$20m For Immunology Centre

by Jacqueline Andrews

May 9, 2007

Murdoch University has received a $19.5 million funding boost from the Commonwealth, to help build a research centre in immunology and infectious diseases.

The money is part of the $5 billion Higher Education Endowment Fund announced in last night’s federal budget.

The Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases (IIID) will include Professor Simon Mallal and his team from the Centre for Clinical Immunology and Biomedical Statistics (CCIBS), based at Royal Perth Hospital and Murdoch University.

“Some of [our] research has been very much constrained from lack of facilities,” Professor Mallal said today.
 
Professor Mallal is known internationally for making large advancements in HIV research, including a discovery that the virus mutates itself to avoid the immune system recognising it.

Professor Mallal said the facility will attract high levels of expertise and will allow his team to continue research with new and highly acclaimed professionals in the field.

“The institute will act as a magnet,” Professor Mallal said.

Some of the areas of research that Professor Mallal and his team hope to continue, include exploration of HIV vaccines, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and personalised medicine.

Professor Mallal said the new facility would improve many aspects of exploration into immunology and allow more advancements to be made.

The $19.5 million from the federal budget will help defer the $64 million cost of the institute and Murdoch University is undertaking a major capital fundraising campaign.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), which represents university staff, today welcomed the higher education budget, including the endowment fund for capital works.

But the NTEU said lifting the cap on full fee paying places will have significant equity and debt implications.