AGRF in Research

Guided by our mission to partner with and enable the genomics community, we work with a wide variety of organisations throughout Australia and beyond. This includes joint grant applications for external funding opportunities, with both our academic and commercial partners. Since inception in 1997, AGRF has made significant contributions to Australia’s research output, being cited in more than 5,400 peer-reviewed publications; with 2,298 citations in the past 5 years. (Refer: Figure 1).

AGRF’s Science & Technology Division is responsible for the Innovation & Development Program along with research partnerships and collaborations.  We work closely with researchers to apply novel techniques and platforms to their research projects that are distinct from standard AGRF services. Given that these projects are using new-to-market technologies, the outcomes from these studies have greater potential to produce insights of higher impact.

With more than 25 years of collective genomics experience, we are proud to have
co-authored many notable papers, including publications in prestigious journals such as Nature Communications, Journal of National Cancer Institute, Genome Biology, EMBO, Nature Methods and Nucleic Acids Research. Our team remain relevant and important contributors to the research community with over 100 co-authored papers in total, and 62 in the past 5 years alone (Refer: Figure 2).

We welcome collaborations using a variety of innovative platforms and applications and are currently focused on developing applications using long-read sequencing, spatial genomics, and single-cell genomics. As always, we are keen to connect and work with researchers from a wide-range of biological fields such as environmental research, agri-/aqua-culture, human health, commercial genomics, plant research and
more. These partnerships and connections allow us to be a key enabler of genomics
research in Australia.

We are privileged to work with several key partners, including, but not limited to: University of Adelaide (via the Waite Campus and SA Immunogenomic Cancer Institute; SAiGENCI), South Australian Genomic Centre (founding partner),
University of Queensland, Griffith University, James Cook University, Children’s Cancer Institute (ZERO Childhood Cancer Program), Westmead Research Hub (led by Westmead Institute of Medical Research), Australian National University (and the Biomolecular Resource Facility), Edith Cowan University and Melbourne Genomics Health Alliance (founding partner). Through such partnerships, we support research programs via cash and in-kind contributions to grants with a focus on industry engagement to help realise the impact of translational research output.

As a non-profit organisation, AGRF takes pride in reinvesting in the research community. To that end, we have committed to provide over $700,000 in cash contributions towards grants spanning the next seven years, aimed at addressing various challenges where genomics could be applied. The impact of this commitment will support advancements in personalised medicine in the areas of oncology, rare diseases, and transplantation, as well as food production, plant and animal breeding, and land rehabilitation and environmental monitoring. Through this initiative, we are not only demonstrating our commitment to advancing scientific research but also fostering a collaborative research environment that promotes innovation and progress
in the field of genomics.

We are constantly engaged in exploring and evaluating new technologies that could
benefit our organisation and clients. If you would like to get in touch about how to
partner with us, you can contact our Partnerships Manager - John Lai, or read more
at agrf.org.au/innovative-technologies.