An Australian leader in plant biotechnology, Professor Tony Bacic has been appointed as the next Director of the University of Melbourne’s flagship biotechnology facility – the Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute (Bio21 Institute).
Professor Bacic has been Interim Director since January 2008. His appointment as Director is for five years.
University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis congratulated Professor Bacic on his appointment. “We are fortunate to have a scientist of the calibre of Tony Bacic to lead this Institute which is set at the cutting-edge of biotechnology research. I have no doubt we will continue to see significant achievements in biotechnology emerge at the Institute over coming years.”
Professor Bacic says that since joining Bio21 in 2008 he has experienced first-hand the impressive facilities and scientific advances that have positioned the Institute as a flagship biotechnology research centre of excellence.
Now in its fifth year of operation, the Bio21 Institute is the University’s contribution to Victoria’s biotechnology project located in the heart of the ‘Parkville Biosciences Precinct’.
Professor Bacic believes the Institute has cemented its place as a ‘hub’ for bringing together academia, industry and the broader community, and is excited about the Institute’s future.
“The Bio21 Institute has grown and transformed to meet the needs of its research environment and will continue to do so as several new facilities in the Precinct that are either under construction now or just getting underway, come online in the next few years,” he says.
Today, with more than 500 University and industry researchers, the Institute accommodates a range of high-end platform technologies and a plethora of opportunities for developing new teaching, research and knowledge transfer programs.
Recent highlights include the establishment with the School of Botany of the $9.6 million national infrastructure facility, Metabolomics Australia; relocation of the clinical research-based Women’s Centre for Infectious Diseases; expansion of platform technologies in frontier areas of metabolomics and proteomics; and fostering collaborations with industry members including CSL Ltd whose research and development group are now integrated within Bio21.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Peter Rathjen says the Bio21 Institute will continue to play a key role in coordinating and supporting the development of a wide range of biotechnology programs aimed at tackling society’s broader issues.
Professor Rathjen paid tribute to the founding Director of the Bio21 Institute, Professor Dick Wettenhall, who retired in 2007. “Where we are today is due to the outstanding vision, energy and leadership of Dick Wettenhall, who through his foresight from concept to implementation, laid the foundations for establishing the Institute,” he said.
“The Bio21 Institute is a fine example of the effect that critical mass can have on innovation, where the energy and vision of each of the participating facilities in the Parkville Precinct inspires and encourages others, leading to collaborative outcomes greater than the sum of their parts.”
The institute brings the University and industry colleagues together across medicine, science and engineering in a multidisciplinary approach to research, education and training. This enables the Institute’s researchers to work in frontier fields of health-related biotechnology and translate their ideas, discoveries and knowledge into benefits for the community – and economic prosperity for the state.
About Professor Tony Bacic
Professor Tony Bacic holds a Personal Chair in the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences (FAA).
He leads the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics team at the University of Melbourne and is a member of the Executive Management Group of that Centre. He is Director of the Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, Platform Convenor of the NCRIS-funded, Metabolomics Australia, and he is on Management Committees of Bioplatforms Australia Ltd, the Australian Proteomics Computational Facility, and the Integrative Neuroscience Facility Platform.
Professor Bacic is a member of the Board of the Maud Gibson Trust of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
His research is focused on the structure, function and biosynthesis of plant cell walls and their biotechnological application as well as the application of functional genomics tools to abiotic stress and productivity in cereals.
