Innovation in Australia’s health and medical research translation has been boosted with National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)- enabled health and medical research partners signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
Bioplatforms Australia (BPA), National Imaging Facility (NIF), Phenomics Australia, Population Health Research Network (PHRN) and Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA) will enhance collaborative opportunities between infrastructure capabilities and enable support across the whole research translation cycle, following the signing of the agreement to form the NCRIS Health Group.
Health and medical researchers investigate solutions to complex problems that are often not easily solved by a single discipline, and the NCRIS Health Group is aimed at enabling them collaboratively throughout the translational process.
Research to improve health outcomes is underpinned by research infrastructure encompassed by the NCRIS Health Group, including:
- National integration of large-scale health datasets to enable population health research
- Bespoke modeling to understand how diseases develop and test potential treatments
- Discovery and development research to identify drug targets
- Development of medical products including therapeutics and diagnostics such as nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceuticals
- Scale-up and manufacturing of medical products
- National facilities supporting clinical trials
The NCRIS Health Group already enables research throughout the translation cycle, and this MOU will formalise access to health research expertise, instruments and infrastructure for collaborative use by researchers.
Prior to the formation of the NCRIS Health Group, partners have undertaken cooperative activities, including shared staffing, partnership in government initiatives such as the Medical Research Future Fund and the Australian Research Council, as well as collaboration in other key health and medical research projects.
President of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance, Prof Gemma Figtree is undertaking internationally significant work enabled by the NCRIS Health Group in collaboration with other leading researchers and clinicians across biobanking, phenotypes, ‘omics, preclinical modeling and clinical trial networks as part of a strategy for novel drug development.
Prof Figtree said supporting collaborative medical product research will improve health outcomes for Australians through novel medical products, platforms, technologies and practices, which has the potential to improve quality of life and decrease health-related costs.
“I have enjoyed superb interaction with a number of the NCRIS Health capabilities through their support of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance and CAD Frontiers. I am impressed by their vision and “can-do” approach, and our aligned philosophies around collaboration, multi-disciplinarity and acceleration of Australian discovery and innovation,” Prof Figtree said.
“Australian researchers are regarded at the highest level by our international colleagues. Improved alignment of our immense research talent to tackle our nation’s greatest health challenges, with maximum access to state-of-the-art infrastructure will accelerate solutions, but also benefit the growth of a vibrant and sustainable med-tech ecosystem that can attract global and local industry partnerships.”
The NCRIS Health Group is engaged in collaborative arrangements that support cross-disciplinary research, assisting Australian researchers to leverage access to world-leading facilities for more impactful outcomes. For more information, see the Health Innovation and Translation infographic below.