UQ Centre for Clinical Research: pioneering breakthroughs in healthcare for 15 years

For over a decade, UQ Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR) has united state-of-the-art facilities with leading health professionals, clinicians and scientists with the goal of improving quality of life for patients. Acting Director Professor Jason Roberts says they have no intention of slowing down.

“Back in 2004, I received my very first grant from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Research Foundation to support part of my PhD,” Professor Roberts explains.

“It seemed huge to me at the time but was actually quite small in today’s terms, just $10,000.”

During his studies, Professor Roberts’ PhD was moved to the new UQCCR and he ended up being one of the first students to graduate from the Centre.

“The building was very good-looking,” he recalls.

“It was modern and had a high concentration of researchers who were exceptional in their fields.

“These points all remain part of the Centre’s appeal.”

UQCCR’s mission is to improve health through excellence in research, clinical partnerships, mentorship and service.

It’s this community of experts and their willingness to nurture promising researchers that Professor Roberts identifies as making the Centre special.

“We have top-tier facilities, such as for bioanalysis, and a clinical trial support unit.

We employ experts with complementary spheres of knowledge, so we have people with laboratory expertise all the way to scientists trying to develop interventions that work at the bedside,” Professor Roberts explains.

“But first and foremost, it’s because we have people who are genuinely interested in the development of others around them.

“It’s made me better at what I do and I know that’s something UQCCR continues to do with our early-career researchers today.” The studies the Centre produced in its early days are still impacting research today.

Professor Roberts traces a direct link from his first funding award to a global trial that will be released in early 2024.

“The research I did during my PhD led to further studies into antibiotic dosing in sepsis, which in turn led to a trial we’re just finishing now that has enrolled 7200 patients across 103 ICUs all around the world,” Professor Roberts states.

“It will be the definitive trial on how to best administer a type of antibiotic to sepsis patients and is 10 times the size of the next largest study.

“Now, as Acting Director of the Centre, I often say to the group who awarded my first funding that all of it came from that initial grant.

“That’s how important PhD students’ research can be and is why it’s so important to invest in researchers early on in their careers.”

In its 15-year history, the Centre has been at the forefront of many such studies on global health issues.

In the MERINO Trial, researchers from around the world collaborated with UQCCR to prove that the common antibiotic meropenem should preferentially be used against a particular antibiotic-resistant strain of superbugs for bloodstream infections.

“It’s a wonderful study, and very well led by Professor David Paterson, Dr Patrick Harris and the MERINO Team,” Professor Roberts states.

“With a simple antibiotic we were able to drastically increase the rate of survival and change global best practice.

“It is estimated that over 3 million lives will be saved annually because they will now receive the best drugs for their infection.

"While UQCCR has had a great first 15 years, we know there is much to do in the future and are excited to rise to that challenge.

“In the next few years, we will see the new Queensland Cancer Centre open next to us, and will be part of the exciting development of the Herston Quarter, a $1.1 billion project being managed by Australian Unity.

“As a clinician, you move through the healthcare journey with patients and identify areas for improvement with the way they are managed or the treatments they’re receiving.

“There’s a sense of moral obligation to do something about that, and at UQCCR we are able to help make those changes."