CDx Participants

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is one of Australia's largest universities, with a strong tradition in career-orientated education and applied and strategic research. The School of Life Sciences is responsible for the provision of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, medical science and microbiology. The School has a reputation for producing outstanding graduates in biomedical sciences. The School is committed to quality teaching based on the philosophy of synergism between teaching and research and the incorporation of advances in research and emerging technologies into courses. In 1988 the School established the Cluster for Molecular Biotechnology, an internationally- recognised "centre of excellence" producing high quality research and training in molecular biotechnology.  The centre is the largest and most successful in QUT, with over 120 staff and students.   Major programs are:

• Infectious Disease
• Tissue engineering and regeneration
• Cancer and mlecular genetics
• Plant biotechnology

  Congratulations to Prof. Sara, former Dean of Science at QUT, Director of the CRC for Diagnostic Technologies andchairperson of the Australian Research Council.

For further information about QUT, contact A/Prof. P. Morris, email p.morris@qut.edu.au Tel: (07)3864 1427 or Fax +61 7 3864 1534

CSIRO Division of Molecular and Health Technologies (MHT) operates through three modern, well equipped laboratories in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane.  It is a centre of excellence in health and medical research, with research programs that both enhance the competitiveness of the Australian pharmaceutical and food industries and also provide public good outcomes through the improvement of human well-being and community health. Specific research projects address current and emerging healthcare challenges and are realised through disease prevention, diagnosis and therapy.

The Division previously known as Health Sciences and Nutrition ceased to exist on 1 July 2005. Protein-based Diagnostic Technologies and Rational Drug Design, were merged with CSIRO Molecular Science to create the Division of Molecular and Health Technologies (MHT).

MHT's core expertise includes a range of technologies including structure-based drug design, molecular and cellular biology, nutrition, pharmaceutical chemistry, diagnostics, pharmacology and physiology. It also operates an active clinic and supports involvement in three Cooperative Research Centres and the Biomolecular Research Institute. Key outcomes in the past few years for clinical diagnosis and therapy include the structural analysis of growth factor receptors of relevance to diabetes and cancer, granted patents for high-affinity target binding antibody fragments and diagnostic assays for essential hypertension and genome stability.  Other achievements include a spin-off company to commercialise our pruducts for tissue growth and repair, the influenza drug RelenzaTM developed and marketed by Biota and Glaxo Wellcome, dietary supplements to protect against bowel cancer in collaboration with Sigma Pharmaceuticals and an immunotherapy project with CSL Limited.  MHT also has active research programs in nutrition and functional foods as the basis for human health and wellbeing; particularly for protective effects on cardiac arrhythmia, and the cognitive health benefits of dietary folic acid and vitamin B12.  Screening for protective agents against cardiovascular disease, cancer and gastrointestinal disorders is also a significant research program.

Congratulations Prof. Hudson, awarded the 1997 AMRAD Biotech Medal by the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and elected Fellow of ASTE - the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2002.

For further information about CSIRO, contact Prof. P. Hudson, email Peter.Hudson@csiro.au Tel. +61 3 9662 73122 or Fax +61 3 9662 7313

La Trobe University is the sixth largest university in Australia. The Department of Biochemistry in the School of Molecular Sciences comprises 10 research groups. It has an impressive record in graduate training and biological research. Areas of special expertise within the School cover the disciplines of protein chemistry, imunochemistry and biophysics.

In 1988, the Centre for Protein and Enzyme Technology was established as a Centre of Excellence in protein studies. The centre is involved in collaborative studies with industrial partners for the development of protein and enzyme-based products. Long-standing collaborative projects exist between the School of Biochemistry and the CSIRO Division of Biomolecular Engineering involving protein structure analysis, molecular cloning and heterologous expression systems, and antibody engineering. The School has over 30 staff and 15 postgraduate students.

Congratulations Prof. Hoogenraad, winner of the 2004 Lemberg Medal.  This prestigious award is made annually to Australia's most distinguished biochemist or molecular biologist.  Prof. Hoogenraad also was the former president of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The Child Health Research Institute (CHRI) is an independent research institute founded in 1989 to carry out research aimed at the prevention and treatment of childhood disease. CHRI is committed to understanding basic mechanisms involved in health and disease and to developing intellectual property beneficial to the health and development of children.

CHRI undertakes both fundamental and strategic research toward the development of new therapeutic or preventative health strategies. Research is focused in three major programs:

Child Nutrition Program
Applied Nutrition: The overall aim of our research group is to optimise the nutritional intake of mothers and their infants whether the infants are born preterm or at term. The rationale for our research is that improvements in nutritional status will optimise the growth and development of all infants and this will have beneficial effects on their quality of life and whole-of-life health care costs.
Basic Nutrition: The overall aim of our research is to understand how nutrients work so that we are in a better position to design intervention rials and base recommendations on a sound biochemical understanding of mechanisms.

Haematology-Oncology Program
Leukaemia Biology: The aim of our research is to further understand the mechanisms underlying normal blood cell growth, differentiation and leukaemia, including the nature of cytokine receptor signalling, the control of normal myeloid cell growth and differentiation, the aberrant behaviour of haemopoietic cells in myeloproliferative disease (MPD) and leukaemia, and the control of haemopoietic stem cell self-renewal.
Leucocyte Biology: Our goal is to improve our understanding of leucocyte function through studies of leucocyte surface molecules, and to exploit immunological molecules as diagnostic and therapeutic targets.
Molecular Immunology: Our main focus is the characterization of regulatory T cells. We are using molecular and antibody approaches to identify the genes required for regulatory function. We seek better markers to identify and isolate this rare T cell subset, as well as novel targets for activate or suppress the regulatory function of these cells.

Tissue Development and Repair Program
Epithelial Biology: Our research is aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms of damage and repair in epithelial tissues and the development of treatments for related medical conditions.
Skin Biology: Our goal is to understand the mechanisms involved in wound healing and scar formation.
Stem Cell Biology (jointly with Haematology-Oncology Program): Our goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms underpinning stem cell self-renewal and early cell fate decisions.

For further information, please contact Kathy Kingston, email kathy.kingston@adelaide.edu.au

QML Pathology has proudly supported Queensland for over 80 years, playing a vital role in the development and provision of high-quality medical testing services. In June 2002, QML Pathology became part of the Mayne Health Group, supporting the strategy of building the strongest and most efficient health care network in Australia.

As one of Australia's largest medical laboratory networks, QML Pathology is Queensland's leader in diagnostics, focusing on testing accuracy, innovation and efficiency. QML’s network of laboratories are certified to NATA ISO9001 standard, offering a comprehensive 24 hour a day pathology service, providing testing services for over 10,000 patients each day.

The QML network is supported by: Over 180 collection centres 22 laboratories 35 specialist pathologists Over 600 scientific staff, among a total staff of 1900 A sophisticated courier system A full range of pathology services

QML Pathology’s key services include: Biochemistry Cytology Endocrinology Haematology Genetics Histopathology Immunology Microbiology Blood banking Clinical trials Vaccine distribution

For further information, please contact Ms Sue White, email Sue.White@qml.com.au