EMBL Australia

2012 has been a busy and important year for EMBL Australia.

As required by the then Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, a review was conducted of the progress made by EMBL Australia since Australia was accepted as the first Associate Member of EMBL in 2008.

Significant achievements for EMBL Australia in 2011 included the establishment of the first two EMBL Australia Partner Laboratories (under group leaders Edwina McGlinn and Nicolas Plachta at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University) and the launch and commencement of operation of the EMBL Australia Mirror of the EMBL-EBI at The University of Queensland.

2010 was a seminal year in the EMBL Australia initiative. Our official launch by Minister Carr in March coincided with the announcement of several key developments. These developments included the appointments of our Scientific Head and first Partner Laboratory Group Leaders, along with the announcement of a second node and associated national network for bioinformaticians.

The vision for EMBL Australia is bold and ambitious. It aims to build on Australia’s strengths in biological research and biotechnology to maintain and grow our international position in these areas. Specifically, we aim to:

> Stimulate Australian research through local integrated networks that link with global partnerships.
> Drive enhanced research quality through the development of world-class scientific leaders.
> Boost Australia’s international competitiveness in the life sciences and strengthen our emerging position as a leader in the biotechnology industry.

The first year of the Australian Associate Membership of EMBL has seen signicant progress on a number of fronts.