Curtin University researchers will investigate fighting a plant pandemic threatening Australia's native botanicals and further examine "life's most essential molecule", as the result of more than $1.3 million in funding secured in today's Australian Research Council Linkage Program.
The new funding was announced by the Federal Government today as part of 68 new projects that will enable Australian academics to partner with industry, businesses and community organisations to drive innovation and deliver solutions.
As part of a project led by Curtin Professor Ricardo Mancera ($710,423), the research team will develop advanced techniques with the aim of mitigating the impact of Myrtle rust, a disease that is pushing many native species to the brink of extinction.
Another project led by Curtin Professor Oliver Rackham ($611,858) will bring together the scientists who were the first to discover a universal code for recognition of Ribonucleic acid (RNA) by proteins and one of the world's leading RNA-focused biotechnology companies, Locana Biosciences, with the goal of providing robust and versatile tools to target RNA in diverse organisms.
Curtin University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Chris Moran congratulated the research teams, both led by the Curtin Medical School, for their success in the latest ARC Linkage Program.
"The ARC's Linkage Program is a critical program for supporting the sharing of expertise between research, industry and community organisations to deliver innovative solutions," Professor Moran said.
"These two Curtin-led projects seek to make a real-world difference to Australia's native botanicals and medical biotechnology industries by partnering with other experts in the field to develop new technologies."
The ARC's Linkage Program supports collaborative research projects between higher education researchers and partner organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
ARC funding is awarded on a basis of a competitive process and rigorous assessment to support the highest-quality researchers and research projects across disciplines.
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