The Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson’s announcement that The University of Western Australia (UWA) is to receive $12.5 million funding over five years to host a highly prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology has been welcomed as a boost for the State.

“The allocation of one of the ARC Centres of Excellence reflects the international standard of research being conducted at UWA in this area,” Professor Alan Robson, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia said.

The new centre will support the ground breaking research being conducted at UWA in Plant Energy Biology.  The Centre will also involve research scientists from ANU and the University of Sydney.

“In the last 50 years research has uncovered the biochemistry of energy harvesting in plants, that is, how plants convert sunlight into carbohydrate, protein, oils and vitamins.  To date we don’t know how this system is controlled,” Associate Professor Jim Whelan, Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UWA and interim Director said.

“We are investigating the switches and control mechanisms that govern these complex biological systems.  The availability of the genome sequence of several plants provides the foundation for this type of research,” he said.

The research centre will be dedicated to work in the fundamentals of plant science.  It will produce knowledge which will serve the needs of Australian plant based industries.

Associate Professor Whelan said the research will open up new areas to improve plant growth, productivity and resistance to stress.  In addition the research of the centre can also be applied to non-plant systems and could provide new insights into the control of any complex cellular system.