Oct 27 2007
A $41 million national research facility to provide cutting-edge microscopy and microanalysis capability to all Australian researchers was launched by the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, at the University of Sydney today (27 September 2007).
The Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) will be Australia's peak research facility for the characterisation of materials using microscopy and microanalysis techniques, employing electron and ion beams, scanned probes, X-rays, and light and laser optics.
Research projects that will use the facility, include a study at the University of Western Australia into muscle diseases in newborn babies; a University of Adelaide project to test new drugs to treat bone cancer; a project at the University of New South Wales to develop hard coatings for bearing surfaces, and a University of Sydney study to explore the origins of remarkable properties of a new advanced steels.
The formation and operation of the facility has been made possible due to Federal funding of $19.2 million, $11 million from the state governments and around $9 million from the participating universities. This National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) investment comes on top of substantial long-term investments by individual institutions and enables the formation of a cohesive national capability that opens facilities up to all Australian researchers.
"Almost always, innovation and key advances in science and technology require an understanding of relationships between the properties and function of materials and their fundamental structure. Microscopy and microanalysis allow scientists and engineers to explore and understand these relationships across length scales that range from the barely visible to the atomic level. Advanced platforms in this area are essential to our national scientific capacity; and that's why the AMMRF exists." said the Facility's Executive Director and CEO, Professor Simon Ringer.
"Advanced microscopy and microanalysis platforms will now be available to Australian researchers, at all stages of their careers, to conduct experiments across the AMMRF's impressive national grid. Our users already range from health and medicine to archaeology to major science and engineering research programs"