Research Excellence

Global Leadership in Research

In the sixteen years of its existence, the IMB has risen to become a global leader in life sciences research in the rich context of the University of Queensland. The depth and quality of our research has contributed to UQ’s position as one of the top twenty institutions in the world for life sciences research. Below is just a snapshot of our success in 2016.

Research Funding

Newly awarded grants commencing in 2016 totalled $38 million. Here are some funding highlights for 2016:

$2.3M grant awarded from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation to establish the new ACRF Cancer Ultrastructure and Function Facility
The facility will transform the visualization of cancer development in living cells. Combined with ARC funding, this facility will house 3D and 4D technologies including the Lattice Light Sheet microscope, of which there are just a few in the world.
$10M awarded from the National Health and Medical Research Foundation
From discovery projects and development grants that drive the translation of our research discoveries to support industry need – to fellowships that foster the career development of scientists to support further translation of research outcomes into practice.
$4.5M awarded from the Australian Research Council
Funding was awarded to IMB to lead a range of groundbreaking discovery research projects. Funded projects will explore growing and regenerating damaged heart tissue, reveal the inner workings of our innate immune system, use big data to investigate the biological content in our soil and water, and establish Queensland’s first Lattice Light Sheet Microscope facility.
Establishment of the Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Facility for Producing Pharmaceuticals in Plants, made possible through a $1M Ramaciotti Biomedical Research Award
Using plants as ‘biofactories’ for producing next-generation pharmaceuticals, this Facility will produce pharmaceuticals in plants. New drugs will be incorporated into novel plant products such as seeds, medicinal teas and foods, where they have the potential to dramatically improve the lives of patients who cannot afford current medications, or cannot tolerate the effects of their complicated treatment regimes.
IMB is a partner in the ARC Training Centre for Biopharmaceutical Innovation
This Centre was established to transform Australia’s growing biopharmaceutical industry, by driving the discovery and manufacturing of new biopharmaceuticals. The Centre combines the research and development, and manufacturing expertise and capabilities of industry partners and The University of Queensland.

Professor David Craik with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Facility opening

Research Fellows

IMB supported 40 external competitive research fellowships in 2016. These included 1 ARC Laureate and 4 NHMRC Senior Professorial Research Fellowships, recognising the highest calibre innovative researchers in Australia.

7 ARC Future Fellows
15 NHMRC Research Fellows
5 NHMRC Career Development Fellows
3 NHMRC Early Career Fellows
1 NHMRC/Heart Foundation Career Development Fellow
1 NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow
5 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA)
1 The Viertel Charitable Foundation Senior Medical Research Fellowship
1 John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellow
1 Motor Neuro Disease Research Institute of Australia Inc Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Experts

Since inception, 11 of our Faculty have risen to become Fellows of the Academies of Sciences. Seven of those are still resident within the Institute: Professors David Craik, Peter Koopman, Grant Montgomery (NZ; Honorary), Rob Parton, Peter Visscher, Naomi Wray.

Professors Grant Montgomery, Peter Visscher, Phil Hugenholtz and Dr Mark Butler were named as some of the world’s most influential researchers in 2016, as measured by the Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) Highly Cited Researchers list. The annual list recognises leading researchers who rank in the top one per cent by citations for their field.

Professors Peter Visscher and Naomi Wray were recognised as some of the top referees for Nature Research in 2016, a measure of services provided by our researchers to the scientific community and a critical element in disseminating groundbreaking research to the global community.

Professor Grant Montgomery – Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (NZ; Honorary)

Research Awards

In 2016 many IMB researchers received awards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to research.

Dr Joseph Powell was awarded the Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research.
Professor Peter Koopman was awarded with a 17^th Royan International Research Award in Reproductive Biomedicine by the Royan Institute.
Associate Professor Ben Hogan was awarded the 2016 Emerging Leader Award from the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Development Biology (ANZSCDB).
Dr Markus Muttenthaler received the Miklós Bodanszky Award for his significant contributions to peptide-based drug research.
Dr Muttenthaler received a Ferring Innovation Award from Ferring Research Institute Inc to further a peptide-based drug research project in reproductive health.
IMB’s Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD) team received an award for research at the UK Antibiotic Guardian Awards.
Professor Kirill Alexandrov received a National Health and Medical Research Council Research Excellence Awards for his research into developing personal diagnostic devices.
Associate Professor Brett Collins was awarded the Merck Research Medal from the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).
Early Career Researcher Dr Rebecca Coll was awarded the 2016 Research Australia Discovery Award.

Dr Markus Muttenthaler received a Ferring Innovation Award and Miklós Bodanszky Award in 2016

Research Innovation

IMB spinout Protagonist was listed on the NASDAQ in 2016, raising A$118M in its initial public offering, and awarded Australian Company of the Year.

Inflazome Ltd, a company founded on inflammatory disease research at IMB, closed a Series A financing round of up to A$22M to develop better treatments for inflammatory disorders including Parkinson’s disease and asthma.

Seven new patents were filed in 2016, bringing the total of patent families managed to 38.

IMB Early Career Researchers participated in Brisbane’s 2016 HealthHack and took away first and third prize.

“Inflammation researchers Associate Professor Kate Schroder (member of Scientific Advisory Board for Inflazome Ltd) and Dr Rebecca Co

Outstanding performance

Since 2006, the National Health and Medical Research Council has been celebrating the outstanding achievements of Australia’s most talented health and medical researchers for their outstanding performance and excellence in health and medical research and innovation.

“Of all human endeavours, health and medical research has some of the greatest potential to improve the quality of human life. The current era is one of unparalleled promise in our quest to understand, prevent, manage and cure previously intractable diseases.” — NHMRC CEO Professor Anne Kelso

Researchers from the IMB has been selected for an award in almost every year since 2010 for the quality of their research applications and for the quality of the impact of their results.