Dear Secretariat, This submission to the Senate Inquiry into Australia’s innovation system represents the views of a broad cross-section of Australia’s bioinformatics community.

Bioinformatics is about the management, analysis, interpretation and modeling of biological information, most commonly, information about DNA (the genetic instructions for living organisms) and related molecules.

We are writing because bioinformatics is vital to the life sciences and the benefits they deliver in health, agriculture and the environment.

However, because bioinformatics often plays a role “behind the scenes” its importance may be overlooked. Hence, we seek to raise awareness that it is a critical part of Australia’s life science capabilities, affecting our ability to adopt, develop and contribute to innovation.

Our submission is set out in three parts: 1. Responses to the terms of reference for the Senate Enquiry 2. Additional detail and background on bioinformatics 3. The list of people who support this submission.

This submission reflects our sincere desire to deliver benefit from Australian bioinformatics and our belief in its importance to Australia’s economic, social and environmental wellbeing.

It also reflects broad support from across the Australian bioinformatics community.

We thank you for this opportunity and hope that our submission will be useful to you. If you would like to find out more about bioinformatics in Australia, then the Australian Bioinformatics Network would be delighted to assist.

Yours sincerely,

Dr David Lovell

Director, Australian Bioinformatics Network [email protected] Tel: +61 2 6216 7042

Australian Bioinformatics: Senate Innovation Inquiry submission

1. Responses to the terms of reference for the Senate Enquiry This section of our submission responds directly to each heading in the terms of reference

On 18 March 2014, the following matter was referred to the Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by the first sitting day of July 2015: The challenges to Australian industries and jobs posed by increasing global competition in innovation, science, engineering, research and education, with particular reference to:

(a) The need to attract new investment in innovation to secure high skill, high wage jobs and industries in Australia, as well as the role of public policy in nurturing a culture of innovation and a healthy innovation ecosystem;

● Bioscience underpins high skill, high wage jobs (e.g., in R&D) and industries (e.g., in health, agriculture) ○ As a recent example, US public dollar investment in the Human Genome Project has been estimated to deliver substantial returns to the US economy1 ○ Bioinformatics is fundamental to modern bioscience ● Innovation in bioscience depends on collaboration between diverse interests. ○ As a discipline devoted to the analysis interpretation and management of biological information, bioinformatics is critical in facilitating and driving this collaboration ○ Bioinformatics is at the heart of interdisciplinary, collaborative bioscience

(b) The Australian Government’s approach to innovation, especially with respect to the funding of education and research, the allocation of investment in industries, and the maintenance of capabilities across the economy;

● It is important the Australian Government understands that bioinformatics ○ is an enabling discipline, an integral part of life science R&D. It is generally a means to delivering benefit, rather than an end benefit in itself ○ is changing rapidly, encompassing knowledge from many other disciplines in the biological and information sciences ○ is not generally a market-facing service or product. Change, diversity and the need for sound methods whose strengths and limitations can be openly assessed to ensure robust scientific insights mean that bioinformatics is not generally cast as a shrink-wrapped service or product

1 Economic return from Human Genome Project grows: Report finds genomics effort has added US$1 trillion to US economy. Meredith Wadman. Nature News. 12 June 2013

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● With respect to funding of education and research, industry investment, and capability maintenance in bioinformatics, we propose four high-level objectives to guide investment: ○ Stability: Australia’s general demand for bioinformatics is growing at a rate to warrant long-term planning and investment. This investment stability is vital to attract, retain and develop bioinformaticians to enable high-impact science ○ Flexibility: to address the diversity and change in demand for bioinformatics, Australia’s investment needs to enable its bioinformatics capabilities to be flexibly applied. Bioinformatics is applied in different domains (e.g., medicine, pathology, agriculture, environment), and Australia’s interests are best served by enabling the flow of bioinformatics capability across application domains ○ Connectedness: Australia needs to be able to share bioinformatics expertise, resources and opportunities because (a) we cannot afford to duplicate scarce capabilities (b) no single team (let alone individual) could hope to field all the capabilities needed to tackle Australia’s variety of bioinformatics challenges. It is also vital for Australian bioinformatics (and science in general) to be well connected internationally2, in part, to ensure that advances made elsewhere are available and applied locally for Australia’s advantage ○ Capacity: Australia needs to invest in bioinformatics capacity sufficient to match its aspirations to deliver and to exploit benefit from the life sciences. The future of life science based industry and research depends on a vital and thriving bioinformatics community. Australia’s bioinformatics skills capacity is growing but is currently unable to meet demand; skills are being imported in the meantime.

