New research centre for Western Australia

Genetic testing will become accessible for all Western Australian agriculture, thanks to a newly established WA Centre of Excellence at Murdoch University, in association with the State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre (SABC).

The Centre for High-throughput Agricultural Genetic Analysis (CHAGA) will develop new genetic tests, devise ways to perform tests in large numbers at low costs, and ensure that genetic tests are made available to the agricultural industry and communities that can benefit from them.

CHAGA has been started with the appointment of Chairman of the Board Mr Trevor Flugge and CHAGA's first Director, Professor Keith Gregg.

"With a highly respected and experienced Chairman to help guide and assist the team of committed scientists who created the concept, we are set to get CHAGA's mission rolling," said Professor Gregg.

"CHAGA has been established to ensure that WA keeps pace with the developments in molecular genetics that are revolutionising world agriculture.

"Molecular genetic analysis can help to identify the best animals or plants to use as breeding stock.

"It can also provide rapid identification of animal or plant diseases, reveal the biological health of soils or waterways, keep track of native plant or animal species for conservation or restoration purposes, and identify the presence of GM materials in food.

"Many of these tests are already available, but are very expensive. By automating techniques, we can make these tests accessible to everyone."

The Centre will use a robotic workstation and automated liquid handling devices to achieve high-throughput testing.

In addition to conducting its own research programs, CHAGA will help other research groups to develop analysis methods for many genetic tests.

The Director of the SABC, Professor Mike Jones, said CHAGA was a collaboration between Murdoch and Curtin Universities, the WA Department of Agriculture and a new private company Saturn Biotech, with generous financial assistance from the WA State Government.