Griffith University is a leader in drug discovery in Australia with a strong focus on infectious diseases. The University's top chemists, biologists and health-care scientists are tackling cross-disciplinary solutions to a wide range of diseases.
Griffith's Institute for Glycomics leads international research in the new science of carbohydrates-based drug discovery. In collaboration with Hong Kong University - Pasteur Research Centre, the Institute has recently developed a new method to study the influenza virus.
Griffith's Eskitis Institute is home to the Queensland Compound Library, Australia's only integrated compound management and logistics facility, and the Nature bank, a unique collection of some 300,000 samples derived from plants and marine invertebrates. It was developed over 14 years as part of a $100 million investment from AstraZeneca, representing one of the most successful private-public partnerships in the country.
Eskitis researchers have identified a unique chemical structure from a natural marine organism that specifically targets and kills the malaria parasite. The project was named 2007 Project of the Year by the Geneva-based Medicines for Malaria Venture in May 2008, and is now being moved rapidly forward in the drug development pathway.
The Eskitis Institute is also home to the Queensland-based node of the $148 million Cancer Therapeutics Cooperative Research Centre and the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research.
The NCASCR researchers succeeded in manipulating adult stem cells from the noses of Parkinson's patients to give rise to dopamine-producing brain cells.
Genomics researchers at the Griffith Health Institute have identified a number of gene variants associated with migraine, breast and skin cancer and have patented vaccine antigens and DNA diagnostic tests.