Ausbiotech 2018 Conference - Wrap-up
Attended by over 1000 Australian and international delegates across the biotechnology industry, this year’s AusBiotech conference was hosted at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from 31st October to 2nd November 2018. As Australia’s largest life science conference, it was a fantastic opportunity to showcase The Translational Research Institute’s (TRI) state-of-the-art core facilities, clinical trial capabilities and commercial start-up incubator facilities.
The TRI exhibit at AusBiotech 2018 was visited by a wide range of conference attendees including researchers, clinicians, representatives from Government and the biotechnology industry. CEO and Director of Research at TRI, Professor Carolyn Mountford, stopped by following her presentation on use of artificial intelligence to enable clinician-assisted diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in front line defenders. Professor Mountford was accompanied by Dr John Irvine, Chief Scientist for Data Analytics at Draper Laboratory in the United States. Dr Irvine works closely with Carolyn and her team to process data and generate diagnostic classifiers as part of this project. The Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development, The Honourable Kate Jones MP, also dropped in during the conference to express her support for the innovative and translational work being done at TRI.
In further exciting news, one of the start-ups based at TRI, Microba, was named Emerging Company of the Year at the AusBiotech and Johnson and Johnson Innovation Industry Excellence Awards held during the AusBiotech 2018 national conference. Microba is a microbial metagenomics company and a spin-off from the University of Queensland, which has developed Microba Insight™ - the microbiome test kit and discovery portal that helps analyse and better understand the gut microbiome.
Overall, AusBiotech 2018 was a great success, featuring world-class research and thought-provoking discussions. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the sector’s achievements so far, and inspire further ideas and collaborations to advance our profile in the global biotechnology sector.
From left to right: Dr Nagaraj Gopisetty, Ms Jodie Robinson, TRI CEO and Director of Research Professor Carolyn Mountford, Ms Michelle Richards, Dr John Irvine, Ms Kirsten Kiel-Chisholm, Dr Debra Kiss and Mr Peter Midolo.
From left to right: Mrs Tess Vogts, Ms Michelle Richards, Mr Peter Midolo, The Honourable Kate Jones MP, Ms Amanda Kocaj, Dr Debra Kiss and Dr Nagaraj Gopisetty.
