The Hon Karen Andrews MP, officially opens MTP office in TRI building

TRI was delighted to co-host the Hon Karen Andrews MP, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology yesterday who was here to officially open the MTPConnect Queensland office.  

As well as opening the Queensland office of MTPConnect, Minister Andrews launched a new initiative to boost science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) mentoring in regional Queensland. The Minister said that the Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) initiative would strengthen industry research connections and collaboration in regional Queensland.

“STEM education is the key to the future of high tech employment, such as we see in the medical technologies and pharmaceuticals (MTP) industry.”

“Promoting STEM education is a passion of mine and I’m particularly interested in providing opportunities to those in regional areas to grow jobs and boost the economy,” Minister Andrews said.

IMNIS was developed by the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and is supported by MTP Connect. IMNIS will be rolled out at two regional universities, James Cook University in Townsville and Cairns, and Central Queensland University in Rockhampton. It aims to connect up to 12 PhD mentees with industry mentors in the IMNIS network.

A panel discussion followed the launch with the conversation from panellists and audience members focusing on boosting engagement and commercial collaboration through mentoring and training.

Panellists included the Hon Karen Andrews MP, Prof. Lyn Griffiths, Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea, Dr Dean Moss & Bronwyn Le Grice and was chaired by Sue MacLeman, Chair, MTPConnect.

The video from the panel discussion will be made available soon. If you would like to watch the discussion please get in touch with [email protected]

If you would like to contact MTPConnect, please email [email protected] or phone +61 3 9905 1753.

MTPConnect is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to accelerate the rate of growth of the medical technologies, biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals sector to increase commercialisation, collaboration and establish Australia as an Asia-Pacific hub for MTP companies. The MTPConnects Growth Centre Project Fund program, supports TRI and Vaxxas in an initiative to establish a flexible and accessible medtech/pharma clinical manufacturing facility to enable the translation of innovative, investigational products into clinical.

Access to cleanroom manufacturing facilities and personnel for the manufacture of early stage clinical trial material is very limited in Australia and this is considered a missed opportunity. This project aims to address this gap by establishing a manufacturing and training facility that can provide a smooth translation of investigational medical products from research through to early human clinical trial supply.

The project will also address the barrier of a lack of trained staff that understand cGMP manufacturing processes and Quality Management Systems. External parties from all over Australia will have the opportunity to learn in a fully operational state-of-the-art small scale GMP production facility. TRI and other university researchers will have access to training to provide industry experience and provide a pool of trained staff available for casual employment as cleanroom operators. 

TRI is currently seeking a Cleanroom Manager who will be responsible for the operation and day-to-day management of the new cleanroom facility. To find out more about this position, please see here

Check out the podcast link here to learn more and to hear the Hon Karen Andrews MP officaly launch the MTPConnect Queensland office here in TRI.