Prospective Groups 

The Basil Hetzel Institute accommodates a mix of laboratory and clinical research. TQEH’s strengths are in research that is closely linked to the disease burden of the region which is both relevant to, and utilises the patient load of the hospital and the associated clinical material.

Research groups comprising clinical, academic and scientific research staff as well as postgraduate students can be found under the RESEARCH heading on this website, where they are listed by:

• Research Themes
• Research at UoA (The University of Adelaide Disciplines)
• Research at UniSA

Current postgraduate students are enrolled through The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.

The document “REQUIREMENTS OF GROUPS OCCUPYING ‘THE INSTITUTE’” sets out the terms under which research groups occupy the Basil Hetzel Institute, TQEH. One of those terms is that only health and medical research relevant to Departments and Units of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital will be undertaken within The Institute.

Space is allocated on a functional needs basis, consistent with ‘Requirements of Groups Occupying The Institute (Basil Hetzel Institute)’ policy, which is reviewed annually. The key principles include:

• Maintain maximum flexibility and efficiency through Institute wide management
• Research groups entitled to occupy space within The Institute according to the assessment process described in ‘Requirements of Groups Occupying The Institute (BHI)’, will be allocated laboratory and office space appropriate to their needs;
• Research groups/departments do not ‘own real estate’;
• The BHI Facility Manager, working with the BHI Management Committee, and in consultation with research groups, has responsibility for the review and assignment of resources.
• Laboratory and office space are reviewed annually, ensuring that as individual groups expand and contract, or change activity, there is adequate space for everyone to work efficiently.
• To facilitate a collaborative research environment staff will not necessarily be grouped in departments.
• As office space is a limited resource within The Institute, office space will be allocated on a functional needs basis to staff rather than on seniority or chronological order.
• Sessional office and desk space is available for those who have offices or work elsewhere (TQEH main hospital building or another campus).

A flexible and collaborative research environment, enabling new groups and new staff to be successfully accommodated is created through this process. Laboratory and office space are reviewed annually, ensuring that as individual groups expand and contract, or change activity, there is adequate space for everyone to work efficiently.

Expectations

The Institute expects its staff and students to be active participants in Facility activities (operational and research related) and abide by ‘The Institute Code of Conduct’ as it is developed by The Institute Management Committee. Senior staff are expected to lead by example.

Contact [email protected] for a copy of “Requirements of Groups Occupying ‘The Institute’ ”

The laboratory space has a flexible design, so that functional changes can be easily accommodated in the future. Most areas within the building are open shared spaces, which facilitates interdepartmental communication and collaboration.

The western side of the building is laboratory space, linked via an atrium to the office space located on the eastern side of the building. Break out spaces, balconies and meeting rooms provide dedicated areas for informal interaction and formal meetings.

Laboratory space

The lab spaces within the building are predominantly shared spaces, for example tissue culture facilities and microscopy suites are accessed by all research groups as required, and they are not partitioned off into departmental areas. We encourage and facilitate integration wherever possible to maintain an efficient use of space.

In addition to the open plan lab space we also have some smaller specialised rooms and equipment, such as;

• Clinic rooms
• Vapour Phase Cryogenic storage (accessing SA Pathology database)
• Flow cytometry suite (FACScantoII)
• Tissue Culture suites (fully equipped)
• Positive pressure clean room (PCR set up)
• Positive pressure room for preparation of clinical trials reagents
• Specialised equipment ie Bioplex, ImmunoCAP, Elispot, mass spectrometry, BioRad Chemidoc, ViA7 RealTime-PCR machine etc
• Microscopy suite (Laser Capture Microscope Leica 6500, Zeiss Confocal LSM 700, etc)
• Histology suite
• Cold room, dark room, washup room, equipment rooms etc
• Bio-Plex, Elispot
• Animal house for small and large animals (including PC2 certified holding rooms, procedure rooms and operating theatre) located at TQEH
• Clinic rooms for research projects

Laboratory spaces are PC2 certified, therefore when entering the laboratory all staff and visitors must wear closed shoes, a laboratory gown. Eating and drinking is not permitted in the laboratory and you must wash your hands upon exiting.

