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New centre sheds light on fighting disease

15 March 2006

The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics was launched at Monash last week by Professor Erich Weigold, Executive Director of Physics, Chemistry and Geoscience at the ARC.

Professor Ben Adler at the launch.

Monash's School of Biomedical Sciences is hosting the centre, which will investigate how disease-causing organisms and their hosts interact in the immune system and in diseases affecting Australian livestock. Centre researchers are developing new veterinary vaccines for diseases including fowl cholera, footrot in sheep, leptospirosis in livestock and swine dysentery.

The centre brings together researchers from microbiology and biochemistry at Monash as well as researchers from the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and CSIRO Livestock Industries. Other partners include the Victorian Bioinformatics Consortium, the Australian Genome Research Facility, Victorian Partnerships for Advanced Computing, Pfozer Animal Health and Intervet International.

Centre director Professor Ben Adler said the launch of the centre had great implications for research into infectious diseases.

"The centre will enable us to further both fundamental and applied research with commercialisation potential," he said.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish said the centre was well-placed to perform innovative research that would contribute to a fundamental understanding of microbial–host interactions and at the same time lead to important commercial developments.

"This is a real role model to many in the university in how we can come together to create a critical mass to do world-class science," she said.

The centre has been funded for five years through the ARC, Monash University, a donation by the Grollo Family, the Victorian Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, and industry partners.