(c) The importance of translating research output into social and economic benefits for Australians, and mechanisms by which it can be promoted;

● Recipes for translating research findings into tangible benefits involve many ingredients ○ Essential among them is for the research findings to be based on sound science ○ Sound analysis and interpretation of biological information demands excellence in bioinformatics and other aspects of bioscience ○ Bioinformatics excellence is an essential ingredient for life science research to deliver valuable outcomes for health, agriculture and the environment ● We note that the NHMRC is currently developing principles for the translation of biomolecular tests from discovery to health care3 ○ Bioinformatics plays a critical role in bringing research findings into medical practice, particularly when it comes to reproducibility, one of the key principles in effective translation ● Scientific excellence is often thought of and assessed like sporting excellence—who is first to publish? What is your tally of first-author, top-tier journal publications?

2 The Royal Society (2011) Knowledge, Networks and Nations royalsociety.org/policy/projects/knowledge-networks-nations/ 3 NHMRC Draft Principles for the translation of ‘omics’-based tests from discovery to health care consultations.nhmrc.gov.au/public_consultations/omics-based-tests

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○ However, the aim of science is to generate knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe ○ Australia needs mechanisms to promote this aim, mechanisms that encourage and reward science to be reproducible, robust and accurately qualified rather than just “first to publish”

(d) The relationship between advanced manufacturing and a dynamic innovation culture;

● A dynamic innovation culture that is closely linked to production systems and design teams promotes advanced manufacturing capability ○ Biotechnology, which relies on new evidence and developments in science, is rewarded by close linkages with the research community ○ By having the multidisciplinary team of biologists and bioinformaticians (trained in computer science, biology, statistics, mathematics) closely linked to production systems allows rapid translation of ideas ○ Biomedical device production, a major sector of Australian manufacturing, draws on links between bioinformatics, bioscience and engineering ○ Combining these skills to work collectively continue to innovate because of the interchange of disparate ideas coming from different points of reference ○ Recognition that a solid innovation culture in the future of manufacturing in Australia will see the resurgence of that sector, but practices and recognition must be afforded to those that contribute to the sector ○ Close linkage between industry and research will need to be encouraged and rewarded through avenues such as the R&D Tax incentive scheme and a repeal of the employee share taxation laws.

(e) Current policies, funding and procedures of Australia’s publicly-funded research agencies, universities, and other actors in the innovation system;

● Australia has made significant investments in its national bioscience capability through publicly-funded research agencies and universities, and through targeted schemes such as NCRIS and NeCTAR ○ The recent Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research in Australia4 (the McKeon Review) raised bioinformatics as a priority within this realm - particularly for policy, funding and procedures. ○ Strengthening Australia’s bioinformatics capabilities will enable Australia’s strategic investments in bioscience to deliver their full return ○ Without strong Australian bioinformatics, we believe many of these initiatives will stagnate or be forced to look overseas for solutions

4 Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research (5 April 2013). www.mckeonreview.org.au

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(f) Potential governance and funding models for Australia’s research infrastructure and agencies, and policy options to diversify science and research financing;

● Advancing, and delivering benefits from knowledge demands sustained efforts, from ○ education, through which we acquire existing knowledge, to ○ research, through which we gain new knowledge, to ○ translation, the process of delivering benefits from knowledge. Capabilities in these areas take a long time to build, but can be dismantled very quickly ● To sustain or increase Australia’s economic, social and environmental well being in the face of global competition in innovation, science, engineering, research and education, we need to develop and commit to a long-term science and innovation strategy ○ This strategy needs commitment from all sides of politics for Australia to enjoy the benefits of consistent effort, sustained beyond political cycles ○ This strategy needs enough detail to provide meaningful direction and guidance to shorter-term decisions, but not so much detail that it becomes out of date before it can shape long-term plans ○ This strategy needs to build on the unique roles played by different actors in the national innovation system, and encourage them to operate in a complementary (rather than competitive) way ○ While well-established science disciplines continue to be vital to Australia’s wellbeing, interdisciplinary sciences (including bioinformatics) are a wellspring of innovation—this strategy should encourage them ○ This strategy also needs to recognise the profound and positive role of the public sector in national innovation as articulated by Mazzucato5.

