We have recently finalised our Research Strategy which will define the work of the Centre in the coming years. 
 
The Centre will focus on four major research domains:

• Describing populations: the phenomenology of disease
• The biology of disease
• Putting biology in a societal and environmental context
• Designing and implementing solutions

These research domains will be supported by research project nodes and will intersect with our research themes.

These themes will run as threads throughout all four domains, and offer a means of tying together the entire research network within the Centre, linking to other research on infectious disease, food production, and environmental sustainability. 

The proposed research themes are:

• Nutrition
• Exercise and energy expenditure 
• Complex systems and sustainability
• Indigenous health
• Politics, governance and ethics of health

Speaking on the Research Strategy and its development, Professor Steve Simpson said: “Across the University, we have an abundance of exceptional intellectual talent. 

 “The Centre will provide the environment in which a new age of collaboration can flower at the University. Where we can conduct world-class research, translate the knowledge we develop into practical solutions, develop innovative, multidisciplinary teaching programs to inspire the next generation of researchers, and forge new research partnerships within and beyond the University.”

In key appointment news at the Centre, Associate Professor Chris Roberts has agreed to come on board to steer our fast-developing Education Strategy. He was previously the Director of Community Engaged Teaching and Learning for the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) portfolio.

Associate Professor Roberts will oversee the Centre’s Education Committee, whose role will be to provide advice and recommendations to the Centre’s Executive Committee, ensuring that it delivers its Business Case Education outcomes.

More than 60 units of study, originally suggested in 2009 as part of the business plan for the Charles Perkins Centre, will be supported in moving to the education spaces in the new building. These spaces will include a new auditorium, seminar rooms and a 240-person wet teaching ‘superlab’.

We would also like to welcome Professor John Crawford, who has accepted the role of Theme Leader for Complex Systems and Sustainability in the Centre.

Professor Crawford brings to this role unique expertise and leadership in complex systems research and a proven track record leading multidisciplinary research and training. He previously led the development of the research strategy for complex systems and sustainability for the Sydney Emerging Infections and Biosecurity (SEIB) Institute.  

In the context of his new role, Professor Crawford will be establishing an Integrative Systems Lab (ISL), initially composed of three postdoctoral positions, in support of the Charles Perkins Centre and SEIB. The Lab will be linked to a coordinated program of interdisciplinary post-graduate training that will engage staff from across the University and will engage broadly other areas needing complex systems expertise. This capability will be important for our future work in sustainability.

The Centre has been drawing together a package of high level appointments, including several Chair positions funded by the proceeds from the sale of the donated Picasso painting in 2011.

These positions will be advertised together in order to generate major international recruitment impact.

The package of appointments includes:

• Picasso donation funded Chairs (Nutrition, Metabolism, Psychology, and one or two others to be decided)
• Chair in Arts and Social Sciences
• Chair in Diabetes Research (funded by Australian Diabetes Council)
• Chair in Health Economics
• One or two Chairs in Health Sciences
• Chair in Nursing

At the heart of the Charles Perkins Centre is the construction of a state of the art new building – its Hub – designed to encourage and support collaborations and to foster new ways of thinking. 

The Centre building will accommodate 950 researchers and 1455 undergraduates, providing a combination of wet and dry laboratory spaces, new imaging and flow cytometry facilities, including live cell imaging, clinical research facilities and a 'biobank'.

The building is located on the north western boundary of the University’s Camperdown campus bordering the grounds of RPA Hospital and St John’s College.

Brookfield Multiplex was announced as the construction contractor for the Charles Perkins Centre building in March 2012.

The building is scheduled for occupation at the end of January, 2014.

Through the work of the Centre, the University has welcomed the first ground state depletion (GSD) super-resolution microscope in the southern hemisphere, which will enable researchers to see materials at a cellular level.

The funding for the microscope was secured by a multidisciplinary team from the Centre, Bosch Institute, Centenary institute and the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis.

The Centre’s Cellular Imaging Facility (CIF) working group consisting of Filip Braet (Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis), Louise Cole (Advanced Microscopy Facility – Bosch Institute) and Adrian Smith (Cytometry and Imaging Facility - Centenary Institute) have been working for nearly two years on the blueprint of the CIF.

The working group was able to acquire the latest addition in the family of super-resolution microscopes as the initial investment in CIF equipment.

The Leica GSD super-resolution microscope will initially be based in the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (Madsen Building) and will be relocated to the CIF upon completion of the Centre building.

From September 2012 onwards, the instrument will be accessible to all researchers at no operational costs for the first 12 months. During this period, the working group hope that many users will generate exciting new data that will support future research grant applications, and that this will lead to the start of a new era in cellular microscopy networking at the University.

The working group will keep interested researchers abreast of progress on this exciting research platform in the coming months and will organise a dedicated workshop in advanced optical and super-resolution microscopy towards the end of 2012.