$91 million boost for medical research

Sydney University is contributing $30 million towards the construction of a new education and research centre at the Royal North Shore Hospital (RNS).

"The NSW Government has already invested more than $61 million in the construction of a new purpose-built facility for education and research at Royal North Shore Hospital," said NSW Minister for Health, Reba Meagher.

"We welcome the University of Sydney's decision to contribute funding for an additional four floors of laboratory and administrative space for 200 more researchers."

The new Research and Education Building will be a base of operations for the medical research and clinical teaching groups that are currently scattered across the RNS campus.

"We see the university's contribution as an acknowledgement of the need to create dynamic collaborative environments where our best medical and scientific minds can share knowledge as well as resources," said University of Sydney VC, Professor Gavin Brown.

The Sydney University contribution will allow for the construction of an additional four floors specifically for medical research, allowing the new 10-storey building to accommodate up to 350 researchers.

The building will further RNS's 'bench to bedside' research philosophy, where staff members are engaged in practical research that can be applied to patient care in areas such as pain management, diabetes and cancer care.

Construction of the building will commence early in 2008 and hopefully completed by the end of the year.