An Intellectual Property Working Group was created which meets at least once a week to discuss intellectual property (IP) and business development issues.  The IP Working Group comprises Geoff Pietersz (Chairman), Mark Hogarth, David Anderson, Maria Harrison-Smith (IP attorney), Serina Cucuzza (commercialisation), Alison Greenway (legal), and Pat Mottram (Project Management).  The IP Working Group reports directly to the IP Commercialisation Board Committee.

Commercial Activity

The main commercial highlights include:

  • Completion of two commercial deals with the privately owned venture capital firm SciVentures Pty Ltd:

    IgAvax Pty Ltd technology was jointly developed by researchers at the Austin Research Institute (ARI) and The University of Melbourne.  The partnership was valued at $1million and the Institute was awarded an 18 month research contract for the development of a mucosal vaccine against Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV). This project is led by Professor Geoffrey Pietersz with Dr Pat Mottram acting as project manager.

    4G Vaccines Pty Ltd, a ‘spin off’ company of the Institute, commercialises a number of vaccine technologies originally developed at the ARI.  The partnership was valued at $1million and includes an 18 month research contract. The company will focus on developing new vaccines for the treatment of cancer and is led by Professors Vasso Apostolopolous and Geoffrey Pietersz with project management undertaken by Dr Pat Mottram.
  • Professor Pei Xiang Xing was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) development grant worth more than $180,000 for the production of chimeric monoclonal antibodies to Pim-1 – a novel therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Professor Xing worked closely with the commercial office at the Austin in developing this proposal.
  • The Burnet Institute was one of the five core organisations involved in the successful bid for the creation of the Cooperative Research Centre for Biomarker Translation. The CRC aims to produce new antibody treatments for diseases such as cancer and arthritis and will be awarded $30.6 million over seven years.
  • Professor Suzanne Crowe and Associate Professor David Anderson and their team of collaborators were awarded a grant of more than $3 million by Imperial College, London for the development of a new low-cost, rapid diagnostic test to measure the immune system of people infected with HIV. Funds were part of an $8 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In addition to these commercial successes the Institute has lodged a number of new provisional applications.

Burnet’s commercialisation team plans to continue its achievements into the future with the forging of new contracts and partnerships, and filing of new provisional patents.  The main activities include:

Involvement as a founding member to the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF).  This Baker Institute led initiative relates to a ‘super’ fund contributing $30 million to invest in early stage technologies emanating from Australian Medical Research Institutes

  • Launching of the CRC for Biomarker Translation
  • Continuing our mission to increase staff awareness of the IP and Commercialisation process by running workshops and seminars throughout the year
  • New commercial initiatives in inflammation, cancer, hepatitis and HIV
  • Consolidating and supporting our relationships with our existing commercial partners.

What is commercialisation?

A major strategic focus of the Institute is the translation of its research into tangible benefits for the global community. This requires a talented group of people to drive the Institute’s intellectual property (IP) towards commercialisation and clinical applicability. The Institute works in collaboration with a number of commercial partners to develop its IP and has over many years developed a number of applications which are now in use around the world.

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