10 Cluster 6 Overview
The University of Queensland (UQ) has a strong international reputation in the
Biotechnology field with exceptional achievements in Environmental and Industrial
Biotechnology (1002 and 1003). The capacity in both the 1002 and 1003 areas grew
dramatically in the 2003-2008 period and has continued to do so in the period since.
The scale of UQ’s activity is evidenced by the high profile research centres that have
been established, such as the Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC) working in
Environmental Biotechnology (1002) and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering
and Nanotechnology (AIBN) in Industrial Biotechnology (1003).
The AWMC is a world-leading research centre with more than 90 researchers including
over 30 RHD students working in this highly interdisciplinary area. Environmental
Biotechnology is one of the core areas of expertise, but the AWMC’s activities expand
into environmental & process engineering, microbial sciences and information
technology. Established in 1996, it has grown with increasing grant funding and
industry partnerships. It is now considered one of the leading water-related research
centres nationally and internationally.
The AIBN was established in 2004 and has nineteen group leaders and over 350
researchers including approximately 100 RHD students. The AIBN is a multidisciplinary
institute working in the broad discipline fields of chemistry, biology, engineering and
computational science. Of the nineteen group leaders, six are majorly involved in
biotechnology related research. During the reference period, AIBN hosted: 3 Federation
Fellows; 1 ARC QEII Fellow; 2 Queensland Smart Futures Fellows; and 4 Fellows of
Learned Academies (ATSE and AAS).
The publication records in both 1002 and 1003 areas are very strong, particularly in
terms of quality, having around 83% of all journal publications in A* or A ranked
journals. Indeed, ranked journal list FoR code restrictions have resulted in many key
journal articles being submitted in other FoR codes (e.g. Water Research, Journal of
Chromatography A, Chemical Engineering Science). As an example, UQ has 53 journal
articles in Water Research (A*, coded to 0907, 0799), many of which would be more
accurately classified in 1002. Given that these outputs (and their significant citations)
do not appear under this FoR, the ERA data presented here effectively understate UQ’s
activity in this area.
Biotechnology researchers serve on the editorial boards of international A & A*
journals: Trends in Biotechnology, Biotechnology and Bioengineering and Metabolic
Engineering.
The quality training, research track record and industry connections make UQ an
institution of choice for RHD students. During 2003-08 UQ graduated 37 biotechnology
RHD students. Numbers remain strong with 50 current RHD enrolments in the field.
1002 Environmental Biotechnology combines the leading microbial science skills
with the innovative engineering expertise to provide technological understanding and
solutions for man-made and natural bio-processes. UQ’s strength in this area is built on
the initiative and achievements of truly interdisciplinary researchers from both science
and engineering backgrounds and is particularly focused on the water and wastewater
field. The latter is one of the dominant environmental biotechnology industries
worldwide, as demonstrated by the huge number of installations and the large size of
biological wastewater treatment processes. UQ has taken on a leading role in this field
under the direction of Profs Keller, Yuan (and others) with strong emphasis on both
leading scientific discoveries and industry-focused collaborations. APF Keller is
internationally renowned as a leader in the biological nutrient process technologies and
more recently the microbial fuel cell field. Together with emerging research leader Dr
Korneel Rabaey, he is taking this technology to new levels by generating industrial
chemicals from wastewater streams (under commercialisation via UQ company
Bilexys). Yuan is an expert on bioprocess modeling and optimisation, including leading
research in sewer bio-transformations, which are responsible for odour and corrosion
problems costing several billion dollars per year in Australia alone. The latter expertise
is being commercialized via SeweX, a UQ spin-out company.
1003 Industrial Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field of research aimed at
generating technological understanding to facilitate the translation of life science from
bench to industry. UQ’s success in this area can be demonstrated through the traditional
academic indicators as well as the translational indicators that show evidence of the
value of our research capability to industry.
UQ is the only Australian institution with a critical-mass across the full spectrum of
industrial biotechnology research, encompassing the manufacture of products ranging
from biopharmaceuticals to biorenewable chemicals. Institutional breadth and depth is
evidenced by the activities of senior (Level E) researchers assigned to this code, their
national and international reach, and their natural synergy. For example, in
biopharmaceuticals research, Prof Gray is an international leader in biopharmaceutical
expression using engineered cell lines, while Prof Middelberg is an international leader
in the recovery of biopharmaceuticals following expression. Both Profs Gray and
Middelberg are Fellows of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and
have been listed by Engineers Australia as amongst the Top 100 Most Influential
Engineers in Australia.
UQ’s strength, size and facilities in biopharmaceuticals were in part responsible for the
decision of DSM Biologics to move into Australia to operate a large scale GMP facility. At
the other end of the industrial biotechnology spectrum, renewable chemicals, Professor
Lars Nielsen’s research in systems biotechnology has attracted a great deal of interest
from global industry groups for its potential to convert sugar to renewable chemicals,
with funding of $5.4M. Also within the field of renewable surfactants, Professor
Middelberg has designed technology that won the 2006 TechConnect award in Boston
(USA) in open competition with 120 international competitors and was licensed into a
startup company (Pepfactants Pty Ltd).
For industrial biotechnology UQ has attracted significant research funding for applied
and industry focused projects. Approximately 70% of the total research funding
recorded for this area is for industry related and CRC projects. Of the Australian
Competitive Grant funding (32% of total funding) 83% has been awarded from industry
funded or related schemes such as the ARC Linkage-Project scheme, demonstrating
translational impact.
The research teams are connected internationally with world leaders in industrial
biotechnology through collaborative research partnerships with institutions such as
Cambridge and Oxford in the UK and KAIST in Korea. Significant industrial interactions
include DOW Chemicals, Boeing and Amyris ($4M).
The strength and relevance of the UQ group is further evidenced by the establishment of
major national research facilities including 2 major NCRIS Facilities (award value
$13M)– NCRIS Metabolomics and Biotechnology Products. The NCRIS facility in
Metabolomics and Fluxomics has rapidly established themselves as a leading global
group in the systems biology field of using ‘omics’ data to understand cellular
metabolism. The NCRIS Biotechnology Product group provides expertise to carry out
cell line and process developments necessary to translate laboratory results into
potential new biopharmaceuticals. Further acknowledging UQ strength and critical
mass, the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) established its Queensland Node of
operations at UQ in 2008.
Industry collaboration is also a core element of the 1002 FoR. As such, over 50% of the
research projects undertaken by researchers in this field are in direct collaboration with
industry partners. Much of this collaboration is coming from “repeat business” driven
by the tangible benefits achieved for industry from the research. A key example is the
$8M ARC Linkage project ($4.7M ARC, $3.3M industry partner cash) on “Optimal
management of corrosion and odour problems in sewer systems”, which is supported
by most of the large water utilities across Australia based on the success of a previous,
smaller ARC LP and the multi-million dollar benefits achieved from that project. UQ is
also a key partner in the Environmental Biotechnology CRC and has worked repeatedly
with major agro-industry groups such as Meat & Lifestock Australia (MLA) or Pork
Australia Limited to help resolve some key environmental issues. The leading
reputation of UQ research in this area has also created strong international
collaborations. This includes direct participation in two EU FP6 projects, which includes
several staff exchanges and visits from leading European researchers to UQ.
The fields of Agricultural Biotechnology (1001) and Medical Biotechnology (1004) remain
below the threshold as research in these areas is focused in specific areas and thus related
research outputs have been included in other fields, such as the underpinning sciences.