This free workshop was a satelite to the International Conference on BioNano Innovation on Friday 29th September. The workshop explored new developments in antibody/protein therapeutics and theranostics and was sponsored by CBI and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science & Technology, Monash University. Representatives from companies  including  Amgen, CSL, and Patheon delivered presentations describing recent innovations in the biopharmaceutical industry.  The workshop will be run again in 2018 in Melbourne.

The ICBNI conference, co-hosted by CBI and the AIBN, brought together renown international speakers at the interface of biology and nanotechnology. Attended by over 350 international and domestic delegates the highlight of the conference was the opening plenary delivered by Nobel laureate professor Elizabeth Blackburn, now Director of the Salk Institute in the USA.  The Monday night “Evening with Elizabeth Blackburn” at customs house was a journey through Elizabeth’s life culminating in her ground-breaking research in telomeres.  Another highlight was the Tuesday morning plenary by professor Ian Frazer, the 2006 Australian of the Year, with the closing plenary delivered by current Australian of the Year Professor Alan Mackay-Sim.

The CBI delivered a Continuing Professional Development Program in Biologics to Health Care Professionals from the Pharmaceutical Industry in November. The one day course was delivered in collaboration with AbbVie and Professor Stephen Mahler and Dr Martina Jones were the coordinators.
CBI and AbbVie were pleased to receive very positive course evaluations from the attendees.

CBI secured a Global Strategy & Partnerships Seed Funding in 2017 to develop and grow a multilevel research partnership with the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) Centre for Biosustainability (CFB) from The Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Backed by a $300m investment from the NNF, CFB is the only academic organisation currently capable of taking on full commercial strain engineering.
As part of the outcomes of this grant, CBI in collaboration with AIBN Staff hosted an Industrial Bioengineering Platforms Workshop at the Heron Island Research Station. The workshop focused on Systems Biology topics: specifically CHO cell engineering & analytics, Omics data integration & modelling, Actinomycete engineering / Natural products and Gas fermentation. There were 25 attendees from DTU (7), CSL Ltd (2), CBI (8) and AIBN (8).