Professor Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet
The New 'Super-Institute'
The merger of the Austin Research Institute and Burnet Institute has created a “super” institute with a focus on the development and delivery of new disease treatments and public health outcomes in Australia and around the world.
Both institutes have similar, but distinct histories – both are relatively young, both focus on delivery of real health benefits by way of translating sophisticated research to vaccines, new technologies, new drugs, public health outcomes in the West and in resource poor nations.
Early History of the Burnet Institute
Formerly known as The Queen's Memorial Infectious Disease Hospital, Fairfield Hospital was founded at the turn of the 20th century when epidemics of infectious diseases such as diphtheria, scarlet fever and polio were rampant.
At the initiative of Dr John Forbes, then the medical superintendent of Fairfield Hospital, a virology laboratory was established at Fairfield Hospital in 1950 to undertake clinical, diagnostic and research services for the many patients with viral infections. This initiative was enthusiastically supported by Professor Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, then Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Medical Research Institute and Honorary Consultant Epidemiologist at Fairfield from 1947 until his death in August 1985.
Beginnings
Initial funding for the laboratory was provided by a private donor, John Doble, who was a personal friend of Dr Forbes. Dr Alan Ferris was the first Director of the Virology Laboratory, and he served until his retirement in 1970, at which time Prof Ian Gust was appointed Director, continuing the tradition of research, teaching and patient care which had been established by his predecessor.
The laboratory became internationally recognised for its work in hepatitis research. Among the many accomplishments of this laboratory were the isolation of hepatitis A virus (the strain now used in the hepatitis A vaccine) and one of the first strains of respiratory syncytial virus (the A2 strain, now a reference A group virus).
Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital
With the emergence of the HIV epidemic in Australia in the early 1980s, Fairfield Hospital and its virology laboratory became one of the primary centre's for patient care, diagnostic services, public health reference and research into AIDS in Australia.
At this time Professor Gust proposed that the virology research functions be transferred to a more independently managed research centre within Fairfield Hospital.
In 1983, Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet became the founding patron of the new centre and following his death in August 1985, Professor Gust and the Burnet family agreed that the virology research centre should be named the Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research (later changed to the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health), in honour of Sir Frank. The legal association with Fairfield Hospital was changed with the incorporation of the Centre as a company limited by guarantee in 1989.
Professor Gust announced his resignation as Director of Macfarlane Burnet Centre (and also Director of the Fairfield Virology Laboratory) in 1990, and the Board, chaired by Mr. Graeme Hannan, began a global search for a new Director. Prof John Mills was appointed in late 1991, but did not formally take up the position until early 1992 as he was immigrating to Australia from the United States.
At this time the Macfarlane Burnet Centre, although legally separate from Fairfield Hospital, was housed in individual laboratories and portable buildings scattered over the Fairfield Hospital campus, a highly unsatisfactory situation. A public appeal, begun shortly after the formation of the Centre, led by Mr Hannan and Mr Richard Pratt, had raised AU$2 million for fitting out new laboratories in an unused wing of the hospital. In mid-1992, the Board approved funds to gut the interior of this building and to construct new laboratories (with a few offices) for the Centre. This construction was completed in May 1993, and it became the focus of the Institute's research activities.
However, the Centre continued to grow, and quickly outgrew the new building. The space problem was solved by purchasing a series of portable buildings -many acquired through the generosity of Mr Ray Williams - which provided office space around the laboratory building.
Burnet Institute, AMREP campus
After 15 years of successful operation at the now defunct Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, the Burnet Institute has now joined what is one of Australia's most significant medical research centres, the Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct.
The AMREP Precinct
(Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct)
This new medical research and education precinct jointly developed by The Alfred hospital, the Burnet Institute, the Baker Medical Research Institute and the Monash University Faculty of Medicine created a new era for the Burnet Institute.
The AMREP project was the first in Australia to be purpose-built and managed, to achieve intellectual critical mass and scientific synergy, to share expensive resources and equipment, and to attract the highest calibre researchers from Australia and other countries.
Currently the Institute's laboratory research is focused on a group of infections which include some of the major public health hazards of the 21st century: HIV, hepatitis viruses (A, B, C and E), and infection with respiratory viruses, primarily respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This has now grown to include other emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis as well as avian influenza and SARS.
