WA proteomics firm finds Asia welcoming

Singapore is rolling out a warm welcome to Australian expertise in protein biochemistry, according to West Australian company Proteomics International.

By contrast, the WA Government is largely indifferent to the biotech industry in general and proteomics in particular, says Proteomics International director and co-founder Dr Bill Parker.

"We are watching biotechnology take off everywhere but not in Western Australia. There is no policy here that we can detect and it is bizarrely difficult to deal with the government."

The two-year-old proteomics services and contract research firm is diverting more of its resources toward southeast Asia because of the receptive attitude of governments there.

Proteomics has found the Singapore Government in particular "very helpful, very cooperative," Parker said.

A major focus of Singaporean interest lies in the transfer of proteomics expertise via training programs.

"Singapore has more funding [for biotech] and is running faster but they don't have the same grounding in proteomics," says Parker.

Company co-founder Dr Richard Lipscombe is scheduled to hold further discussions in Singapore in August to explore training opportunities.

Besides generating revenues, training programs promise to open up avenues for conducting protein-related research projects under contract in the region, Lipscombe believes.

By looking north to expand its markets rather than toward eastern Australia, Proteomics International can make time zone advantages work for it.

In addition, it finds east coast states parochial in their outlook when it comes to farming out work to WA companies.

"At the end of the day, somebody in Victoria prefers to deal with somebody in Victoria," says Parker.

In addition to Lipscombe, Proteomics International's senior scientific staff includes protein biochemist Dr Paul Besant and Dr Rob Lock, managing scientist of the WA Proteome Analysis Facility, a joint venture between Royal Perth Hospital and Curtin University.

"We've built up a good little team of about half a dozen who represent some of the best skills in protein analysis around," says Lipscombe.

The company's bread and butter business is peptide synthesis but it also conducts protein identification and analysis services, in competition with government-funded organisations such as the Australian Proteome Research Facility.

Proteomics International rents lab and office facilities at the State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre's 'research hotel' on the campus of Murdoch University and has access to one of the half dozen Qstar mass spectrometry machines in Australia.

Its revenue stream flows largely from its commercial management of a peptide manufacturing facility at the University of Western Australia.

The company is working on building up its contract research arm, whose current clients include fellow WA biotech Solbec Pharmaceuticals.

Parker is candid about the challenges facing a young private company with limited funds in a market which is still taking shape. The largest hurdle involves keeping its team together while waiting for various initiatives involving the agricultural and mining sectors to bear fruit, he says.