In 2004 a proposal was submitted to the Queensland Government. In 2007 this progressed to project design. Five years on and $354 million in funding from the Australian and Queensland Governments, The Atlantic Philanthropies, UQ and QUT, TRI became operational and four institutes came together to populate one very special facility. 

Designed by Wilson Architects + Donovan Hill and built by WATPAC, TRI is a 32,000 square metre building making it the largest medical research institute in the southern hemisphere. 

It includes four floors of laboratory research plus facilities for research support, administration and teaching. A bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing facility led by Patheon with fermentation capacity is adjacent to the main TRI building. 

Patheon will assist new biological drug developers and provide cutting-edge technical and economical methods for producing clinical grade biopharmaceutical compounds.

TRI’s ‘bench to bedside’ concept has been made a reality by these onsite facilities:

Core facilities
•    Biomedical research facility with capacity for 12,000 cages
•    Flow Cytometry
•    Animal/preclinical imaging
•    Microscopy and imaging
•    Histology
•    The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Genetics
•    Proteomics
•    Metabolomics
•    Three commercial tenant modules

Lab research facilities
•    14 research modules for 50 scientists each across four levels
•    Equipment space, wet lab and consultant offices

Teaching, meeting and venue hire spaces
•    UQ School of Medicine and School of Nursing and Midwifery
•    SPARQ-ed education facility (Students Performing Advanced Research Queensland) 
•    Offices, tutorial rooms and meeting spaces
•    A 250-seat auditorium and adjoining seminar rooms
•    Social spaces including a large leafy atrium, café and staff tearooms.

Operational facilities
•    Data centre with capacity of 100 racks
•    Centralised multifunctional devices and printers including teleconferencing facilities
•    Patheon bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with fermentation capacity
•    Clean fill and finish
•    Central reception area  

Clinical Research Facilities (bookable facilities)
•    Four-bed research ward, two four-person observation rooms, nutritional assessment room, including clinical consulting and investigation rooms (multipurpose)
•    Clinical Research Office spaces
•    Biostatistics