20 November 2008
Monash University has been allocated $2.3 million from the Australian Research Council (ARC) as part of its Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme, almost a ten percent increase on last year's result.
The LIEF scheme fosters collaboration by encouraging the shared 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.
Professor Edwina Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) 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," said Professor Cornish.
"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 was for $1.4 million to develop 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, plus structural and dynamics studies.
The other two successful grants are:
- $575,000 for the establishment of a Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) facility which allows for a high heating or cooling rate making the sintering process generally much faster (within a few minutes) and will increase Australia's capacity in manufacturing advanced materials. Sintering is a process by which objects are made by heating, and thereby bonding, powder.
- $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.
"On behalf of the University I wish to congratulate the teams of Monash researchers who have been successful in this round," said Professor Cornish.
"This infrastructure will be of benefit to all researchers who use it and in turn, to the lives of people in Australia and overseas."
For additional information, please contact the Monash Media Office on +613 9903 4840.
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