Desley Pitcher - National Sales Manager at AGRF.
”Creating supportive and inclusive environments in schools, universities and workplaces, where girls and women are valued, respected and encouraged to pursue STEM careers.”
- Desley Pitcher
Dr Anu Kumar is the Principal Research Scientist, Industry Environments Program at CSIRO Environment.
“I would like to apply metagenomics to monitor and identify antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes in diverse environments, contributing to the understanding of the global landscape of resistance. ”
— Dr Anu Kumar
Read MoreAssociate Professor Sarah Auburn is a molecular biologist, whose passion is using genetics/genomics to learn about the biology and the epidemiology of pathogens and their hosts. A/Prof Auburn's current research program incorporates molecular biology, population genomics and software development to generate laboratory and analytical tools for molecular surveillance of P. vivax towards elimination of this species.
Read MoreAssociate Professor Tu Nguyen-Dumont from Monash University. Associate Professor Tu Nguyen-Dumont serves as the genomics and bioinformatics lead in several multidisciplinary teams dedicated to exploring and defining genomic variations associated with cancer risk, cancer development, recurrence, and response to treatment.
Read MoreDr Lisa Stinson is from The University of Western Australia. Dr Stinson’s work aims to understand infant microbiome assembly in relation to the breast milk composition and infant feeding practices, and to identify mechanisms through which breast milk composition and infant microbial colonization shape life-long health.
Read MoreWe are so pleased to share our Annual Report for Financial Year 2022-23. You can view and download a copy of the report by clicking on the image.
“At AGRF, we believe that genomics has the power to transform primary industries and clinical genomics while driving innovation and contributing to valuable research in emerging fields such as single cell and spatial genomics. We are committed to continuing our work in these areas and collaborating with our partners to achieve shared goals for a healthier, more sustainable planet.” - Professor Simon Foote (Chairman).
With over 25 years of delivering exceptional genomic services to Australia and beyond, we are excited to share the stories from the past year with you.
Many thanks to all who have contributed to this report. The stories inside showcase the outstanding work being done by our staff, clients and partners and we are thrilled to share them with you here.
“By working together with our partners, we leverage our collective expertise and resources to achieve shared goals and drive innovation in genomics research and development.” - Joe Baini (Chief Executive Officer).
Click on the image to start reading or download here.
If you wish to receive a hard copy of the Annual Report, please email Louise.Hockham@agrf.org.au with your current mailing address and we will send one out to you.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients, partners, and staff for their ongoing support and we look forward to working with you in 2024.
Bacteria have long been a challenging adversary in the world of medicine. Antibiotics have been a primary treatment for bacterial infections, but their overuse has led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant (AMR) bacteria, causing a significant health threat (refer health economics report commissioned by Iredell, Lin et al, Phage Australia). A promising revival of phage therapy is set to combat AMR infections more effectively and with fewer side effects than antibiotics.
Read MoreReference genomes have long been the backbone of genomic research. These 'one-size-fits-all' representations are typically constructed from sequencing projects that use just a single representative. While there is no doubt that they have been invaluable, they fall short in capturing the full genetic diversity within a species - who’s to say that the one individual chosen to be sequenced has the full gamut of every piece of information in their genome?
Read MoreAs World Space Week comes to a close, join us in following the stellar journey of our own Kirk Jensen, as he shares his remarkable experience within the NASA STAR program. The STAR course was put together by NASA to offer intense training in fundamental space biology and in how to conceive and conduct biological/biomedical research projects in space.
Read MoreImagine being stranded on a desert island in the middle of nowhere, having to survive off whatever you can find. Now picture an extreme level where there are no plants, animals, oxygen, and very little sunlight. Well, this daunting scenario is what space-faring humans will face as we start to settle on the moon, Mars, and beyond.
Read MoreIn Australia, more than 1,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every year. While the overall survival rate for childhood cancer is now over 80%, for some types of cancer the rate is much lower. Every week, three young lives are lost to cancer – more than to any other disease.
In 2021, AGRF joined a unique collaboration aiming to improve these statistics, becoming a key partner in the Zero Childhood Cancer Program (ZERO), Australia’s first national precision medicine program for children with cancer..
Learn how AGRF are helping to make a difference.
We are so pleased to announce that our Annual Report Financial Year 2021-22 is now available. You can view and download a copy of the report by clicking on the image below.
“AGRF had a successful year, providing genomic services through our national network of laboratories. We also supported innovative research by providing access to our advanced platforms and technical experts, enabling our clients to achieve valuable scientific outcomes.” Professor Simon Foote (Chairman)
AGRF now have over 25 years of delivering exceptional genomic services to Australia and beyond, and we are excited to share the stories from the past year with you.
Many thanks to all who have contributed to this report. The stories inside showcase the outstanding work being done by our staff, clients and partners and we are thrilled to share them with you here.
“The strength of AGRF reflects the leadership of our Board, the management team, and our dedicated staff. We are excited about a future where genomics continues to make the world a better and more sustainable place and we will continue to invest in new technologies to ensure our team continue to be at the forefront of genomic science.” Joe Baini (Chief Executive Officer)
Click on the thumbnail below to start reading or download here.
