Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Premier Mike Baird officially opened a $110 million, medical research centre in Westmead this afternoon.
The new Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research building brings together almost 400 clinicians, scientists, postgraduate students and support staff with the aim of accelerating research into Australia’s major health problems and translating its outcomes into new diagnostics, prognostics, preventions, therapies and cures.
“This is enhancing collaborations across disciplines and I believe it will lead to some significant research advances," WMI executive director Professor Tony Cunningham said.
The nine-storey complex comprises 17,500 square metres of research laboratories, as well as high technology facilities used for disease gene discovery, cell sorting and imaging, and the development of new cellular and genetic therapies.
The facilities will serve not only WMI, but scientists from neighbouring institutes and hospitals on the Westmead health campus.
“In an environment where society’s requirement for medical research is growing but funding is not, we have to be smart about how we organise ourselves in order to maximise what can be achieved with limited research funds,” Professor Cunningham said.
The building was majority-funded by the Australian and NSW governments, with additional significant contributions from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation and other donors through the Westmead Medical Research Foundation.
■ Genomics – DNA sequencing and genotyping including the Sydney node of the Australian Genome Research Facility;
■ Flow Cytometry/Sorting – a million dollar facility for isolating and characterizing target cells;
■ Cell Imaging – fixed and live cell imaging using advanced light and electron microscopy;
■ Human Applications Laboratory – a contamination-free facility for research into cellular and genetic therapeutic products;
■ Biobanks – human tissue banks to facilitate research into cancers, infections and immune diseases.