Accelerating biofuels research

UNSW's internationally recognised research in biofuels has been given an added boost with a $3 million infrastructure upgrade funded by the state and federal governments.

The revamped Recombinant Products Laboratory and Biofuels Research Laboratory have been opened by the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry, Richard Marles and the NSW Minister for Science and Medical Research, Jodie McKay.

The Biofuels Research Laboratory is a leader in new "second generation" technology for converting non-food based cellulosic biomass to ethanol. Based in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences and led by Professor Peter Rogers, it has an international reputation in the biofuels field.

The Recombinant Products Facility, led by Dr Chris Marquis, provides services in cell engineering, bioprocess development, fermentation, cell culture and protein purification to the Australian research community and industry. It represents one of four such "nodes" to provide a coordinated national research infrastructure capability.

Recombinant proteins and antibodies are of great significance to biological and biomedical research, drug discovery and also form the basis of many new medical therapies.

The facilities received financial support under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy program and the NSW State Leverage Funds.

Read the full story at the Faculty of Science website.

Media contact: Dan Gaffney | 0411 156 015 | d.gaffney@unsw.edu.au