PROFESSOR SCOTT BELL: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

In 2022, the Queensland Government released the Advance Queensland “Innovation for a future economy” 2022-2023 Roadmap. Of the six key priorities, one resonates strongly with the health and medical research community: “Queensland’s world-class research and collaborations are translated into creating commercialisation opportunities” and within this priority two objectives of i) supporting the growth of university research income and ii) improving research-business collaboration and key drivers for health and medical research (HMR) translation.

So what is the current state of play and how competitive is Queensland? Queensland is the home of 20% of the Australian population and contributes to 19% of the national GDP. Yet Queensland receives <14% of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding and <13% of Medical Research Futures Fund (MRRF) funding – these two major streams of funding for the field. By comparison, Queensland performs relatively well for non-medical research through the Australian Research Council (ARC) securing 20% of the funding pool available. In a recent analysis undertaken by Queensland’s Advanced Health Research Translation Centre, Health Translation Queensland (HTQ), it has been estimated that the gap in funding from NHMRC and MRFF coming to Queensland equates to a loss of ~$65 million per annum and the loss of 600-700 highly skilled workers (Roadmap for Strengthening Health Research and Translation in Queensland).

The reputation of components of the HMR sector are rated amongst the strongest internationally exemplified by the R&D of the human papilloma virus (HMV) vaccine by Prof Ian Fraser’s team. We need to do better to attract and retain the best HMR researchers to, and stop the drain of the next generation of translational researchers out of the state.

There are many factors thought to contribute to the relative under-performance in the HMR sector. It is thought the quantity rather than quality is a factor. Successful applications are dominated by a few universities/Medical Research Institutes (MRIs) suggesting limited depth in the sector and Queensland has fewer clinician researchers adjusted for population than in NSW and Victoria. A single HMR precinct (Parkville) in Victoria has three tertiary hospitals, the University of Melbourne and numerous independent and university-affiliated MRIs – the close proximity of these partners supports deeper linkage between clinicians (and their patients) with the centres of research excellence. Recent funding support in Victoria has enabled the precincts to be strengthened by industry partners such as CSL, Moderna, etc.

Whilst there are several emerging HMR precincts (Herston Health, Boggo Road Bioeconomy and the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precincts), the links between the clinic and the bench remain underdeveloped. There is great potential, yet work is required to build stronger partnerships between health providers, research organisations and policymakers to ensure the pipeline of bench discoveries is strong and able to be efficiently translated to better health outcomes. The recent announcements of the Queensland Government’s funding support for the Translational Manufacturing Facility at TRI (TM@TRI) and the Herston Biofabrication Institute (HBI) collaboration with Stryker are excellent examples of the leverage these precincts can bring supporting stronger connections between the bench, bedside and business (B2B2B).

In their recently launched report, HTQ sets out three priority areas:

1. Strengthen the ecosystem;
2. Build workforce capability and capacity;
3. Optimise funding.

HTQ has proposed several approaches to grow Queensland’s pipeline of basic and clinician researchers; to maximise collaboration within Queensland’s health precincts; and to increase investment in securing philanthropic funds. HTQ also identified the importance of improving Queensland’s representation on national funding decision-making bodies and emphasises the importance of a collaborative approach and effort rather than competing amongst the HMR community in Queensland.