A recent $20m investment from the Commonwealth has led to the development of Plant SynBio Australia (PSBA), a network of facilities with nodes at Adelaide University, Australian National University, La Trobe University and University of Western Australia.
PSBA is set to provide plant synthetic biology infrastructure and expertise which will drive accelerated gains in agricultural productivity, and development of new products through environmentally sustainable bio-manufacturing.
PSBA – Adelaide University in partnership with Bioplatforms Australia (BPA) and the South Australian State Government, enables plant synthetic biology services for agricultural crops, as well as for synthetic biology projects in ‘model’ plants. It provides infrastructure and expertise for research provider government and industry institutions as fee-for-service in addition to providing incubation space for the start-up community and opportunities to collaborate. The facility provides capability across the synthetic biology cycle including design of molecular componentry, genetic editing and transformation, and the phenotypic evaluation of the bio-designed plants.
The Waite Research Precinct hosts several R&D organisations, nodes and centres enabling synergies, critical mass and a rich network of collaborations, including a strong partnership with PSBA and Adelaide University’s Waite Research Institute.
The PSBA investment was provided by the Commonwealth Government via the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) as part of a larger $55m ‘Step Change’ investment to enable synthetic biology across industrial fermentation, plant agriculture, medical research, and biosecurity domains. The investment is managed by Bioplatforms Australia, a non-profit organisation that supports Australian life science research by investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure and expertise in genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, synthetic biology and bioinformatics.
