TasInformatics ready for take-off

The AUD$20 million flagship project of Tasmania's Intelligent Island initiative funded by the Australian Government and jointly managed with the state government -- the Tasinformatics Centre of Excellence at the University of Tasmania -- is due to get off the ground in the coming weeks, once final negotiations between the university and the state government have been completed.

"The contractual negotiations are nearly complete, and the search for a director is underway," the University of the Tasmania's pro vice-chancellor for research Prof Andrew Glenn told Australian Biotechnology News.

"Next year will see the research get underway."

A board of directors for the centre, who will take over the planning from the current steering committee, is also likely to be announced in the near future.

According to Glenn, the TasInformatics centre will focus on health informatics and bioinformatics, and will have strong industry linkages.

"We're looking for research outcomes that can lead to enhancements in the health informatics and bioinformatics space, and the generation of health improvements by IT systems that can handle big data sets," he said.

"We've already had good discussions with people like IBM, Oracle, SGI, Logica and others. There is significant interest in continuing discussions, and we expect there to be very significant industry links with both large groups and SMEs. Each project is likely to have one or more industry partners."

Partnering with the university on the Tasinformatics project is the state's Department of Health and Human Services, along with support from the Department of Economic Development. According to project director Alison Standen, it has taken a while for the program to get off the ground due to its scope.

"This project represents half of the Intelligent Island funding -- it's not a trivial amount of money. It was important to do the project properly," she said.

"We're optimistic that there will be significant involvement [by industry] that will result in medium and long term outcomes for the state and the sector,"

Glenn said he expected the centre to comprise about 40-50 scientists and a similar number of students. One participant is likely to be Prof Greg Peterson from the university's School of Pharmacy, who is developing a number of pharmacy-related programs for monitoring medication problems and safety.

In addition to the $20 million from the Intelligent Island program, the Tasmanian government has budgeted for another $5 million to go to the centre to support the involvement of the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as in kind support. The University of Tasmania is also providing in kind support and funding for the centre.