La Trobe awarded record LIEF grants

La Trobe projects to enhance imaging and analysis have been granted $1.7 million in the latest round of Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

The funding, the largest amount awarded to La Trobe-led research in a single LIEF round, will be shared between two research teams.

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Industry Engagement), Professor Susan Dodds, said the projects will enable more precise analysis in biomedical research and nanotechnology, and will increase the potential for ground-breaking discoveries.

“La Trobe is at the forefront of scientific discovery and these grants allow our researchers to continue with their innovative work,” Professor Dodds said.

“I congratulate our researchers, including those involved in successful LIEF projects led by other universities, on their grant success today.”

The LIEF scheme enables researchers to participate in cooperative initiatives so that expensive research infrastructure, equipment and facilities can be shared between higher education organisations as well as with industry.

La Trobe-led LIEF Grants

Professor Tony Bacic (Chief Investigator), with Co-Investigators Professor Richard Simpson, Professor Andrew Hill, Dr Maria Kaparakis-Liaskos and Professor James Whelan – $1.275m awarded

Professor Bacic’s team at La Trobe’s School of Life Sciences will collaborate with Professor Reid’s team at The University of Melbourne to use two state-of-the art mass spectrometers for precise metabolic and proteomic analyses in the agri-bioscience, medicinal agriculture and biomedical science sectors.

Dr Grant van Riessen (Chief Investigator) with Co-Investigator Associate Professor Brian Abbey – $425,000 awarded

Dr van Riessen and Professor Abbey, from the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, will establish a nationally accessible facility for manufacturing at the nanoscale. Methods of manipulating and measuring synchrotron X-ray beams for imaging will be adapted to create the smallest structures ever produced by light, enabling more precise use of nanotechnology in advanced manufacturing industries.

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