(g) The effectiveness of mechanisms within Australian universities and industry for developing research pathways, particularly in regards to early and mid-career researchers;

● We take the term “research pathways” to refer to the career paths along which researchers are able to deliver benefits ○ We need to identify and nurture bioinformatics career paths that will deliver a benefit to Australia ● Based on our own experiences in bioinformatics, we concur with Tim Nielsen’s opinion6 that Australian science now needs to recognise and address two distinct "brain-drain" phenomena: the original form whereby newly-minted scientists feel compelled to leave the country temporarily in order to kick-start their careers overseas; and a newer, more pernicious beast in which disenchanted young researchers are reluctantly giving up on careers in science altogether and are being lost permanently to other professions right here in Australia

5 Mazzucato, M. The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths. (2013). 6 Nielsen, T. Hanging up their labcoats: Australia's new brain drain. abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/01/16/3926579.htm

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● Current Australian mechanisms for developing research pathways do not seem to be working effectively ● Lack of career stability is an issue for many researchers, including those working in bioinformatics, noting that ○ it generally takes sustained efforts to develop and deliver science impact ○ short-term or uncertain funding discourages people to commit their careers to those efforts, especially when these careers need to support others ○ “Career stability” goes beyond “job security”, and refers to the prospect of work in an area beyond a specific job ● The Australasian Genomic Technologies Association7 articulates career challenges succinctly in the McKeon Review (p.142): …independent and well trained statisticians, bioinformaticians and systems biologists are absolutely vital for Australia to remain competitive and functional in all areas of health and medical research. Yet these positions are usually the least well supported and are generally based on short term contacts. These individuals are key to the success of any major research project and as such are usually put under a high degree of pressure, which is only exacerbated by the tenuous nature of their employment. As such, Australia continues to lose many skilled statisticians and bioinformaticians to overseas employment opportunities, and many Australian research groups are forced to outsource some of their analyses, rely on untrained PhD students or place increasing amounts of workload/pressure on the few skilled individuals who choose to remain. ● This is not just an Australian perspective. Dr Ewan Birney from the European Bioinformatics Institute commented in 2009 that8 There is a global skills shortage in bioinformatics and computational biology, compounded by: • Increasing need for “dry” biology in the life sciences • A lack of appreciation of this shift towards much more data-driven biology • A lack of funding models and career paths that support computational biology • The perception that “biology is the science with no maths” ● Bioinformatics involves continual learning and development ○ The breadth, depth and rate of change of knowledge in bioinformatics makes continual learning essential ○ Early career bioinformaticians face steep challenges in delivering high quality science, acquiring new skills and knowledge, and often, managing pressures from others who see bioinformatics as a routine service ○ Support and mentoring from more established colleagues, and a broad network of bioinformatics contacts are practical responses to these challenges

7 www.agtagenomics.org.au 8 EMBL Australia (2009) Bioinformatics for the future (“the Birney report”).

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(h) Policy actions to attract, train and retain a healthy research and innovation workforce;

● With respect to Australia’s bioinformatics workforce, we believe policy should be shaped by the four high-level objectives set out in our response to heading (b) above ○ Stability: to enable long-term planning and investment. This stability is vital to attract, retain and develop bioinformaticians to enable high-impact science ○ Flexibility: to address the diversity and changes in demand, Australia’s investment needs to enable its bioinformatics capabilities to be flexibly applied. ○ Connectedness: Australia needs to be able to share bioinformatics expertise, resources and opportunities nationally and internationally ○ Capacity: Australia needs to invest in bioinformatics capacity sufficient to match its aspirations to deliver and to exploit benefit from the life sciences. ● If Government accepts these objectives, specific policy actions would need to be developed in consultation with the Australian bioinformatics community ○ the Australian Bioinformatics Network stands ready to support that process ● Ideas that may be canvassed include ○ Committing long-term support to bioinformatics education, e.g., through ■ Australia’s long-running Summer/Winter School series in bioinformatics ■ a deliberate and coordinated approach to professional development ■ exploration of a program of postgraduate courses using a similar model as the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia9, an option put forward in the McKeon Review ○ Reconsidering the number, size and nature of fellowships available to researchers, noting that bioinformatics is an enabling discipline in which researchers can deliver benefits by working with a range of collaborators ○ Committing long-term support to initiatives that seek to foster connections to people, resources and opportunities so that Australian bioinformatics can deliver even more benefits ○ Ensuring that Australia builds on its investments in national collaborative research infrastructure (including NeCTAR) to support Australian bioinformatics and bioscience. This includes initiatives like the Genomics Virtual Laboratory10, BRAEMBL11, and other aspects of the National Computing Infrastructure ○ Ensuring that the highly interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics is not penalised in competitive funding processes ■ This includes recognition that aspects of bioinformatics and bioscience span the boundary of medical and non-medical research, e.g., analysis methods, microbial bioscience

