The country’s oldest medical research institute, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, has unveiled its new $185 million research facility.

 

The redevelopment of the Melbourne-based facility includes a number of Australian-first research services across seven new levels of laboratories and scientific support services. The new Centre includes a new personalised medicine research centre, volunteer blood donor registry, insectary for breeding malaria-carrying mosquitoes and a clinical translation centre.

 

The redevelopment has more than doubled the institute’s floor space, and will add an additional 200 staff and students to the 270 man team.

 

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute director Professor Doug Hilton said the centre aimed to study disease so that treatments could be tailored specifically to individuals. Using new genomic and proteomic sequencing technologies, the centre aims to customise treatments for people with immune disorders and cancers.

 

“Personalised medicine is the future of medical treatment,” Professor Hilton said. “One of our key focuses is to deliver discoveries that improve lives here in Australia and globally. We are delighted to have the first facility in Australia dedicated to personalised medicine,” Professor Hilton said.