CSIRO maths guru quits for private sector

CSIRO is losing the services of one of the country's premier biostatisticians, Dr Mervyn Thomas, who is leaving to launch his own consultancy in the private sector.

Thomas' new company, Emphron Informatics, is expected to open its doors in Brisbane early in 2003.

As biotechnology manager for CSIRO's Mathematics and Information Sciences division, Thomas has been a key driver in commercialising CSIRO's bioinformatics expertise in the proteomics arena.

The loss of his talents from the national research organisation is "the most serious bodyblow to CSIRO bioinformatics that one could imagine," said Tim Littlejohn, founder of Sydney bioinformatics company BioLateral.

Thomas, 49, was a strong supporter of CSIRO's shift toward greater commercial orientation and more specifically the recent re-focus of the CMIS bioinformatics group along commercial lines.

However the snail's pace at which the re-organisation has occurred and the loss of opportunities in the interim appear to be factors in his decision to leave now.

"The focus in CMIS was on commercialising a particular technology and that is necessarily a slow process," Thomas said. "The group has some of Australia's finest quantitative scientists, including Harry Kiiveri, Glenn Stone, Geoff Laslett, Rob Dunne and Albert Trajstman and I don't walk away from it lightly. I just see more immediate opportunities which I would like to address."

Among those opportunities is a joint venture with Littlejohn's BioLateral in bioinformatics training. His expertise in biostatistics, gene expression analysis and proteomics will complement BioLateral's strengths in the areas of software, databases and computer systems.

Thomas is one of only half a dozen people in Australia who bridge the gap between biology and mathematics at a high level, according to Littlejohn.

To the degree that a flourishing biotech industry depends on connecting biology and mathematics, "having that few people around to carry the load is scary," said Littlejohn.

One of Thomas' first clients is a start-up company, Genetraks, which has just attracted $6 million in venture funding for its bioinformatics-based technology.

"There are a number of other attractive opportunities in sight," said Thomas. "There is a huge need building up in Australia for bioinformatics capabilities and an even bigger need in Singapore, Korea and Taiwan."