Vic biotech projects net $60m in second-round grants

Victoria's government unveiled its second round of Science, Technology and Innovation Grants today, with almost $60 million being poured into mostly biotechnology projects.

Among the 16 innovation projects that succeeded in attracting the cash are the Clinical Trials Victoria consortium, the Centre for Pre-clinical Drug Candidate Optimisation and the Victorian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics.

Announcing the $59 million in grants at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Premier Steve Bracks said the cash injection was the biggest single grants program investment in science infrastructure by any Australian state government.

"The grants support cutting-edge medical, environmental and manufacturing projects that will generate jobs, wealth and well-being across metropolitan and regional Victoria," Bracks said.

"They will build on Victoria's reputation as a world-renowned centre of scientific excellence where researchers can turn their discoveries into commercial realities."

Innovation Minister John Brumby described the grants as a catalyst for collaboration, bringing together experts who would usually work in small, isolated groups.

"These grants foster a culture of innovation, which is the key element to driving the success of the Victorian economy and assisting our industries to compete with the best in the world," Brumby said.

He said the government support through the second round grants had already leveraged public and private investment of more than $190 million. This compares with almost $180 million leveraged through the first round of STI grants.

Biotech recipients of the grants are:

• Nanotechnology Victoria: STI grant $12m (total investment $30m)
• Clinical Trials Victoria: $8m ($41m)
• Victorian Institute for Chemical Science: $5m ($13.2m)
• Victorian Centre for Plant and Functional Genomics: $4m ($12m)
• Centre for Pre-Clinical Drug Candidate Optimisation: $4m ($8.4m)
• Victorian Centre for Oral Health Science: $3.5m ($20.5m)
• Infection, Immunity and Vaccine Development (ImmunoID): $1.2m ($4.7m)

Clinical Trials Victoria is a project to develop new drug therapies for illnesses spanning cancer, heart and neurological diseases and is intended to allow scientists to develop new treatments with a bench-to-bedside approach, giving local patients the chance to receive the latest medications without having to travel too far.

A complementary program, the Centre for Pre-Clinical Drug Optimisation, will prepare drugs for the clinical testing phase and help put the state in a better position to compete in the $US36 billion pharmaceutical research and development market.

Support for the University of Melbourne's ImmunoID project to develop new vaccines has already succeeded in attracting back to Australia Nobel Laureate Prof Peter Doherty.

Nanotechnology Victoria - a consortium comprising the CSIRO and Monash, Swinburne and RMIT universities - aims to coordinate R&D, attract investment, facilitate commercialisation and establish industrial partnerships in such areas as materials, fabrication and sensing.

The Victorian Institute of Chemical Science, founded by Melbourne, Monash and RMIT universities, is to develop the state's chemistry skills base and develop research opportunities in such areas as drug design and development The Centre for Oral Health Sciences, coordinated through the University of Melbourne's School of Dental Science, plans to develop a critical mass of research expertise to make it an internationally renowned centre of excellence in the field.

Finally, the Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, set up by the University of Melbourne and Department of Natural Resources and Environment, aims to better understand plant genes to solve current and future agricultural pressures.

Information on each of the winning bids can be found here (Acrobat document).