Vic computer in $100m bid to seek medical cures

A Melbourne supercomputer will be developed in a $100 million plan to seek cures for cancer and a string of other life-threatening conditions. 

The project to develop the world’s most powerful life sciences supercomputer was announced by Victorian Premier John Brumby. 

The government says it will provide $50 million to the ‘Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative’, based at the University of Melbourne. 

The initiative will be the world’s leading computational biology facility dedicated to life sciences research.

“The world’s largest life sciences supercomputer will accelerate ground-breaking research in key areas such as cancer, cardiovascular and neurological disease, chronic inflammatory diseases, bone diseases, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases,” Mr Brumby said. 

Innovation Minister, Gavin Jennings, also speaking in the US city of San Diego, said the supercomputer would enable Victoria’s medical researchers to predict the likely resistance path of viruses to existing drugs. 

This would enable researchers to stay one step ahead in designing better treatments, he said.