Bioplatforms Australia – established as a non-profit company by the Australian Government in 2007 to build a national research infrastructure network and promote increased collaboration and integration between scientists – has been announced as a partner in our ‘Yeast 2.0’ synthetic yeast project.

“The sponsorship of Bioplatforms Australia will drive forward Macquarie’s ambitious research agenda,” said Professor Sakkie Pretorius, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).

Laboratory Manager (Synthetic Biology) Dr Natalie Curach from the Department of Chemistry and Bimolecular Sciences says the partnership provides exposure for our state of the art facilities and the cutting edge research the University is about to embark upon, while also opening up collaborative opportunities with other researchers.

“This is a new field,” said Dr Curach. “It has only become possible with an amalgamation of advances in computing and chemistry and molecular biology.”

Looking ahead, Dr Curach says we need to keep the wider community abreast of advances in science and provide education to dispel irrational fears and provide logical debate on the real risks and how these are handled.

“We also need to be imaginative about the applications and the new possibilities offered by these advances,” she added.

Read more about the partnership in the newsroom.