mRNA Victoria
mRNA Victoria is responsible for establishing a mRNA and RNA industry in Victoria. This includes supporting:
- supply chain
- research and development for pre and clinical research
- commercialisation
- manufacturing investments.
Its role is to identify key capabilities, gaps and opportunities and to lead the Victorian Government’s engagement, investment and partnerships.
mRNA Victoria’s Scientific Advisory Group
mRNA Victoria is advised by a Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) made up of world-leading experts from the medical research sector. The SAG works in consultation with mRNA Victoria, supporting the development of the mRNA ecosystem and research in Victoria.
The members of the group are:
- Dr Amanda Caples - Victoria’s Lead Scientist and Chair of the Group
- Professor Sharon Lewin - Director, Doherty Institute
- Dr Barney Graham - Deputy Director, Vaccine Research Center, US National Institutes of Health
- Professor William Charman - Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University
- Professor Brendan Crabb - Director, Burnet Institute
- Professor Doug Hilton - Director, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
- Professor Terry Nolan - Head, Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group, Doherty Institute at University of Melbourne, and MCRI
- Professor John Carroll - Director, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute
- Professor Andrew Steer - Director, Infection and Immunity, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
- Professor Ricky Johnstone - Head, Gene Regulation Laboratory, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Dr Minna-Liisa Änkö - Head, Functional RNAomics laboratory, Hudson Institute of Medical Research.
Victoria's mRNA ecosystem
Victoria is home to CSL, the second largest influenza vaccine manufacturer in the world. 70 per cent of the top 25 Australian medtech and pharma companies are based in Victoria. Nearly 60 per cent of Australia’s pharmaceutical exports are from Victoria.
Victoria’s life sciences professionals number more than 100,000 with the majority of the nation’s pharmaceutical life sciences professionals living in Victoria.
Victoria leads Australia in clinical trial capability, with the greatest number of trials underway of any state.
In May 2021, Victoria committed $400 million to establish the Australian Institute for Infectious Diseases, to be located beside the Doherty Institute, the first place in the world outside of China to decipher the genetic code for COVID-19.
Victoria is also home to the Australian Government’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness operated by the CSIRO, and the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Grants
Successful recipient mRNA Victoria Research Acceleration Fund Round 2
Round 2 recipients were announced in June 2023, with $2,747,426 of funding shared across 16 projects.
Leading Institution | Project Partner | Total Funds | Project Title |
|---|---|---|---|
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research | The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity | $75,000 | Using lipid nanoparticles to deliver novel combination RNA therapeutics for pulmonary bacterial infections |
University of Melbourne | Children’s Cancer Institute Australia | $98,659 | Building predictive power to fast-track the evaluation and prioritisation of nanocarriers for therapeutic RNA delivery in brain cancer |
University of Melbourne | Denteric Pty Ltd | $500,000 | Development of an mRNA vaccine for a human bacterial pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis involved in Periodontitis and Alzheimer's Disease. |
St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research | Monash University | $100,000 | The use of mRNA therapy for blood cell cancers |
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research | Monash University | $81,000 | mRNA-encoded nanobody therapy against COVID-19 |
University of Melbourne | Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand | $93,296 | A mRNA vaccine for preventing liver-stage malaria |
St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research | The Royal Children's Hospital | $100,000 | RNA delivery of therapeutic gene editing to blood stem cells |
Monash University | Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory, Trinity College Dublin | $100,000 | A modular platform for the development of mRNA-based epigenetic drugs: a pilot. |
| Peter Maccalum Cancer Institute | Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research | $500,000 | Development of nuclear mRNA targeting therapeutics to treat cancer |
| Peter Maccalum Cancer Institute | Storm Therapeutics Ltd | $500,000 | Therapeutically targeting mRNA methylation to enhance anti-tumour immunity |
| Murdoch Children's Research Institute | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | $99,471 | Development of a novel ASO-based therapeutic for TRAPPC4-related disorder |
| The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research | Mermaid Bio Pty Ltd | $100,000 | Harnessing mRNA delivery for intracellular antibody therapies |
| Hudson Institute of Medical Research | Hudson Institute of Medical Research | $100,000 | ASO against SRY as a potential therapeutic for Male Parkinson's Disease |
| Hudson Institute of Medical Research | Silence Therapeutics | $100,000 | Modulation of Iron Overload in the Myelodysplastic Syndromes using siRNA therapy |
| Monash University | PTNG Biologicals | $100,000 | Structure-based antigen design as a novel strategy for precision mRNA vaccines. |
| Monash University | Ensign (CHINA) Medical Teck. Co Ltd. | $100,000 | Cardiac-homing Lipid Nanoparticles for Relaxin-2 mRNA Delivery |
Successful Recipients mRNA Victoria Activation Program Round 1
Round 1 mAP recipients were announced in October 2022.
Institution | Funds Received | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
Burnet Institute | $3,082,122 | Burnet Institute Vaccine Initiative: mRNA vaccines to tackle global pandemic pathogens that provide broad immunity. |
Hudson Institute | $690,000 | Re-defining the RNA that activates innate immune sensors to produce safer and more effective RNA therapies |
Messenger Bio Pty Ltd | $495,600 | High-throughput Automation and Scale-up of Preclinical mRNA Manufacturing and Expansion of the RNA Engineering Toolbox |
Monash University | $427,000 | RaRtech: a novel and rapid mRNA manufacturing technology for pandemics preparedness and therapeutics. |
Monash University | $472,000 | A universal platform for affinity purification of RNA |
Monash University | $606,435 | Novel enzymes to transform the manufacturing of mRNA in Victoria. |
University of Melbourne | $788,377 | mRNA BEATs technology to enhance CAR T cell therapy of cancer |
University of Melbourne | $1,759,342 | Developing a novel RNA therapeutic for chronic hepatitis B |
University of Melbourne | $1,306,536 | Leveraging mRNA technology to improve adoptive cell therapy for cancer |
University of Melbourne, The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology | $1,565,420 | Sequence-Specific Silencing of Oncogenic Drivers with Personalized Cas13 RNA Therapeutics |
Victorian mRNA Innovation Hub (VMIH) | $5,400,000 | VMIH is a world-first collaboration between Monash University, the University of Melbourne, Doherty Institute and Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences to develop next-generation vaccines and therapeutics to treat a range of diseases. |
Contact mRNA Victoria
Please email: mrnavictoria@ecodev.vic.gov.au.
Page last updated: 22 June 2023