Luminesce Alliance partner Children’s Medical Research Institute was recently awarded $25 million in funding from NSW Government for a new advanced viral vector manufacturing facility at Westmead, to produce specialised gene therapy tools at clinical grade.

A vector is a microscopic tool used to deliver healthy copies of genes to tissues and organs within patients or deliver the ability to correct the genetic error at its source. While the technology is moving rapidly, production of vectors is not. NSW, and in particular the Westmead precinct, is already at the forefront of international gene therapy research. The aim of this project is to speed up research and translate it into cures for serious genetic diseases affecting children

This investment reaffirms the NSW Government’s commitment to world-leading research conducted at the Westmead Precinct, and most importantly, toward transforming children’s lives.

Read more about the new facility and from Professor Ian Alexander, Head of the Gene Therapy Research Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute, Senior clinician at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Professor of Paediatric and Molecular Medicine at the University of Sydney; and, Dr Leszek Lisowski , Head of the Translational Vectorology Group at CMRI and  Conjoint Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney.