La Trobe University is one of four research facilities chosen to join a $20 million Federal Government initiative to innovate in agriculture.

Plant SynBio Australia (PSBA) was launched in Canberra on Wednesday, 18 June, harnessing a national network of infrastructure and expertise to accelerate gains in agri-food productivity.

PSBA will focus on synthetic biology, which uses engineering principles to redesign biological organisms for a desired outcome including vaccines, novel crops, and foods and pharmaceuticals.

La Trobe’s Institute of Sustainable Agriculture and Food (LISAF) is already working to enhance plant functionality, enabling food and medicinal crops to be grown with new properties to combat problems including nutritional and medicinal qualities, and climate resilience.

La Trobe Vice-Chancellor Professor Theo Farrell said the University was proud to be part of a national program driving agri-food advances.

“La Trobe University is a leader in world-class research across biotech, agtech and biomedical sciences,” Professor Farrell said.

“Our research institutes are at the forefront of discovery, translating pioneering science into commercial success.”

Other research nodes will be located at Adelaide University, Australian National University and University of Western Australia.

The PSBA network will provide plant synthetic biology services in agricultural, horticultural and medicinal species, including cereal, legumes and oilseed crops, as well as other species to bio-manufacture materials, medicines and other high-value products.

The university nodes will supply infrastructure and expertise to researchers, government and industry, as well as providing incubation space for the start-up community and opportunities to collaborate.

Associate Professor Monika Doblin, the academic lead of the La Trobe node, said LISAF researchers were committed to research with real-world impact.

“Collaboration like this is key to building resilient, efficient plant-based production systems for Australia’s future,” Dr Doblin said.

The PSBA investment was provided by the Commonwealth Government via the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) as part of a larger, $55 million ‘Step Change’ investment to enable synthetic biology across industrial fermentation, plant agriculture and food, medical research and biosecurity domains.

The investment is managed by Bioplatforms Australia, a non-profit organisation that supports Australian life science research by investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure and expertise in genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, synthetic biology and bioinformatics.

Andrew Gilbert, CEO of Bioplatforms Australia, said PSBA enabled a full synthetic biology approach to tackling agricultural and biomanufacturing challenges.

“The world needs transformative solutions to critical agricultural challenges – for climate resilience, environmental sustainability, food security and the development of green industries.”