The Institute also has three field-based units that address important issues of disease prevention and health promotion through a combination of epidemiological studies and public health. These Units the Centre for International Health, the Centre for Harm Reduction and the Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health Research are also directly engaged in the development, implementation and evaluation of public health projects in Australia and overseas, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa. In addition a cross-disciplinary approach has also been developed with the establishment of the International Health research Group in 2006.
Professor Steve Wesselingh
Professor Steve Wesselingh was appointed as Burnet Institute's new Director in June 2002. He was formerly Professor-Director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the Alfred Hospital. Professor Wesselingh resigned from the Burnet Institute Directorship in September 2007 after five years leading the growth and development of the Institute into one of the leading medical research and public health groups in Australia and the region.
Burnet currently has 11 offices in seven countries of Asia, the Pacific and Africa with a staff of more than 350 scientists and public health professionals.
The Austin Research Institute
The Kronheimer Building
at the Austin Hospital
The merger of the Austin Research Institute with the Burnet Institute officially took effect on 1 January 2006, prior to which the Austin Research Institute was an NHMRC accredited independent medical research institute located in the Kronheimer Building, in the grounds of the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia. The need for a medical research institute at the Austin Hospital was largely due to the foresight of Colin Johnston and Ken Hardy, then Professors of Medicine and Surgery at the Austin Hospital, and Harry Hearn and John Connell, President and Vice President of the Austin Hospital.
The Institute grew from the Research Centre for Cancer and Transplantation, a Centre of Excellence, established at the University of Melbourne in 1982, and funded by Federal Government initiatives. Both the Institute and the Research Centre were formed around research established by Professor Ian McKenzie upon his return to Australia in 1974 from the USA, where he worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Harvard Medical School and the Jackson Laboratories with Nobel Laureate, Dr George Snell.
The Institute’s track record was one of success in innovation based medical research focused on manipulation of the immune system for the treatment of disease. Work at the ARI was based on the research of Ian McKenzie, Mark Hogarth, Geoff Pietersz and Mauro Sandrin and is very focused on practical applications of new technologies which led to some of the first clinical testing of immune therapies – notably monoclonal antibodies or magic bullets to deliver chemotherapy; cancer “vaccine” or cell based therapies. Key discoveries were made in xenotransplantation, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer that have paved the way for the development of new therapies in a range of diseases.
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Professor Ian McKenzie
The Institute's inaugural director, Professor Ian McKenzie, retired at the end of 2002 following more than a decade of successful leadership. His successor is Professor Mark Hogarth, who has worked at the Institute since its establishment and heads the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust Inflammatory Diseases Laboratory.
The Future
Burnet's 2006 merger with the Austin Research Institute has resulted in a new Burnet Institute, which will be operating across two campuses at The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct (AMREP) and the Austin Hospital, with the Austin staff moving to the Burnet Institute's AMREP site in 2009, when new laboratories within The Alfred Centre are expected to be completed.
The merger of the institutes brings together two groups of world-class researchers, with significant benefits for research and development into infectious diseases, immunology and the development of vaccines. The merger has won strong support from staff and other major stakeholders who recognised the need to build a greater critical mass of scientists to address the increasing concerns around a range of existing, new and emerging diseases.
In addition, the merger will result in reduced infrastructure costs and will satisfy the need for the Austin Research Institute staff to be housed in more appropriate purpose-built laboratories.
The Burnet Institute is now one of the top five medical research institutes in Australia and has consolidated its position as the leading infectious diseases research and public health group in the region.
The new Burnet building
The recent merger with the Austin Research Institute means that the Burnet Institute's current research capability will be significantly enhanced, and the new Institute will be well positioned to explore new innovative research and development opportunities, particularly in the development of new vaccines and treatments for infection, and for cancer vaccines.
This is a merger of two leading research organisations that has resulted in the employment of more than 350 researchers, doctors and public health professionals who will cover everything from laboratory-based virology and immunology through to public health programs. The new institute will create greater opportunities for the translation of research into tangible public health outcomes.
The two organisations are perfectly complementary in the work that we do as the Burnet has a strong presence in virology and public health, while the ARI has its presence in immunology and especially vaccine development for infection and for cancer. By combining the strengths to more effectively address some of the most pressing public health issues of our time such as avian flu, hepatitis, cancer, and the development of appropriate vaccines which will lead to improved outcomes for a healthier world.