Big bucks for infrastructure in latest ARC round

Life science related infrastructure projects have been funded to the tune of nearly $10.5 million in the latest round of Australian Research Council linkage, infrastructure and equipment (LIEF) grants.

The grants range in size from $100,000 for a quantitative PCR facility based at the University of New England, to a massive $1.584 million fillip awarded to a consortium of five NSW and ACT universities for a NMR spectrometer for molecular structure function analysis.

The LIEF grant scheme is designed to encourage research institutions to collaborate, develop research infrastructures and form large-scale cooperative initiatives.

Notable recipients in the latest round include:

• A grant of $500,000 to a group headed by Prof Perry Bartlett of the university of Queensland, Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology to develop a cell sorter facility for neuroscience and related biotechnology.
• $630,000 for a joint facility for plant genetic analysis and gene discovery in WA, headed by Prof Mike Jones and colleagues at Murdoch University and the University of WA.
• A grant of $500,000 for the developmenmt of a South Australian supercomputing facility, whose partners include the University of Adelaide, Flinders University, the University of South Australia and Northern Territory University.
• $630,000 for a functional genomics analysis facility to improve DNA analysis and data management between five universities in the Sydney and Newcastle area.
• $218,000 for the establishment of the Adelaide Mass Spectrometry Facility, involving the University of Adelaide, Flinders University, the Institute for Medical and veterinary Science and TGR Biosciences.
• A grant of $400,000 for a high-performance computing and web facility for genome bioinformatics between the University of Queensland and QUT.

More information is available on the ARC web site: www.arc.gov.au.