Part of the $24.3m centre will be based at Queensland University.
A total of 19 chief investigators from around the world will be housed in the new Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology. The centre was officially opened on August 28, 2014, and cost A$26 ($24.3m).
A node of the research centre will be based at Queensland University, and its main focus will be human biology on a nanomolecular level. The university’s node will be led by researchers from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
Researchers at the centre range from experts in nanomaterial design and synthesis to cell biology to engineering. They will focus on four main areas: delivery systems, imaging technologies, sensors and diagnostics, and vaccinces. Queensland University’s node will look specifically at understanding biochemical signatures on the surface of tumours without attacking nearby healthy cells, and develop drug therapies based on that understanding.
The centre is being headed by Tom Davis of Monash University. Besides Queensland University, the centre has a range of other national and internation partner institutions. These are Melbourne University, New South Wales University, South Australia University, the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation, Imperial College London, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Nottingham University, University College Dublin, University of California Santa Barbara, Warwick University and University of Wisconsin Madison.
Mark Kendall, director of the Queensland University node, said: “Nanomedicine is revolutionising the way we detect and treat diseases. It is a rapidly emerging field of science and technology. To understand, diagnose and treat living systems requires technologies that interact with the biological environment with nanoscale precision. That is why bio-nano science is generating such excitement, especially in developing new technologies with the potential to revolutionise medicine.”
