QIMR Berghofer (QIMR Berghofer)

QIMR Berghofer was established in 1945 to research tropical and infectious diseases found in northern Australia. Today, QIMR Berghofer is one of Australia’s largest medical research institutes, renowned for its world-leading research in cancer, infection and inflammation, brain and mental health, and population health.

QIMR Berghofer is home to almost 1,000 scientists, students and support staff in more than 60 state-of-the-art laboratories. The Institute’s purpose is to deliver better health and wellbeing through impactful medical research, which is done by developing new diagnostics, better treatments and more effective strategies to prevent diseases affecting people here in Queensland and globally.  These include heart disease, dementia, asthma, liver disease, mental health conditions and many types of cancer.

Website

https://www.qimrb.edu.au/

Organisation type

• Queensland statutory authority

Number of research staff

700 plus research staff

Address

QIMR Berghofer, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006

Strengths and capabilities

• Cancer research
• Infection & inflammation
• Brain & mental health
• Population health
• Clinical trials
• Cell therapy manufacturing
• Genetics & genomics
• Skin cancer research
• Tropical diseases
• Mosquito-borne diseases

Facilities and major equipment

• Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility for cellular therapeutics
• Physical Containment Class 2 (PC2) laboratories
• Physical Containment Class 3 (PC3) laboratories
• PC2 and PC3 insectaries
• Integrated scientific services including NATA accredited histology, flow cytometry and imaging, proteomics, sample processing, analytical services, DNA sequencing, and genome informatics

Achievements of the centre

• Started a Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma, using a new off-the-shelf immunotherapy.
• Identified the drug imetelstat as a promising new treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and began a clinical trial in patients.
• Uncovered the role of specific immune cells in providing protection against malaria, offering new insights into potential therapeutic strategies.
• Created a new diagnostic tool for schistosomiasis, a parasitic infection that affects more than 200 million people globally.
• Developed the first robust spatial multiomics technological platform, enabling comprehensive studies of COVID-19 and flu virus infections & immune responses in human lung tissue.

Key science sectors

More information about the sectors this centre is involved in:

• Biotechnology
• Health and medical
• Tropical