Jumar Bioincubator has officially launched with the introduction of its initial 16 early-stage ventures that will take up residency in its Melbourne-based facility.
The launch, held on 16 April, was officiated by Lord Mayor, Sally Capp AO and hosted by founding partners CSL, WEHI, and The University of Melbourne (UoM), as well as initial investor Breakthrough Victoria and operator Cicada Innovations.
The incubator aims to support a new generation of Australian biotech businesses and its own words “build Australia’s next CSL” by capitalising on the talent and capabilities of the local biotech research community, which it hopes will ultimately lead to the creation of a critical mass of entrepreneurial-skilled scientists who can run successful biotech companies.
Participants taking part in the incubator will get to utilise Jumar’s state-of-the-art facilities that complement the company’s infrastructure and support which has enabled the company to create a world-class hub for biotech innovation translation, research commercialisation, and talent development.
Jumar hopes that as part of the outcome of the incubator, the participants will be able to make breakthrough discoveries and develop innovations that will address real-world patient treatments.
Among those enterprises taking up residency at the incubator are:
- Denteric, who are developing a therapeutic vaccine for the one third of all adults globally suffering from periodontal gum disease.
- Tessara Therapeutics, who are creating “mini brains” in test tubes through 3D neural micro-tissues that mimic the human brain and offer all the essential requirements for drug discovery.
- Symtex Labs, who have developed a wearable “lab-on-a-chip” solution that provides continuous “set-and-forget” monitoring of hormones to more conveniently and effectively predict ovulation for people wanting to conceive.
“Successfully translating medical research into new therapies or technologies can be a long and arduous process,” Dr Andrew Nash, Chief Scientific Officer and SVP Head of Research at CSL, said. “As a home-grown success story, CSL recognises our responsibility and is deeply committed to supporting the promising young biotechs coming out of Australia. Together with our partners at WEHI and the University of Melbourne we are delighted to offer this support from CSL’s Global Headquarters in Melbourne and hope to foster the development of more great companies in the future.”
Professor Alan Cowman AC, Acting Director at WEHI, said that by nurturing the next wave of biotech entrepreneurs, Jumar Bioincubator is helping to take the most exciting ideas out of research laboratories and into the world, for the benefit of our communities.
And Ken Jefferd, Managing Director of Research, Innovation & Commercialisation at UoM, said that deep collaboration between academics, research institutes, industry, investors, government, and innovation ecosystem partners is key to increasing the impact from research on a global scale.
“Today’s launch of the new Jumar Bioincubator is a great example of how we’re continuing to evolve support to our world-class researchers here in Melbourne, as they address some of the world’s biggest challenges and make people’s lives better,” Jefferd said.
Sally-Ann Williams, CEO of Cicada Innovations said that Australia is the birthplace of a wide variety of transformative household-name medical innovations, such as the ultrasound, pacemakers, spray-on skin, the cochlear implant, the cervical cancer vaccine, and more.
“We must continue to facilitate research commercialisation and translation in these critical fields, by providing biomedical scientists and researchers with access to the knowledge and skills needed to build ‘born global’ biotech companies right here on shore,” Williams said. “We are proud to be working with three of Victoria’s most distinguished entities spanning industry, research, and academia to help catalyse growth in commercial biotech outcomes for Australia and, in turn, the world.”
Grant Dooley, CEO of Breakthrough Victoria, said that the launch of incubator is an important step in Victoria becoming one of the great globally recognised hubs for biotechnology development and commercialisation.
“At Breakthrough Victoria, we believe in the power of capital and its ability to positively impact people’s lives and the planet, which is why we invest in and support the ideas, businesses and products that can change lives for the better and generate a positive social and environmental impact for all,” Dooley said.
