Technology
Bundoora Labs Drive Health and Food Breakthroughs Shaping Local Lives
Facilities at La Trobe University and the Bundoora Technical Development Centre enable local work on treatments and agriculture that residents encounter through daily health and supply chains.
How we reported this
The $23 million Digital and Bio Innovation Hubs opened in the refurbished Thomas Cherry Building at La Trobe University's Bundoora campus, giving start-ups access to wetlabs and high-end digital equipment for bio and digital projects.
University anchors drive local research output
Bundoora serves as headquarters for La Trobe University and hosts an RMIT campus, both of which anchor education and research activity in the area. A separate $10 million government investment added cutting-edge agriculture research glasshouses at La Trobe to expand Victorian food and agriculture resources. These additions sit alongside the Bundoora Technical Development Centre, Nuton's innovation hub located 30 minutes north of Melbourne, which maintains a partnership with Rio Tinto.
The Digital and Bio Innovation Hubs can accommodate up to 10 companies and 40 staff at any time. The same facilities have already supported pharmaceutical work such as AdAlta's development of lung fibrosis treatments while generating 170 jobs overall.
Daily effects on health access and food supply
Residents encounter the results of this activity through local pharmaceutical pipelines and food production research that draw on the hubs' equipment and staff capacity. The combination of wetlabs, digital tools and glasshouse space allows sustained work on treatments and crop studies without requiring travel outside the suburb.
People living near the Thomas Cherry Building or the agriculture glasshouses can follow project updates through La Trobe University channels or the Victorian government sites listed in the project announcements. Checking those pages provides the most direct route to information on how ongoing research at the hubs may reach local clinics or markets.