Israeli partnership in genomics research to be established in Sydney

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A new partnership between Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Israel’s Weizmann Institute will establish a new cellular genomics research centre with the support of the NSW Government.

Premier Mike Baird [c] at the signing of the partnership

NSW Premier Mike Baird announced the NSW Government would contribute $5 million in funding toward the new Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics while visiting the Weizmann Institute of Science during an official visit to Israel this week.

The facility will be housed in The Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Darlinghurst and will be Australia’s only multidisciplinary facility for cellular genomics. 

 Cellular genomics refers to emerging technologies that examine differences in genetic sequence and gene expression between individual human cells, which are crucial to understanding the brain and immune system, and to diagnosing and treating disease, including cancer and autoimmune diseases. 

“This partnership will create a bridge between these two innovative and world leading research bodies,” Mr Baird said.

“By building the first facility of this kind in our part of the world, we can continue NSW’s leadership in scientific and medical research.”

The partnership will bring the Weizmann Institute’s experience in science education to NSW, including targeted programs that will help science teachers teach genomics to middle and high school students. 

The facility will house a team of over 50 specialists who will detail how human genomes operate at the level of the individual cell in order to understand complex diseases such as cancer.