In coordination with the International Conference on Research Infrastructures 2024 (ICRI 2024), the 16th Meeting of the GSO was held at The University of Queensland Brisbane City (UQBC), on Thursday 5 – Friday 6 December.
As a side event of this meeting, the GSO delegation had the opportunity to visit six National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) projects located at The University of Queensland (UQ) St Lucia campus on Monday 9 December. Professor Alan Rowan, Director of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology welcomed delegates and provided an introduction.
The GSO on research infrastructures is a working group under the G7. The Group serves the shared policy goals of its member countries in ensuring that world-class Research Infrastructures are available to promote high-quality research. This, in particular, is important in areas that require international cooperation on global challenges or where it makes sense to pool investments to secure the best value for money. The GSO is composed of representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, the UK, the USA, and the European Commission. Participating countries are represented on the GSO by government officials and experts in the areas of international research infrastructures and international relations.
Delegates visited six NCRIS projects:
Phenomics Australia, Microscopy Australia, Bioplatforms Australia, Therapeutic Innovation Australia, Australian National Fabrication Facility, and the National Imaging Facility.
These six NCRIS projects support different types of Research Infrastructures (RIs) at the same institution, and the visit explored how they use the networked nature of NCRIS to foster close collaborative relationships across RIs and research institutions. These projects cover disease modelling and therapeutic development, bioengineering, nanofabrication and nanotechnology, and advanced imaging and microscopy.
The immersive tour guided by the Phenomics Australia UQ in-vitro Genome Engineering and Disease Modelling Service (IGEDMS)’s expert team led by Phenomics Australia Scientific Director Prof. Ernst Wolvetang offered a firsthand look into cutting-edge laboratories and the latest technological marvels, providing a glimpse into the solutions that they offer to assist researchers and the biopharmaceutical industry to use pluripotent stem cells to study and test the impact of genetic mutations on disease.
We extend a cordial invitation to the GSO to return to our facilities soon, where we anticipate sharing even more groundbreaking developments to share and explore together. We look forward to their continuing interest in Phenomics Australia and NCRIS.
Images credit to: Alex druce, AIBN
