Discovery is the engine room of innovation
Professor Brandon Wainwright, director since December 2006 of The University of Queensland’s $105 million Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) talks with Don Kirkwood.
Professor Wainwright, known internationally for his research into cancer and cystic fibrosis, joined the university in 1990 as a senior lecturer in the Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, a predecessor of the IMB. From 1984 to 1990 he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of London, having completed his university studies at the University of Adelaide.
What is your most important responsibility as director of the IMB?
My main role is setting the overall research agenda. Allocating funds to research programs and making new appointments are also important functions of the director.
We have about 450 people here, of whom 130 are PHD students, so we’re training an awful lot of new people who will take us forward. Our people come from around 30 countries and as our international reputation continues to grow we are increasingly seeing excellent researchers from all over the world approach us for positions.
When I came to UQ in 1990 it was seen as an Institution which could give an opportunity to a young researcher. I came here as a fairly junior researcher but what happened was most unusual – I was given a lab and the attitude was, ‘we’ll see how you go.’ It was a very supportive, risk-taking environment – a giant land of opportunity, and it still is.
What is the main thrust of your approach to research?
Research that stays in the lab is research that never happened. Discovery is the engine room of innovation and we’ve got to take our results forward to commercialisation whenever possible.
We require research of the highest calibre and if there’s an opportunity to move to the applied level we must do so. We’re funded by the taxpayers – we are responsible to them and they are entitled to expect a return on their investment whenever possible.
How does the IMB approach commercialisation?
That most commonly occurs in three ways – by charging fees for research services, licensing, or forming our own companies.
We have our own commercialisation arm, IMBcom, which has a staff of 15 whose sole focus is to identify business opportunities. We’ve spun off a number of companies that employ from three to 50 people, ranging from a company that’s identified molecules for pain relief from cone shells to stem cell research into kidney diseases.
What are the IMB’s major sources of revenue?
We compete for federal funding with other Australian research organisations and we fare rather better than the average. We receive some philanthropic funding for our ongoing research and local private individuals are beginning to finance some research programs.
We receive significant financial support from The University of Queensland. But without our core funding from the Queensland Government we couldn’t hope to compete internationally. Our good people would go.
We have recently passed our first quinquennial review with flying colours and as a result the Premier announced during the last election that our funding will be extended for a further five years, making a total commitment by the Queensland State Government of around $130 million over 15 years.
In conclusion?
Here we have the best equipped institute of its kind in Australia, a world-class institution that’s gaining an international reputation for excellence.
Researchers from the IMB are invited to deliver important papers at conferences all around the world and their research and commercialisation activities are international best practice.
Now we’re moving to another stage – over the next two years we’ll be hiring the next generation 30 year-olds for a number of new programs and, just as happened to me in 1990, we’ll give them a go.
And the best thing is, that after only six years of operation, we don’t have to try hard to convince the best people that IMB, UQ and Queensland is the place to be!
Website: http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/
Last reviewed 5 September 2007
