TIA forms and maintains partnerships that add value to research infrastructure and drive industry engagement
TIA plays a convening role in the therapeutic development ecosystem, connecting related organisations that support research translation and seeking to form new joint initiatives that add value to research infrastructure. We have partnerships with the Medical Research Future Fund, MTPConnect, the global Translation Together consortium and related NCRIS projects.
The Western Australian Government supports TIA-enabled facilities through the Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund, with $2 million committed to the RNA Innovation Foundry at The University of Western Australia and Cell and Tissue Therapies WA to support critical salaries and equipment. This investment strengthens Western Australia’s capability in advanced therapeutics and supports the translation of RNA, cell and gene therapies from research through to clinical and commercial application.
The Queensland Government has been a longstanding supporter of TIA-enabled research infrastructure through a $2 million investment from its Research Infrastructure Co-investment Fund (RICF), helping build translational research capability across the state. Current support includes $3 million towards the development of the BASE mRNA Facility and the National Biologics Facility at The University of Queensland, strengthening Queensland’s capability in biologics, RNA therapeutics and vaccine development.
TIA is a proud financial supporter of MedChem Australia, a national drug discovery initiative that works with the Australian biomedical research community and guides early-stage projects through the critical value creation steps where ‘hits’ are optimised to drug candidates with enhanced commercial value and clinical potential.
TIA has been working with partner global translational research infrastructure organisations since September 2017 to develop a Global Translational Research Consortium known as Translation Together.
Translation Together is a collaboration of leading translational research organisations from the USA, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Australia, the UK and the European Union. Collectively, we leverage our complementary scientific and operational strengths, our shared insight of the challenges facing translation, and our collective voice to advance the science and understanding of biomedical translation.
Translational science is a new field with boundless promise to transform biomedical research and medicine. Understanding the translational process will provide a foundation for more science-driven, predictive and effective development of treatment and prevention strategies for all diseases.
Members of Translation Together have recently collaborated to answer the question: “What makes a translational scientist?”. This resulted in a vision of the ideal translational scientist that encompasses seven important characteristics (see below), and was published in ACS Pharmacology and Translational Science.
Health and medical researchers investigate solutions to complex problems that are often not easily solved by a single discipline. The NCRIS Health Group is aimed at enabling them collaboratively throughout the translational process.
TIA has brought together three of its Queensland-based small molecule translational research facilities to support a vibrant pipeline of novel medicines. Our aim is to streamline enhanced and interconnected access by academic and industry groups across TIA’s network of drug discovery capabilities and expertise, bridging the early stages of development. The three facilities are Compounds Australia at Griffith University’s Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, the Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative (QEDDI), a business unit of UniQuest, and the Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development (CIPDD) at the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland.
The New South Wales Government has supported TIA-enabled infrastructure through its historical NCRIS Support Program, which provided $3.5 million investment to three NSW-based facilities to ensure that each retain a cutting edge capability in therapeutic development. This enduring support has helped establish nationally significant translational research capabilities and continues to benefit researchers and industry partners working to advance therapeutic innovation.
TIA is one of the foundation contributor of the Academy for Collaborative Research Infrastructure, an independent, not-for-profit, organisation established to serve the research infrastructure community.
TIA partners with AUScelerate (previously MTPConnect) in accelerating the rate of growth of the medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector in Australia. We provide access to NCRIS research infrastructure that assists the researchers in developing their medical products. The partnership includes TIA involvement in the Clinical Translation and Commercialisation Medtech Program, to identify and nurture high-quality medical device projects that have commercial potential – and support their translation through early clinical trials. Other project partners include the Medical Technology Association of Australia, the Medical Device Partnering Program, Cicada Innovations and BridgeTech Program. We have also established a partnership with the Australian Antimicrobial Resistance Network, leveraging our Pipeline Accelerator voucher scheme to support access to TIA facilities for projects seeking new treatments to combat emerging antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
TIA is a critical player among NCRIS infrastructure projects in ensuring the maximum value of projects funded through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
The MRFF is a major source of support and funding for research and clinical trials, aiming to transform health and medical advances and innovations to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to health system sustainability.
We provide MRFF-funded projects with ready-to-access services and advice, as well as negating the need to develop internal capabilities to serve a single project.
As well as supporting applications, TIA is partnering and co-funding select strategic MRFF programs. We leveraged our Pipeline Accelerator access voucher framework to support the MRFF’s 2021 mRNA Clinical Trial Enabling Infrastructure opportunity – a scheme supporting companies and consortia applying to the government’s Approach to Market to establish onshore mRNA manufacturing.