National bioinformatics network gathers speed

National bioinformatics network gathers speed HS A national bioinformatics network has been established following a $2.2 million grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

The creation of the Australian Medical Bioinformatics Resource (AMBeR) is being led by Professor Lyle Palmer from the Laboratory for Genetic Epidemiology at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR).

"It is designed to bring people out of other fields of science into medical research -- to train them into using cutting edge statistical and bioinformatic information to help crack genetic codes of complex human diseases," said Palmer.

"These disciplines will also be critical to enable Australian business to participate in building a new knowledge-based biotechnology industry. There hasn't been a national training facility and these are two critical enabling industries which will help to impact on public health -- it will transform drug discovery.

"We have a fantastic capacity in the laboratory -- we can produce vast amounts of information but the bottleneck has become how to analyse the data and advance our understanding of common disease," he said.

The funding -- allocated for a five year period from January 2006 -- has enabled the creation of eight new postdoctoral fellowships in statistical genetics and medical informatics across Australia which will be advertised shortly.

"It is primarily a training capability where we will enable new statistical and bioinformatics methods and tools to be developed. It will be a real network where all the AMBeR fellows will have training and will and transfer this expertise to the medical research community," said Palmer.

"There's no doubt AMBeR will aid the discovery and use of genetic and environmental factors influencing diseases including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, and mental health."

Co-collaborators in the project are the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, and the Menzies Institute in Hobart, who along with WAIMR will host AMBeR fellows