No tags yet.
On Tuesday 28th September 2010, Jeff and I were honoured to be guests of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.
For the opening of the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, Australia.
The weather had turned bitterly cold that day and had started to snow above the city on Mt Wellington.
I said to Jeff as we walked out of the carpark, I knew I should have worn my hat and rain coat as we hurried very quickly in the fine rain to the Menzies Research Centre.
Upon our arrival, Jeff and I were handed our name tags then escorted over to where a lovely
hot cuppa tea was waiting for us.
We enjoyed mingling around and meeting different people from all walks of life. Jeff was having fun madly taking photos and video clips of the Centre (we will up load some pics and video clips soon). I was very impressed with the Architectural design of this building as it allowed so much natural light inside, and one could also enjoy looking out at different perspectives of the city of Hobart.
Professor Lowenthal
Eventually we were all ushered into the lecture theatre where Jeff and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the speakers. The Director of the Institute, Prof Simon Foote gave a wonderful informative presentation about what this Centre is all about.
“The Menzies Research Institute’s ultimate goal is to cure or prevent disease and save lives”
Prof Simon Foote
After the official opening of the Centre by the Tasmanian Minister for Health, The Hon Michelle O’Bryne MP.
We all enjoyed a delicious light luncheon after which we were split up into small groups to be escorted around the secured areas of this facility. As we went from one lab area to another, we were met by different researchers who gave us a brief explanation of their role in this wonderful institute.
The Australian Cancer Research Foundation has played a major role in providing grants to this facility. These grants allow the purchase of much needed equipment which can be used on many different research programs.
Two such purchases that impressed me were: ”The ACRF Tasmanian Inherited Cancer Research Centre robot. This robot can screen thousands of blood and tissue samples for genetic markers that could be important to identifying the onset and progress of cancer.”
The other machine was the “ACRF Palm Laser Dissection Microscope. This Microscope dissects prostate tumour samples and individual chromosomes for its blood cancer projects.”
Jeff and I ended the day feeling very privilege that the ACRF had invited us to attend the opening of this impressive institute and hope to be able to spread the word of their fantastic work and the role that the ACRF has played in making their research possible.
Rosie:)