If you wish to receive a hard copy of the Annual Report, please email Louise.Hockham@agrf.org.au with your current mailing address and we will send one out to you.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients, partners, and staff for their ongoing support and we look forward to working with you in 2023.
AGRF has worked alongside James Cook University researchers to be part of the first ever successful effort to map the genome of an iconic Australian seafood species: the Australian black tiger prawn. As well as providing the blueprint of the creature, this mapping may lead to larger, healthier and more disease-resistant prawn crops in the future.
Read MoreWe are so pleased to announce that our 2021 Report is now available. You can view and download a copy of the report by clicking on the front cover below.
The last few years have been challenging for all, but we were privileged to be able to continue supporting and working with you, as the scientific community went through great times of change and progress.
AGRF now have almost 25 years of delivering exceptional genomic services to Australia and beyond, and we are excited to share the stories from the past few years with you.
Many thanks to all who have contributed to this report. The stories inside showcase the outstanding work being done by our clients and partners, and we are thrilled to share them with you here.
Just click on the thumbnail below and you’ll be able to open and read the report.
Alternatively, you can download a copy here.
If you do wish to receive a hard copy of the Annual Report, please email Katherine.Hayes@agrf.org.au with your current mailing address and we will send one out to you in the New Year.
We would like to also take this opportunity to thank you and all of our clients, partners, and staff for their support this year and we look forward to working with you in 2022 - have a happy and safe holiday period.
- Your Partners at AGRF
MR JOE BAINI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AGRF
On behalf of the AGRF Board and AGRF staff, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Joe Baini as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Genome Research Facility.
AGRF Board Chairman, Emeritus Professor Simon Foote says, “On behalf of the AGRF Board, I am pleased to announce that Mr Joe Baini has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer at AGRF. Joe has immense experience in leading technology-focused companies. He has been interim CEO of AGRF for the past few months and the board has been impressed with his performance. We look forward to accompanying Joe Baini, the executive team and all of AGRF on our voyage over the next few years.”
Mr Baini says, “I am honoured to be joining AGRF, our national, pre-eminent genomics organisation. Our team members across the country have proven themselves to be high performing and focused on delivering exceptional service to clients. We aim to continue serving the Australian genomics research community and our clinical and commercial partners with the reliability they have come to know. We are additionally excited to support our partners in their efforts to develop real world innovations.”
Mr Baini has more than three decades of experience holding senior management positions in large-scale biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. With skills in strategic and market development, he has achieved success as the CEO of multinational, ASX-listed organisations since 2011.
Previously Mr Baini led the establishment of Gilead Sciences across Asia Pacific and built the fledgling organisation into a significant player in the pharmaceutical sphere. Prior to joining AGRF as Interim CEO earlier this year, Mr Baini worked as CEO of Immuron and PresSura Neuro and has been Principal of Exec Factor since 2008. He has also served on the board of both ASX-listed and privately held pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector companies for ten years. In addition, he held a guest lecturer position for several years in the Masters of Biotechnology at the University of Melbourne, specialising in commercialisation of new technologies, and brings his background and experience of executive coaching and business mentoring to his new role at AGRF.
Please join us in officially welcoming Joe Baini to the role of CEO. We look forward to 2022 and beyond, and we wish Joe every success.
We’re days away from kicking off our ANZ PacBio Bioinformatics workshop webinars, presenting in tandem with Millennium Science and thanks to our AGRF-UQ PacBio Service. If you haven’t registered, get clicking: here’s the link!
In the meantime, we’d like to introduce you to our speakers and presenters who’ll be up on your screens across the two days….
Dr Carolyn Hogg
Population Biologist, University of Sydney
Bio: I have been working on the conservation of threatened species for over twenty-five years both in Australia and overseas. I am currently the Senior Research Manager for the Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group in the Faculty of Science. I have been working with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program for the past ten years; in addition to other species such as orange-bellied parrots, koalas, bilbies and woylies. Working closely with both my academic and conservation management partners my vision is to create a conservation legacy for Australia by changing the way we integrate science, management and policy; to proactively promote species’ resilience in the face of a changing world. We are achieving this by developing better tools and technologies to integrate molecular genetics into real-time conservation management decisions.
Assistant Professor Heng Li
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School
Bio: Heng Li studies advanced computational algorithms to solve practical biological problems, currently with a focus on sequence alignment, variant calling, de novo assembly, data storage, and information query. He developed and maintains several widely used software packages, such as BWA, samtools, minimap2, and seqtk, for analyzing high-throughput sequencing data. He has also collaborated with multiple research groups and published work on the analysis of single-cell sequence data, chromosome conformation, cancer genomics, population genetics and species evolution.
Postdoc with Richard Durbin, WTSI, UK
Ph.D. with Wei-Mou Zheng, ITP, China
B.Sc., Nanjing University, China
Dr Khi Pin Chua
Scientist, Field Applications Support, PacBio Asia Pacific
Bio: Khi Pin completed his post-graduate degree in computational study of proteins. In his post-doctoral research, he integrated genomics and transcriptomics data to elucidate insights into the evolution and resistance mechanism of lung cancer. Khi Pin is currently working for PacBio to support customers utilizing the cutting-edge PacBio long-reads sequencing.
