network also runs training workshops every two years on basic fluorescence techniques and applications, comprising a comprehensive lectures and practical course.

The education and training activities run or supported by FABLS involve a significant amount of support from company members, who supply instrumentation and staff to assist in hands-on training activities. Currently, all FABLS 'research' members register as individuals, although FABLS has plans to also offer corporate memberships.

"This is part of us looking for a pathway from research to application," Learmonth says. "We need to involve both ends and get them together at the research stage. In one sense, getting commercial involvement in developing and then marketing new technologies is the ultimate aim of FABLS."