9 Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia: www.bca.edu.au 10 Genomics Virtual Laboratory: genome.edu.au 11 Bioinformatics Resource Australia EMBL: braembl.org.au

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(i) Policy actions to ensure strategic international engagement in science, research and innovation; and

● International engagement in science, research and innovation are vital to Australia’s wellbeing ● The Royal Society states12: Today collaboration has never been more important. With human society facing a number of wide-ranging and interlinked ‘global challenges’ such as climate change, food security, energy security and infectious disease, international scientific collaboration is essential if we are to have any chance of addressing the causes, or dealing with the impacts, of these problems. ● Establishing or strengthening links internationally, including with near neighbours like New Zealand, helps provide more career options and opportunities to share expertise, resources and opportunities in bioinformatics and bioscience ● Potential policy actions include ○ Support for and greater use of Australia’s links to Europe via our associate membership of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, via EMBL Australia) ○ Ensuring that Australia’s bioinformatics capabilities are able to attract strategic international engagement, noting ■ Australia’s complement of world-class bioinformaticians, including 2013 Prime Minister’s Science Prize winner, Professor Terry Speed ■ Australia’s research strengths in the life sciences ○ Recognising that online interaction is key to overcoming the tyranny of distance and promoting extensive global engagement with Australian science ■ Current research funding schemes and processes often discourage open, online collaborative projects by rewarding “first author”, “first to publish” over science quality

12 The Royal Society (2011) Knowledge, Networks and Nations royalsociety.org/policy/projects/knowledge-networks-nations/

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(j) Policy options to create a seamless innovation pipeline, including support for emerging industries, with a view to identifying key areas of future competitive advantage.

● The life sciences, and the technologies that they use, are highly dynamic; many new methods and ideas emerge each year ○ Establishing an early foothold in these emerging technologies is vital to Australia's competitiveness in the life sciences and in ■ delivering tangible health outcomes by informing the treatment of cancer, heart disease, metabolic disorders and other chronic conditions ■ increasing productivity in agriculture ■ facing threats to biosecurity from invasive and emerging diseases ■ guiding environmental policy and decision making ○ Bioinformaticians are at the forefront of dealing with new methods and ideas, especially new measurement technologies in DNA sequencing ● Australia needs the capability and capacity to adopt, adapt and contribute to rapid and ongoing innovation in the life sciences ○ Part of this is to ensure Australia continues to attract, develop and retain a skilled and experienced bioinformatics workforce ● Innovation is not just the creation of a new idea but its translation into practice ○ Encouraging individuals and industry to take risks through incentives to innovate and try new ideas is critical to the development of an innovative culture ○ Policies that recognise the importance of innovative ideas and which are, by their very nature, non-traditional, should be promoted. Specifically these include: ■ Maintenance of the R&D Tax Incentive laws ■ Repeal of the 2009 Employee Share Scheme taxation laws to remove the tax imposition for incentivising employees though rewarding commitment via ownership in the company ● While it is difficult to predict the future of Australian innovation, it is certain that the biological and the information sciences will be major platforms for national competitive advantage ○ Fostering a workforce skilled in working with biological information will help ensure that Australia can benefit from, and deliver innovation in the life sciences ○ The policy options we suggest in previous points address this aim

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2. Additional detail and background on bioinformatics