Dr Paul Gooding
Senior Field Application Scientist, Millennium Science.
Bio: Paul moved to Adelaide in 1998 having completed a PhD in Plant Molecular Biology at the John Innes Centre in the UK. He completed a post-doctoral position at CSIRO-Plant Industry where he focussed on post-harvest quality of fruits and vegetables, then moved to the University of Adelaide to run their cereal genetic transformation facility. He then worked for many years as Senior Scientist with the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF), running a suite of Next-Gen Sequencing machines as well as coordinating genotyping and diversity profiling projects. He joined Millennium Science in 2019 as FAS for genomics portfolios in Australia and New Zealand.
Dr Gareth Price
Service Manager, Galaxy Australia + Australian BioCommons
Bio: Dr Gareth Price is Head of Computational Biology at the QCIF Facility for Advanced Bioinformatics. Gareth has 20 years’ experience as a Bioinformatician and Genomics Scientist. His expertise spans experimental design, assay performance, data QC, data analysis and data interpretation, involving a variety of model organisms from microorganisms, fruit flies, mice to humans as well as non-model organisms with limited genome information. In his role Gareth manages the diverse spectrum of researcher lead questions involving life science data, provides training in genomic data analysis, as well as leading Galaxy Australia (https://usegalaxy.org.au) as Service Manager.
Dr David Hawkes
Brisbane Node Manager, Platform Manager – SNP + Genotyping, AGRF
Bio: David Hawkes is the Brisbane Site manager at AGRF, where he manages services in Sanger sequencing, MassARRAY genotyping and PacBio long read sequencing. He completed his PhD at the University of Queensland where he worked towards harnessing cytochrome P450’s for environmental remediation, and later rounded out his training with a Masters in Biostatistics. Pursuing an interest in genomics, David worked with Keith Mitchelson, on a novel sequencing by assisted mutagenesis (SAM) technique for Sanger sequencing, before taking a position with AGRF in the MassARRAY genotyping team. Working as genotyping manager and later Brisbane Site manager, David has 14 years of experience working within genomics services. David has previously managed AGRF’s HiSeq4000 service and now manages PacBio services on the Sequel II platform.
Exciting news this week for AGRF, as we sign an agreement with Children’s Cancer Institute to deliver rapid, high-quality, multi-omics sequencing data to support the Zero Childhood Cancer Program and its partner network in the growing number of sequencing-centric research projects.
To further evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive, multi-faceted molecular approach to paediatric precision medicine, the Zero Childhood Cancer Program will be expanded to include all children and young adults diagnosed with cancer in Australia over the next few years, irrespective of cancer type, risk and stage. Their initial aim is to undertake whole genome sequencing, whole transcriptome sequencing and array-based methylation profiling of more than 10,000 children with cancer. In addition, Children’s Cancer Institute will be launching new population-scale sub studies to further investigate paediatric cancer risk. Over the next five years, patient samples will undergo comprehensive genomic profiling to identify molecular signatures and actionable targets to improve their health outcomes.
Vanessa Tyrrell, Program Leader of ZERO at Children’s Cancer Institute said, “Today, we have over 500 children and young people enrolled on ZERO. As we prepare to expand ZERO to one day give every child diagnosed with cancer the very best chance of survival, we’re excited to partner with AGRF to make this happen. Together, we will strive for a future where all children have the best chance of living their best lives.”
And AGRF’s CEO, Dr Kirby Siemering, said, “At AGRF, we are extremely proud to contribute our technology platforms and expertise in genomics to this incredible project. Working together with the talented team at Children’s Cancer Institute and ZERO partners, we aim to make a meaningful impact on the lives of children living with cancer”.
Led in partnership by Children’s Cancer Institute and Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital (Randwick), Zero Childhood Cancer brings together all major Australian clinical and research centres working in childhood cancer, as well as international collaborators.
An exciting resolution to a twenty-year search, with the genetic cause of hemifacial microsomia identified by geneticists locally in Perth and, overseas, Yale University.
Read MoreWe are delighted to invite you to our AGRF Live & On Demand Webinar Series which will run throughout 2021. Dr Carolyn Hogg from the University of Sydney will be our first speaker, presenting a talk titled Conservation in the Age of Genomics about her vital bilby and woylie conservation research, and our AGRF-UQ PacBio Platform Manager David Hawkes will chair the event.
Read MoreWe are delighted to invite you to our exclusive and free webinar series on Complex Diseases, which has been extended to January 2021. Our fourth speaker is Associate Professor Michael Hildebrand with his talk entitled “Somatic Mutation: The Hidden Genetics of Epilepsy.”
Read More
AGRF respectfully acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live, and we pay our respects to their Elders past and present.
We respect and recognise their continuing connection to Country and land, water and community.
ABN - 63 097 086 292
