NEWS & EVENTS

Joint initiative to harness the value of Queensland Biobanks

19 December 2016

The advent of personalised and precision medicine means therapies can be tailored to the specific biologic characteristics of an individual patient’s disease as well as the inherited genetic characteristics of that individual.

For this breakthrough medical field to flourish we need to expand capability and capacity of biobanking clinical samples and the associated clinical data, integration of large-scale data collections, diagnostic genetic testing, other disease-specific testing and the linkage of such testing with therapeutic decision making. A joint project is underway between Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners (BDHP) and the Queensland Department of Health to harness the full potential and maximize the value of biobanks in Queensland. Currently, the BDHP members host the majority of the state’s major biobanks. The Working Group, chaired by the BDHP General Manager, will be presenting its report to the BDHP in 2017. The project will improve and maximize the value of biobanking for the benefit of health care improvement for the State. The Working Group comprises the following experts:

• Dr Michael Cleary, Executive Director Medical Services, MSHHS
• Distinguished Professor Judith Clements, Chair, Australian Prostate Cancer Bioresource, QUT
• Associate Professor Janet Davies, Assistant Director of Research, MNHHS
• Associate Professor Glenda Gobe, Research Director, Centre for Kidney Disease Research, TRI
• Professor Nicholas Hawkins, Director, OME and Professor, Innov Tech Med Ed, UQ
• Dr Sue Hooper, Director, Health Innovation, Investment and Research Office, Department of Health
• Professor Sunil Lakhani, Anatomical and Molecular Pathologist, Pathology Queensland
• Associate Professor Paula Marlton, Deputy Director of Haematology, MSHHS
• Professor Michael McGuckin, Deputy Director Research, Mater Research Institute
• Dr Andrew Moore, Paediatric Oncologist and Director of the Queensland Children’s Tumour Bank, CHQHHS
• Mr Leon Scott, General Manager Scientific Services, QIMR Berghofer