Queensland and Chinese scientists to collaborate on solar energy and traditional medicine projects

Queensland scientists will work with Chinese researchers to source potential new medical drugs from Chinese traditional medicines and to make more durable solar energy cells, under two research projects to receive Queensland-Chinese Academy of Sciences Collaborative Science Funding this year.

Science and Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said the traditional medicines project will be led by Griffith University’s Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery, the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica and one of China’s most esteemed universities dedicated to traditional medicine, Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

“Researchers from the Eskitis Institute will work closely with Guangxi researchers to analyse and test traditional Chinese medicines in a laboratory environment to build a scientific understanding of how they work on the human body,” Ms Enoch said.

“This is an ongoing issue for traditional Chinese medicines, which are often based on herbal remedies. To gain acceptance in mainstream Western medicine, you have to demonstrate their effectiveness – this is where Eskitis comes in.”

Ms Enoch said that the Queensland University of Technology and China’s Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, Anhui Province, also received funding, for a project focused on developing durable, high efficiency solar energy cells.

“Their research is looking at new materials and new technologies that could open up the possibility of much cheaper energy cells. Any developments in this field will not only be good news for consumers, but good news for the environment too.”

Ms Enoch said the Queensland-Chinese Academy of Sciences Collaborative Science Fund was established in 2009 and helps Queensland scientists work with some of China’s best researchers.

“The Queensland Government provides $125,000 towards each project, with matching funds from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China’s most prestigious scientific body. This program is testament to the quality of research and innovation being produced in Queensland – in fact we are the only Government in the world below a national level that has a jointly-funded, collaborative research program with CAS,” she said.

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Media contact: Tim Shipstone – 3719 7281; 0419 246 157