What is bioinformatics? ● In its broadest sense, bioinformatics is about the analysis, interpretation, modeling and management of biological information, most commonly, information about DNA (the genetic instructions for living organisms) and related molecules ● Bioinformatics ○ is essential within life science research to understand the complexity of living organisms, their development and response to environment ○ underpins many advances in medical, agricultural and environmental research ○ is highly interdisciplinary and operates at the intersection of the biological and the information sciences, including statistics, mathematics and computer science ○ is closely connected to systems biology, computational biology, and computational biophysics. ○ is a relatively recent domain and has grown strongly with the rise of new DNA sequencing technologies ○ enables the understanding of how molecules interact and how disease affects these interactions, improving diagnosis, prognosis, prediction and therapy ○ helps make sense of the human, animal and crop genomes, leading to discoveries in health and agricultural productivity. Why are we making this submission? ● We believe bioinformatics is important to Australia’s economy and wellbeing through its fundamental and enabling role in the life sciences ○ We seek to ensure it is factored into the Australian Government’s approach to innovation, especially with respect to the funding of education and research and the linkages between industry and academia ○ Bioinformaticians are pivotal to analysis of modern biological science data. Their multidisciplinary skills makes them a highly sought after resource and one which provides the catalyst for innovation Why is bioinformatics important to Australian innovation? ● Bioinformatics has become critical to life sciences over the past few decades with the development of techniques to measure (or “read”) the molecular building blocks of life, to model their interactions small molecules such as drugs, and to predict the effect of genetic variations and their associations with phenotypes and ecosystems, including susceptibility to disease, response to medication (personalised medicine), crop yield and farm animal productivity.

● Bioinformatics is important to Australia’s international competitiveness: other leading economies are investing heavily in the use of computation, statistics and mathematics in the life sciences to deliver benefits across a broad range of applications, including:

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○ computer-assisted drug design, biomarker discovery, and genetic diagnostics in personalised medicine ○ designing new molecules for biotechnological applications ranging from agriculture to pharmaceutical industry ○ accelerating the breeding of our major crops and farm animals, supporting rural industries ○ generating information to support land management decisions for future environmental sustainability.

● Bioinformatics is important to Australia’s capabilities in areas including ○ human health and medicine (e.g., in tackling disease) ○ agriculture (e.g., in improving productivity in the face of climate change) ○ environmental science and policy (e.g., in understanding ecosystems and providing data to underpin environmental management decisions) and in sectors outside the life sciences, such as energy (e.g., biofuels) and mining (e.g., bioleaching)

● Bioinformatics is important to Australian productivity ○ directly, by enabling the production of valuable goods and services ○ indirectly, by helping efforts to ensure our personal health and wellbeing, as well as the health and wellbeing of our industries and environment

● Australia’s bioinformatics capability also helps position the nation to take advantage of new and emerging life science technologies ○ These technologies are constantly changing and require specialist skills to manage, mine and interpret output ○ Currently, data analysis is a ‘bottleneck’, limiting the value of emerging technologies ○ We urgently need bioinformatic tools and bioinformatics specialists to support, promote and exploit advances in biomedical and biotechnological research. What is Australia’s current bioinformatics capability? ● The Australian bioinformatics “workforce” numbers in the hundreds, primarily researchers and applied scientists working in industry, academia and science agencies ○ In addition, there are many people for whom bioinformatics is an important aspect of their work but who would not describe themselves as bioinformaticians ○ Having access to bioinformatics capabilities is vital in many bioscience investigations. Ideally, specialist bioinformaticians will be part of a research project team. Increasingly, a basic level of bioinformatics knowledge is becoming essential for anyone working in the biological sciences. ○ 333NHMRC is recognising this through aspects of their funding schemes; bioinformatics is also a priority area for certain ARC applications.

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● Australia ○ Has world-class bioinformatics expertise, including Professors Terry Speed (Winner of the 2013 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science), Gordon Smyth and Mark Ragan, and many other excellent scientists at earlier stages in their careers ○ Has organisations focused specifically on developing and delivering bioinformatics capability, including the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI), QFAB Bioinformatics, and the Australian Bioinformatics Facility ○ Operates substantial DNA sequencing, proteomics and metabolomics infrastructure through Bioplatforms Australia and its nodes

● Australian bioinformatics infrastructure includes computing capability supported by NCRIS and NeCTAR, as well as institutional investments ranging from the individual lab to national infrastructure. ● In terms of scientific publications in bioinformatics, Australia appears to be in “the middle of the pack” in relation to other countries. ● Unlike the USA, Australia is able to access to large patient cohorts and interactions between clinics and research labs ○ Similar to the UK’s NHS, Australia’s health system enables population-based investigations such as The Australian Imaging, Biomarker & Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL) ○ Bioinformaticians and biostatisticians are critical to the analysis and interpretation of this population-based data. What is special about bioinformatics as a discipline or profession? ● Bioinformatics lies at the intersection of biological and information sciences, the latter including mathematics, statistics and computing ○ It is important that research and other investments in bioinformatics are seen through an “interdisciplinary lens” rather than a purely biological or information science perspective

