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Funding supports Monash research

3 December 2008

Chain links

Monash has received $2.3 million from the Australian Research Council (ARC) as part of their Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme.

The LIEF scheme fosters collaboration through its support of the cooperative use of national and international research facilities. The scheme provides funding for large-scale cooperative initiatives so that expensive infrastructure, equipment and facilities can be shared by researchers in partnered organisations.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish said the University's success in this current round of LIEF grants was vital for the research being carried out at Monash.

"Monash is already home to world-class research infrastructure such as the Centre for Electron Microscopy and the Australian Regenerative Medicine Research Institute's zebra fish research facility, which is the largest one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere," Professor Cornish said.

"This support from the ARC enables the University to continue to provide its researchers with the best research facilities available."

Three proposals from Monash were successful in receiving a LIEF grant. The largest grant of $1.4 million will see the development of the Melbourne Bimolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Network.

The NMR Network will enable researchers to develop a better understanding of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of numerous diseases using metabolomics studies, reverse chemical genetics approaches, structural and dynamics studies.

The other two successful proposals were:

  • $575,000 for the establishment of the first Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) facility that will increase Australia's capacity in manufacturing advanced materials.
  • $300,000 to build a Facility for Innovation in Structural Biomaterials Engineering. This facility will assist researchers in undertaking cross-disciplinary projects aimed at improving human health, e.g. smart materials that assist stem cell therapies for treating deafness and spinal cord injuries.