Genomics centre, based at SAHMRI, to blend South Australia's expertise and resources in complex biology
The SAHMRI (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute) building, at Adelaide BioMed City on North Terrace, the base for the South Australian Genomics Centre.
The state-of-the-art $7 million South Australian Genomics Centre to open in 2020 would coordinate and advance the state’s increasingly important study of genes that make up animals, plants or microbes.
It would consolidate South Australia’s expertise and resources as a leader in complex biology with a centre to serve research teams locally, nationally and internationally.
Flinders University professor David Lynn and program director at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) said the centre combined the disciplines from environmental, plant and agricultural research to human health. The centre’s projects would range from new cancer treatments to assessing the genetics of salt tolerance in grapevines or improving malt for the beer industry.
Waite Research Institute director professor Matt Gilliham said genomics in agriculture and environment was targeting research into “the science behind securing a sustainable future for agriculture in dryland environments”.
The centre also would advance the key area of bioinformatics: storing, processing and analysing genomics data and analysing comparative, evolutionary and systems biology. Pro vice chancellor/health partnerships Professor Andrew Zannettino said increased access to bioinformaticians allowed scientists to unravel complex genetic data and the mysteries of diseases. From that, they could target the cause and treatment of a cancer more specifically.
Professor Lynn and Adelaide BioMed City general manager Yvette Van Eenennaam led the plan to open the centre, based at SAHMRI’s North Terrace, Adelaide, building while also operating from the Australian Genome Research Facility on Adelaide University’s Waite campus, the University of South Australia’s Centre for Cancer Biology Genomics Facility and Flinders University’s Genomics Facility.
Bioplatforms Australia, through the Australian government’s national collaborative research infrastructure strategy, contributed $2 million to the centre. Founding partners – SAHMRI, Adelaide University, the University of South Australia, Flinders University, the Australian Wine Research Institute and the Australian Genome Research Facility – invested funding, equipment and staff totalling more than $5.6 million.