● Because of its breadth and depth, no single individual could cover all aspects of bioinformatics relevant to Australia ○ This is one of the main motives behind the Australian Bioinformatics Network: to help ensure Australia can build and take advantage of a broader network of expertise, resources and opportunities

● Bioinformatics is not directly “market facing” and relies on investments from life science industries and government funding via the national innovation system ○ Given its often “behind the scenes” role, it is important for us to raise awareness of the criticality of bioinformatics to Australia’s life science capabilities

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More reflections on bioinformatics ● Many Australian researchers may be paying for commercial bioinformatics solutions from overseas providers where superior home-grown alternatives exist ○ Due perhaps to lack of awareness and bioinformatics proficiency, Australian research groups may not be taking advantage of high-quality (and free) local solutions ● Bioinformatics will become central to health care provision, both public and private ○ This is one of the main drivers for the NHMRC’s work towards Principles for the translation of ‘omics’-based tests from discovery to health care ○ The sequencing of individual genes is already commonplace in modern healthcare; soon the sequencing of entire patient genomes will become common practice, especially in cancer medicine ○ Australian medical research institutions are investing money and effort into developing bioinformatics pipelines to prepare for this ○ However, it remains challenging to find and train the right personnel for the job, and secure the funding for such activities ● It's not easy for Australian bioinformaticians to commercialise the tools they've developed ○ Australian research institutions often develop excellent tools and systems to enable their life science research, but it is often unclear if and how they can be commercialised, or otherwise shared for broader benefit ○ Medical centres that could benefit from adopting Australian solutions may instead purchase analysis systems from overseas because more advanced commercialisation and marketing approaches ● Bioinformatics can be at a disadvantage in competing for the skills it needs most. ○ People who are very talented and maths, stats and programming can have their pick of job opportunities, even in slow economic times ○ Salaries offered by public research institutes are generally substantially less than qualified people can command in the private sector ● Australia’s economic future depends on innovation ○ Life science activity impacts the economy in essential areas of health, food production, environmental quality and diversity ○ Research supporting industry is a key enabler of these innovations and dependent on high quality, well founded, experimental methodology, analysis and interpretation ○ Bioinformatics is the cornerstone of this work providing the opportunity to accelerate the investigation of large data columns within defined and quantifiable methods which allow biologists understand, visualise and interpret the information within

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What has the Australian government heard previously about bioinformatics? Over the years, various reports and documents have been prepared about, or of relevance to bioinformatics in Australia. These include ● NHMRC Research Committee, ARC & CSIRO (2000) Report of the bioinformatics review working group (“the Pittard Report”). ● House of Representatives Standing Committee on Primary Industries and Regional Services (2001) Bioprospecting: discoveries changing the future (“the Bailey Inquiry”). ● Commonwealth DITR (2002) Bioinformatics: Issues and Opportunities for Australia. Emerging Industries Occasional Paper No. 15 (“the Littlejohn Report”). ● NHMRC Research Committee, ARC, CSIRO & Biotechnology Australia (2002) Bioinformatics workshop summary of issues. ● NHMRC Research Committee, ARC, CSIRO, Biotechnology Australia & Environment Australia (2002) Development, support and funding of bioinformatics in Australia: options paper. ● Commonwealth DITR Bioinformatics Expert Task Force (2003) Interim bioinformatics report: Input into the evaluation of the National Biotechnology Strategy. ● Commonwealth DITR (2004) Survey of Australian bioinformatics organisations. ● Biotechnology Australia (2005) National bioinformatics strategy. ● NCRIS Committee (2006) National collaborative research infrastructure strategy: strategic roadmap. ● NCRIS Committee (2006) Evolving biomolecular platforms and informatics: investment plan. ● e-Research Coordinating Committee (2006) An Australian e-research strategy and implementation framework. ● DIISR (2008) Strategic roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure ● EMBL Australia (2009) Bioinformatics for the future (“the Birney report”). ● Australian eResearch Infrastructure Council (2010) Meeting Australia’s research workforce needs. ● DIISR (2011) Strategic roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure.

