Synchrotron funding to support ongoing research

The joint federal-state agreement will provide funding for four years, with a $69 million contribution from the Federal Government and a $26 million contribution from Victoria. New Zealand is also expected to contribute $5 million.

Research conducted at the Australian Synchrotron involves about 500 experiments spanning the science and biotechnology spectrum from medicine to manufacturing.

The funding will allow the continuation of research support for biotechnology, such as:

Monash Bionic Vision Project’s industry partner, miniFAB, which used the Synchrotron to find out whether electrode wires developed to be implanted into the brain, could withstand a high-temperature coating process that was intended to be used to seal the electrodes and make them biocompatible.

The results obtained showed that the electrodes were not biocompatible and thus saved miniFAB $400,000 and four months of development time.

Tasmanian Alkaloids needed help with its process for extracting pharmaceutical ingredients from codeine poppies.

The Synchrotron provided key information on chemical structure by successfully analysing crystals smaller than the grain of the finest table salt, enabling the company to improve its manufacturing processes to ensure consistent delivery of pure high-quality ingredients.