VICS Contributes to LIEF Success

Victorian Institute for Chemical Sciences (VICS) is a collaborative venture between the Chemistry Departments of the University of Melbourne , Monash University and RMIT University , created in 2003.

Establishment and operation of VICS has been funded by a Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Infrastructure Grant from the Victorian Government with additional support from the member Universities.

Acquisition of ‘state of the art' scientific instruments for teaching and research in the member Universities and to provide services to industry and research institutes, is a key feature of the VICS initiative.

In this way, VICS is contributing to building important new scientific infrastructure in Victoria , to assist emerging new industries and to drive innovation.

In 2003, VICS supported a successful application for an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant to purchase a Finnigan LTQ Fourier Transform Cyclotron Resonance Mass spectrometer and accessories valued at $1.2m.

Two VICS supported applications for LIEF grants were again successful in 2004 with the first enabling purchase of three Varian Unity Inova Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectrometers (two 500 MHz and one 600 MHz) with different accessories, including sample changer, LC-NMR modules and cryoprobe, for specialized NMR experiments, at a total cost of $2.42 M. One instrument will be installed in the Bio21 Institute, another nearby at the Victorian College of Pharmacy (Monash-VCP) and the third at the RMIT City campus.

The NMR spectrometers are part of the Small Molecule NMR Facility for Accelerated Drug Discovery. The instrumentation will accelerate the drug discovery process and enable high throughput structural analysis of synthetic lead compounds, expedite natural product isolation and identification, and enhance NMR-based drug screening. The Facility will support both existing and new programs in VICS, particularly medicinal and biological chemistry and lead to the development of new pharmaceuticals based on natural products and synthetic molecules.

The second grant has enabled purchase of ultrafast and high-resolution lasers, valued at $0.59m, for the characterization of advanced materials and will be housed at the University of Melbourne and Monash University (Clayton campus).

VICS' success has continued with two more applications it has supported being funded in 2005. An enhanced X-Ray Analysis and Characterization facility will be shared between Monash (Clayton campus) and RMIT (city campus). A Scanning Probe Microscope for Bioelectrochemistry will be located at Monash University (Clayton campus) and shared with the University of Melbourne .

The X-Ray Analysis equipment includes a single-crystal facility allowing chemists to probe the exact positions of individual atoms in a crystal, information that helps researchers understand the structure of new compounds that they have prepared.

There is provision also for an XRF spectrometer providing elemental analysis of solid samples with little or no prior pre-treatment, and a novel X-ray diffractometer that can provide structural analysis on sample areas only a few microns in diameter. These facilities are expected to provide materials scientists, synthetic chemists, food scientists, environmental scientists and forensic scientists with new tools with which to examine and explore the wide range of novel materials and products being developed and employed in modern industry and society.

The Bioelectrochemistry facility was established through VICS funding in 2004, and the award of this new grant enables biological molecules to be imaged on surfaces with nanometre resolution. In addition, proteins that function by transferring electrons can now be probed in both oxidized and reduced forms allowing better understanding of how these functions occur in natural biological systems.

The Laser Facility will be used to investigate the optical properties of fluorescent nanoparticles and polymers as a prelude to their incorporation in advanced photonic devices.

“VICS is especially pleased with its success record for LIEF grants over the past three years” states Dr Peter Lehman, Institute Director.

::Top of page

VICS AT PITTCON 2005

Institute Director and CEO Dr Peter Lehman attended the 56 th Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, held in the Orange County Convention Centre, Orlando , Florida , USA , from 28 February- 3 March 2005 . Pittcon is one of the world's largest annual scientific instruments exhibitions which this year had over 1000 exhibitors and attracted more than 21,000 registrants. The purpose of attendance was to showcase the VICS-CSI range of scientific instruments designed for teaching and research and to identify potential distributors. VICS was fortunate to be invited to join the Science Industry Australia (SIA) stand at Pitcon, comprising 20 individual booths for Australian technology companies, which was sponsored by Austrade. The venture was very successful for VICS, with much interest being shown in the instruments. Contact was made with several companies interested in manufacturing and / or distributing the VICS-CSI range of instruments. For more information about the Pittcon conference go to: www.pittcon.org

::Top of page