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3. The list of people who support this submission The following 112 individuals support the intent of this document to increase the benefits delivered by Australian bioinformatics:

Dr David Lovell Australian Bioinformatics Network Lauren Bragg CSIRO Xi Li CSIRO Natalie Thorne Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Simon Dillon University of Adelaide Gayle Philip VLSCI Chenwei Wang University of Technology Peta Hill #N/A Dr Joshua Ho Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute Andrei Seleznev Monash University Khyati #N/A Dr Rebekah McWhirter Menzies Research Insitute Dr Stuart Stephen CSIRO Dr. Stuart Ralph Nathan S. Watson-Haigh Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics Aaron E. Darling University of Technology Sydney David Adelson University of Adelaide Franco Caramia Guevara Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Mark Crowe Queensland Facility for Advanced Bioinformatics Melinda Ashcroft Ying Zhu Hunter New England Health Jairus Bowne University of Melbourne Andrew Warden CSIRO Paul McAdam University of Melbourne Harriet Dashnow VLSCI Hsiao Phin Voon Monash University Kenlee Nakasugi Illumina Dr Abdul Baten Southern Cross University Prof Shoba Ranganathan Macquarie University Guillaume Bernard #N/A Mathilde Desselle Queensland Facility for Advanced Bioinformatics Denis O'Meally #N/A Darya Vanichkina University of Queensland Lars Jermiin CSIRO priyanka patel #N/A Alison Anderson University of Queensland Partha Gope University of Melbourne Dr Konsta Duesing CSIRO

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Patrick K. Wouobeng #N/A Dr. Mirana Ramialison Monash University Tamara Burt Flinders University Dr Ashley Waardenberg Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute James Hane Curtin University Emma Cowie #N/A Professor Mark Ragan University of Queensland Nicole Fisher CSIRO Dr David Humphreys Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute Dr. David Goode Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Dr Neil Saunders CSIRO Dr Nicholas Wong Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Prof Yaoqi Zhou Institute for Glycomics, Assistant Prof Katie Meehan University of Western Australia Prof David Edwards University of Queensland/University of Western Australia Dr Joshua Ho Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute Associate Prof Michael Legg Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Dr Jimmy Breen University of Adelaide Dr Bala Kumble Innova Sierra Pty Ltd. Dr Logeshwaran Panneerselvan University of South Australia Mr Jarod Lee University of Technology Sydney Dr Konsta Duesing CSIRO Dr Sharon Hook CSIRO Dr Rob Dunne CSIRO Oliver Berry CSIRO Dale Watkins SAHMRI Amit Kumar SI Systems Eric Powell BRAEMBL Shivashankar Nagaraj University of Queensland Jarod Lee University of Technology Sydney Liren, Huang Beijing Genomics Institute Lachlan Coin University of Queensland Tony Papenfuss The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute & Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Maria Doyle Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Dr Matthew Ritchie The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Andy Timmins University of Adelaide, ACPFG Paul J Berkman CSIRO Dr Jac Charlesworth University of Tasmania Djordje Djordjevic Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute & UNSW Emma Menzies Research Institute Russell Thomson University of Tasmania Anna Brüniche-Olsen University of Tasmania

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Melissa University of Tasmania Nicola Armstrong University of Sydney James Marthick Menzies Research Institute Greg Jordan University of Tasmania Yuan Zhou University of Tasmania Kathryn Burdon University of Tasmania Jawahar Patil University of Tasmania, NCMCRS, AMC Dorothy Steane University of Tasmania and University of the Sunshine Coast (Qld) Dominique Gorse QFAB Bioinformatics L.A. Barmuta University of Tasmania Dr. Vidana Epa CSIRO Chris Burridge University of Tasmania Richard Edwards University of New South Wales A/Prof Kim Carter Telethon Kids Institute Pascal Vallotton CSIRO Roxane LEGAIE Queensland Facility for Advanced Bioinformatics Dr. Erin P. Price Menzies School of Health Research Rebecca Jones University of Tasmania Derek Sarovich Menzies School of Health Research Tim Littlejohn Past director Australian National Genomic Information Service Jeremy Barker QFAB Bioinformatics Dr Terry Bertozzi South Australian Museum Phil Giffard Menzies School of Health Research Byeong Ho Kang University of Tasmania Annette McGrath CSIRO Vicky Schneider TGAC Dr Fabian Buske Garvan Institute Michael Thang QFAB Andrew Lonsdale University of Melbourne Dr Alicia Oshlack Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Barbara Holland University of Tasmania Alex Centre for Eye Research Australia

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