11 July 2007
Following a decision of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Council, Australia is set to be granted Associate Membership status of EMBL.
Australia is the first and only country outside Europe to be granted this status with the world's pre-eminent molecular biology research institution.
EMBL is a European hub of life science research, with a network of five nodes: the main laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, with outstations in Hamburg, (Germany), Grenoble (France), Hinxton (United Kingdom) and Monterotondo in Italy. Collaboration between the nodes is extensive.
Associate membership of the EMBL will encourage and facilitate interaction between the Australian molecular biology community and EMBL and, more broadly, the exchange of scientists between EMBL Member States and Australia through new links created by a greater integration of Australian and European research.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Edwina Cornish welcomed the EMBL decision saying it was a vote of confidence in the high standard of Australian bioscience research and there would be significant benefits to Monash University.
The decision, announced in Germany, means that Monash University is now in the running to host EMBL research groups at the Clayton campus.
"Monash University is already an established centre of research excellence in biomedical and stem cell sciences and this new international collaboration will create many exciting opportunities for linking with the best in the world," Professor Cornish said.
Financial support for Associate Membership of EMBL has been provided by the Commonwealth government, through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), in partnership with Monash, the Universities of Western Australia, Sydney and Queensland and the CSIRO.
Professor Cornish paid tribute to the newly appointed Director of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Professor Nadia Rosenthal, who has been instrumental, along with her Deputy Vice Chancellors (Research) colleagues, at the Universities of Western Australia, Sydney and Queensland, the leadership group of CSIRO and Federal Department of Education, Science and Training officers in Canberra in securing this historic decision.
Financial support from the NHMRC was also instrumental in bringing about this development, with NHMRC funds being made available to support Australians as research group leaders at an EMBL lab in one of the existing European sites.
For further information, please contact Tim Mitchell on 0437 457780 or 03 9905 1253.
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