Jumar Bioincubator aims to capitalise on the talent and capabilities of the local biotech research community to support the next home-grown global success story, creating a critical mass of entrepreneurial-skilled scientists who have the ability to run successful biotech companies.

The official opening this week was officiated by Melbourne Lord Mayor, Sally Capp AO, and hosted by founding partners WEHI, CSL and the University of Melbourne, as well as initial investor Breakthrough Victoria and operator Cicada Innovations.

Biotech leaders from across government, academia, business and research were introduced to a number of Jumar residents working on health issues across pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, bioinformatics, health-related AI and more:

• Tessara Therapeutics is creating “mini brains” in test tubes through 3D neural micro-tissues that mimic the human brain and offer all the essential requirements for drug discovery, including dense and heterogeneous neural networks, compatibility with high-throughput automation, short generation time, and high optical clarity.
• Ovulation bio-sensing startup Symex Labs has developed a wearable “lab-on-a-chip” solution that provides continuous “set-and-forget” monitoring of hormones to more conveniently and effectively predict ovulation for people wanting to conceive.
• Denteric is developing a therapeutic vaccine for the one billion people (one third of all adults) globally suffering from periodontal gum disease – a disease that is also associated with diabetes, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, dementia, and certain cancers.

Through its support of the next generation of biotech startups bringing innovative health solutions like these to market, Jumar is enabling the research translation that will ensure Australia’s world-leading research results in real-world patient outcomes.

Jumar residents are able to access WEHI’s world-class research platforms, to advance their pioneering work.

WEHI Acting director Professor Alan Cowman AC said: “By nurturing the next wave of biotech entrepreneurs, Jumar Bioincubator is helping to take the most exciting ideas out of research laboratories and into the world, for the benefit of our communities.

“Jumar bridges a key gap in our biomedical ecosystem, with world-class research facilities and expert commercialisation support to empower our scientist-entrepreneurs.

“We need to accelerate the translation of innovative Australian discoveries into the new treatments, diagnostics and devices that can have the greatest impact on global human health – and Jumar is a vital step forward for this.”

Successfully translating medical research into new therapies or technologies can be a long and arduous process, said Dr Andrew Nash, Chief Scientific Officer, SVP Head of Research, at CSL.

“As a home-grown success story that is a leader on the global stage, CSL recognises our responsibility and is deeply committed to supporting the promising young biotechs coming out of Australia,” Dr Nash said.

“Together with our partners at WEHI and the University of Melbourne we are delighted to offer this support from CSL’s Global Headquarters in Melbourne, and hope to foster the development of more great companies in the future.”

Ken Jefford, Managing Director of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation at University of Melbourne, said: “Deep collaboration between academics, research institutes, industry, investors, government, and innovation ecosystem partners such as CSL, WEHI and the University of Melbourne is key to increasing our impact from research on a global scale.”

Sally-Ann Williams, CEO of Cicada Innovations, said Australia was the birthplace of a wide variety of transformative household-name medical innovations, such as the ultrasound, pacemakers, spray-on skin, the cochlear implant, the cervical cancer vaccine, and more.

“We must continue to facilitate research commercialisation and translation in these critical fields, by providing biomedical scientists and researchers with access to the knowledge and skills needed to build ‘born global’ biotech companies right here on shore,” she said.

“We are proud to be working with three of Victoria’s most distinguished entities spanning industry, research, and academia to help catalyse growth in commercial biotech outcomes for Australia and, in turn, the world.”

CEO of Breakthrough Victoria, Grant Dooley, said through the launch of the Jumar Bioincubator, Victoria had taken “another giant step towards becoming one of the great globally recognised hubs for biotechnology development and commercialisation”.

Jumar Bioincubator is Australia’s first and only biotech incubator co-located with a leading biopharmaceutical company in a world-class biomedical precinct.

—

Header image: Lord Mayor Sally Capp AO (centre) with leaders from WEHI, CSL, University of Melbourne, Breakthrough Victoria, Cicada Innovations and Jumar Bioincubator.