Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB)

The University of Queensland

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The Institute for Molecular Bioscience is a multidisciplinary scientific research institute committed to improving quality of life through research and translation. IMB has four research centres focusing on pain, rare diseases, inflammation, and superbugs. These centres bring together research, industry, clinical and community collaborators to help solve these important global health challenges. IMB scientists also conduct research in the areas of cancer, diabetes and obesity, cardiovascular biology, agriculture, and clean energy. Our researchers discover the fundamental mechanisms of biology and human disease, and translates these findings into new drugs and diagnostics for global health and improved products and processes for industry and the environment. The institute works with UniQuest to translate its discoveries into outcomes of benefit to industry and the community.

Website http://www.imb.uq.edu.au

Key science sectors

• Advanced manufacturing
• Biotechnology
• Energy
• Environment and nature
• Food and agriculture
• Health and medical
• ICT and multimedia
• Life sciences

Strengths and capabilities

• Chemistry and structural biology
• Developmental biology
• Cell biology and molecular medicine
• Drug discovery, development, delivery and consultancy
• Medical and computational genomics
• Bioinformatics
• Bioimaging
• Natural products and molecular biodiscovery
• Molecular engineering
• Bioinspired design

Facilities and major equipment

• ACRF Cancer Biology Imaging Facility
• Biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility
• Mass Spectrometry Facility
• Queensland Facility for Advanced Genome Editing
• QFAB Bioinformatics
• Solar Biofuels Research Centre
• UQROCX Crystallisation Facility
• Bioinformatics Resource Australia of EMBL Australia (BRAEMBL)
• Centre for Drug Discovery and Design

Number of research staff

300-500 research staff

Address

Queensland Bioscience Precinct (Building 80), The University of Queensland, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, 4072

Lead researchers

• Professor David Craik—Discovered circular peptides in plants
• Professor Robert Parton—Discovered cell 'caves' as mechanosensors in muscle
• Professor Peter Koopman—Discovered male sex determining genes

Achievements of the centre

• Developing new drugs from venom peptides
• Developing circular peptides as platforms for drug delivery and insecticides in agriculture
• Cancer and rare diseases genomics
• In 2015 IMB had 344 scientific publications, including 44 high-impact publications (impact factor >10)
• 298 global collaborations
• 35 patent families managed
• 10 ARC Linkage Projects with industry partners

Organisation type

• University Research Institute