Case Studies

New Zealand and Queensland: Case Studies of Successful Collaborations

AgResearch, the largest Crown Research Institute in New Zealand and animal biotech firm Ancare Scientific have combined to fund the further development of a technology that has the potential to increase milk production in dairy cattle. The technology will be trailed over the next 12 months in a project costing in excess of $500,000. According to AgResearch General Manager, Dr Jimmy Suttie this is a tremendously exciting deal because if this technology works in a practical, farming sense then it could become a significant technology in global dairying. With rising on farm costs of feed and fertilizer, Ancare sees a ready market for new products that improve the effectiveness of dairy farming. The project evolved from earlier research into the control of wool growth in Romney sheep that was supported by Meat & Wool New Zealand and researchers from Massey University

A partnership between the Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and Dunedin-based firm, Australo was formed in April 2008 to research early detection of cancer and other diseases.
The AIBN and Australo collaboration will be focused on developing a diagnostic tool aimed at detecting and measuring single biomolecules for use in a variety of applications including virus particle detection and medical diagnostics.

The University of Auckland and Massey University are members of the $17M Queensland Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Network (QNN) based at the University of Queensland which will enable scientists in Queensland and across the region to pioneer pharmaceuticals that require a detailed understanding of large molecules and target diseases such as cancer, heart disease and inflammatory disease.

A Dunedin-based biotechnology company, Orico Limited, working in conjunction with scientists at AgResearch and collaborators at University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience have developed a new drug could help treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Laboratory experiments are currently underway and Phase One human clinical trials are expected to begin in 2009.

In 2007, the Queensland Brain Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Auckland University initiating significant exchanges of neuroscience expertise across the Tasman. The two organisations will work together to translate cellular discoveries in neuroscience into the human context and, together, plan to be a dominant force in neuroscience in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2004, one of New Zealand's leading agricultural scientists, Dr Warren Parker then with AgResearch, undertook a 12-month secondment with IMBCom focused on developing commercialisation strategies and developing new industry networks. This initiative provided many benefits to the Queensland and New Zealand biotechnology industries through the identification of new collaborative opportunities.