2011 Strategic Roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure

Section C: Current investments
A brief description of the existing funded facilities is provided at Attachment C.
In the health and medical research fields, current nationally funded capabilities
include: population health data linkage, proteomics, metabolomics, genomics,
bioinformatics, phenomics, biomedical imaging as well as microscopy.
These platforms operate as a national network and variously provide open access
to meritorious researchers or access to member institutions. They are generally
well equipped and have considerable operating expertise. These platforms, some
still in their relative infancy, certainly appear to be serving their local communities
very well, however, a number are yet to engage the broader research community
and thus have some way to go to achieve true national network status.
Current investments in the Population Health Research Network through NCRIS
and Super Science are building a national infrastructure for population health and
health services research using linked administrative data. The scope and
population coverage of this infrastructure supports research to explore health
differentials, geographic and spatial aspects of health, and the effectiveness of
health and aged care services. There is potential to expand this infrastructure to
support ongoing linkages with clinical trials, registries and the addition of biological
data. Such development would dramatically expand the community of researchers
using the infrastructure, as well as the scope and impact of the resulting research.
Some of this infrastructure will be addressed through the implementation of the
Translating Health Discovery (THD) project (below) and the recommendations of
the recent Clinical Trials Action Group (CTAG) report 21 to expand and develop
support for clinical trials registries through the National Health and Medical
Research Council (NHMRC).
The THD project is a two part investment forming an integral part of a broad vision
aimed at achieving higher rates of translation of Australia’s therapeutic discoveries
into clinical applications. Translational health research can be loosely defined as
‘the process of applying ideas, insights and discoveries generated through basic
scientific discovery to the treatment or prevention of human disease. The THD
project will address the research stage, manufacture of products for trials (e.g.
microbial, human and animal cell products, development of pharmaceutical
products and the conduct of clinical trials).
2.C.1
What are your views on the existing funded facilities, including their ability
to meet the current and future research needs?
21
http://www.innovation.gov.au/Industry/PharmaceuticalsandHealthTechnologies/ClinicalTrialsActionGroup/Documents/CTAG
_Report.pdf
22