From molecule to marketplace

Biotechnology at Monash University stepped on to the world stage this year at the Bio2001 meeting in California. LESLEY RUSSELL reports on the university’s push to link the research and the commercial worlds

This year Monash, under the banner of the Monash Institutes of Health (MIH), had a stand and a delegation at Bio2001, the biggest annual international gathering of bio-technology researchers, investors and commercial interests.

The contacts made during that busy week have already led to a range of new business opportunities, investments, partnerships and joint ventures for the MIH partners, both separately and jointly.

“We went to San Diego because we wanted to capitalise on the major investments in biotechnology research, development and commercialisation that we are making at Monash,” says Professor Nick Saunders, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, who led the delegation.

“This was an excellent opportunity to showcase our expertise and capabilities and to look for new partnerships and new opportunities. We are delighted at the response.”

A characteristic of the biotechnology revolution is the quick timeframe from basic laboratory research to clinical or field studies and then to commercialisation and marketing.

Professor Saunders says Monash University now has the ability to link all these steps across the scientific disciplines extending into the commercial world.

“And we have all the essentials – a skilled workforce and high-quality technological and physical infrastructure. We also gain a real boost in innovation because we have a critical mass of activity in research and development and commercialisation,” he says.

“The benefits that flow include excellent education, research and training facilities for our students and staff. We also have the ability to ensure that Australia reaps the rewards from Australian research, with subsequent economic benefits and employment opportunities.”

Monash now has a number of university-based centres and partnerships with other leading research institutions and government organisations that can provide the expertise and services needed to enable industry partners to achieve commercially viable outcomes in biotechnology.

The Victorian Premier, Mr Steve Bracks, also went to San Diego to promote Victoria as Australia’s biotechnology capital. The Victorian government believes Monash offers “Australia’s largest high-tech industry cluster … which already has all the vital ingredients of world-class research facilities”.

Professor Saunders says international companies and investors are enormously impressed with what Monash, and the Monash Institutes of Health particularly, has to offer.

“But the most important thing for people and commercial enterprises thinking about doing business with Monash is not just that we have the infrastructure and the plans, but that we have the runs on the board that establish our credentials,” he says.

The Victorian College of Pharmacy’s expertise in rational drug design, drug development and drug delivery systems has provided a number of recent biotechnology commercial success stories for Monash.

Until recently, developing new drugs was a hit-and-miss affair, involving the testing of thousands of new compounds. But new techniques have led to more targeted approaches to drug design and development, resulting in safer and more effective drugs. Monash scientists at the Victorian College of Pharmacy have been leaders in this area for more than a decade.

The college, with funding from the Victorian-based biotechnology company Biota, contributed to the development of RelenzaTM, a breakthrough drug for the treatment of influenza.

A team of college researchers helped elucidate the three-dimensional molecular structure of the enzyme neuraminidase, which is found on the surface of the human influenza virus. They then synthesised specific compounds to bind to this part of the flu virus – these prevent the virus attaching to cells in the respiratory tract and the subsequentdevelopment of the disease.

Some of this work was done using a synchrotron in the US. “The announcement that Monash will be a partner in the first Australian synchrotron will provide a real boost to our drug design efforts,” says Professor Colin Chapman, dean of the college.

In a current project, college researchers are working to further develop and commercialise research on an efficient new mech-anism for the delivery of drugs through the skin. Monash has a patent on this innovative research, and was determined to ensure that this valuable intellectual property stayed in Australia.

In this case, capital was raised from private investors to set up Acrux Ltd. Acrux then entered into a research agreement with Monash so that product development could continue.

The new drug delivery mechanism can be applied to different drugs and different medical conditions. It uses chemicals called enhancers to deliver a known amount of the required drug across the skin, and the drug is then slowly released into the body.

Likely applications include hormone and nicotine replacement therapies. Not surprisingly, this delivery system has a potentially huge international market.

In the burgeoning new area of embryonic stem cell technology, scientists from the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development (MIRD) have not only led the way in research, but are now also playing an international role in developing medical treatments and bringing these to commercialisation.

