IRIS Laboratories ready to flower for the sugarcane industry

Laboratory staff from the former SRA site at Indooroopilly have started work at SRA’s new Innovative Research & Industry Services (IRIS) Laboratories at Acacia Ridge.

Manager Industry Services Operations, Dr Heidi du Clou, said the move had been an enormous undertaking but one which the team undertook with relish as they made IRIS their new home.

“We are all excited to be working out of our fit-for-purpose laboratories at Acacia Ridge,” Heidi said. “As we return from the holiday break, recommissioning of analytical equipment in the upper-level labs continues while other services are already underway.”

IRIS is a scientific precinct comprising multiple laboratories, including Quarantine, Pathology, Tissue Culture, Genomics, Cytogenetics, Entomology and Chemistry. SRA scientists and technicians support research activities and provide scientific services to the sugarcane industry, including Ratoon Stunting Disease (RSD) and other disease testing; sugarcane DNA testing; and soil, water, and sugarcane nutrient analysis.

SRA CEO Mick Bartlett congratulated the whole team on the huge effort in bringing IRIS to reality for the benefit of the sugarcane industry.

“Many people from various teams contributed to the end result, bringing IRIS to a functional capacity within very tight deadlines. The operations team spent many late nights planning the new facility down to the minutest details; organising hundreds of logistical arrangements, and spending many hours negotiating with contractors and suppliers,” Mick said. “We are extremely proud of the outcome.”

An official launch is planned for early March which will include visiting dignitaries and sugarcane industry stakeholders.

If you are in town and would like to tour the laboratories, please email us to make arrangements.