Clinical trial space

Three generic clinic rooms are provided for groups undertaking research using healthy volunteers (subject to usual ethical approvals). These rooms are available to be booked, and the hours of use are negotiable with the BHI Facility Manager.

Management of Office areas within the Institute

Most office space is open plan, however there are a limited number of closed offices. As the number of staff and students accessing the lab areas exceeds the number of desks available, The Institute makes use of the hotdesk and sessional office concept. This works particularly well in our environment as most staff and students are not permanently based at their desks in The Institute. BHI researchers are accessing laboratory areas, main hospital and other campuses.

Further information and expectation on use are found in “The Institute Code of Conduct, Hot desk and Sessional Space Use” Document available from [email protected], BHI Facility Manager.

Seminar rooms and meeting rooms

The BHI also has a wide range of fully equipped meeting rooms of varying sizes and a lecture theatre which seats up to 80 people. Informal meeting places are available in the common room kitchen area, balconies and break out spaces.

The seminar room is adjacent to a full kitchen facility and can be used by BHI researchers or affiliated institutions at no cost for full day scientific meetings. A spacious atrium space allows for social functions to be held in conjunction with research meetings. Bookings can be made through the BH Facility Manager.

Space in clinical areas of the Hospital

Space within the clinical areas of the clinical areas of CALHN must be negotiated directly with the Hospital department.

The BHI is an integral part of TQEH campus, and all research departments have strong links to the clinical divisions within the hospital. The BHI has strong teaching and research affiliations with The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia, enabling it to provide a dynamic environment for research and research training. In particular, the University of Adelaide academic Disciplines of Surgery, Medicine and Psychiatry are integrated within clinical divisions at TQEH and have strong research programmes. The University of Adelaide also has a strong administrative presence at TQEH. The BHI has strengthened its link to UniSA in recent years, with a UniSA Pharmacy department, the Therapeutics Research Centre, now based at TQEH.

The BHI has developed a strong strategic partnership with the SAHMRI in the west end of Adelaide through a jointly funded cancer grant.

BHI Funding sources

Funding of research projects at The Institute is obtained from a variety of sources, including category 1 grants and category 1 fellowships. There are also other smaller granting schemes which have been awarded to BHI researchers. The Hospital Research Foundation Group has supported BHI researchers via Program, project and equipment grants, Early Career and Mid Career Researcher Fellowships and student scholarships for many years. The TQEH Research Secretariat collects data for an annual audit which details funding sources and publication records of each research department.

There is currently no charge to use The Institute, however you may be asked to contribute to some shared scientific costs. Running costs (ie. electricity, water) are borne by TQEH.

The Institute is 4000sqm in total.

Given the collaborative nature and shared space method of allocating space and “no one owns real estate”, it is difficult to provide a square metre calculation of available space.

It is conceivable we could accommodate a further 60 people in the lab areas. However, this would depend on their work flow, equipment space requirements and how the groups operate.

Closed offices, staff workstation spaces and student spaces are available. Due to space limitations, any additional staff and students would be expected to use sessional space as do our current researchers.

The BHI welcomes enquiries from organisations and individual research groups about being part of the research endeavours at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Enquiries from University Faculties/ Central Adelaide Local Health Network

Enquiries at this level should be directed to [email protected], BHI facility Manager, in the first instance. An appointment can be promptly arranged if required with Professor Guy Maddern, Director of Research, The Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research at his office at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Enquiries from prospective research group heads

We encourage you and your group to arrange an appointment to tour The Institute. To assist in discussing your needs, please provide a written staff profile, a translational research profile and your lab and workspace requirements to [email protected], BHI Facility Manager.

In the staff and translational research profiles please include:

• List of personnel (include job title and funding source i.e. NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow, including the end date of funding); include CVs as appropriate
• Grant, publications and student details of the research group for the last 5 years
• Current high-priority research objectives
• Major collaborations
• Lab and workspace needs
• Major equipment you would relocate to TQEH (and location requirements)
• Equipment that you will access at TQEH
• Any other critical factors
• Copies of current organisation research reports detailing your activity (if available)

Imogen will organise an appointment with Professor Guy Maddern, Director of Research, Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research to consider the profiles provided and to more fully assess research/clinical space needs in the context of available opportunities at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.