Cell lines derived from embryonic stem cells can be grown indefinitely in the laboratory and retain the ability to grow into any cell type, offering breathtaking possibilities.

This year, the US research funding body, the National Institutes of Health, announced that Monash was one of 10 on a register of institutions worldwide that met the US guidelines to supply human embryonic stem cells for research. The NIH will soon publish its official Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry, a list of those institutions through which interested researchers must apply to gain access to US public funds of $480 million.

Monash’s Professor Alan Trounson, director of MIRD, described the enormous opportunities that this work offers.

“It is now possible to think about a future where there are no donor organ shortages or tissue rejection problems, with treatments, perhaps even cures, for conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries,” he said. “Stem cells provide new models and methods to study genetic conditions, cell function and repair, disease and toxicology.”

In 2000, a research team of scientists from Monash and universities in Singapore and Israel was the first to report that human nerve cells could be grown from stem cells.

Now investors from Australia and Singapore are providing $17 million to back this research further, through the establishment of ES Cell International Pty Ltd. The intellectual property remains with the three universities.

Professor Trounson said that in collaboration with Singapore and Israel, the Monash team had made one of the world’s most exciting breakthroughs in regenerative medicine.

“We are absolutely delighted that the two major investment groups in Australia and Singapore have shown such vision and confidence in our joint research activities to support us in this very significant way.”

Monash University is a partner in 17 cooperative research centres and in a number of other consortiums with government and industry. The university welcomes research and industry partnerships, which already include the Monash Institutes of Health, the Victorian College of Pharmacy, the Monash Science Technology Research and Innovation Project, and Biocomm International.

ACTION: To find out more about Monash's research achievements in the area of biotechnology, visit www.monash.edu.au/research/biotechnology

Answering the big questions

A new resource centre in Malaysia aims to provide accurate information regarding biotechnology to both Monash University and the wider community. PHANG SCE HWAI reports

For some people, biotechnology is the miracle solution to some of the world’s problems. But what is biotechnology?

In simple terms, it is a set of scientific tools that makes use of organisms (plant, animal or micro-organisms) to develop new and better products.

Biotechnology can improve food crops by adding nutrition and flavour or by increasing their resistance to pests and diseases.

It can also be used in environmental clean-ups where special microbes, instead of chemicals, are used to mop up industrial waste. As well, it is changing the face of laboratory instrumentation and influencing computer algorithms.

The completion of the human genome project last year offered greater hope that medicine was about to change radically – that the use of gene therapy and the development of sophisticated designer drugs and medicines could lead to a cure for many diseases.

But biotechnology is also controversial, with its benefits and potential uses strongly debated.

And to help answer the questions that may arise from the implementation of biotechnology in our daily lives, the Biotechnology Resource Centre (BRS) at Monash Malaysia was established this year to serve as a reference centre.

The purpose of the centre is to provide sound, accurate and reliable information about biotechnology to Monash staff, students and researchers as well as to the wider community.

The centre, the first of its kind to be established in a higher education institution in Malaysia, will concentrate on issues affecting the application of biotechnology in Southeast Asia in general and in Malaysia in particular.

It will also cater for the transfer of technology from developed countries to developing countries in the region.

Centre director Ms See Yee Ai says people need reliable and science-based information expressed in a language they can understand. “We intend to fill that need,” she says.

The director of Monash Malaysia’s Science Program, Dr Quah Soon Cheang, who was instrumental in setting up the centre, says it will enable biotechnology students to follow current advances in the field and consult with biotechnology researchers in other universities and research organisations.

“BRS will be their conduit to a world of quantum leaps in biotechnology and nanotechnology,” Dr Quah says.

It is also hoped the centre will be involved in the development of human resources and facilities as well as facilitate the development of the biotechnology program at Monash Malaysia.

BRS is a joint initiative of Monash Malaysia, the Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, which provides funding for the centre’s operations.

The centre will also run public seminars, workshops and exhibitions, the first of which was held in September.

ACTION: Visit the BRS site www.bic.org.my, email info@bic.org.my or call +603-5636 0600 (extn 836/837).

~ with PHANG SCE HWAI

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