News & Announcements

As the Foundation Industry Partner and commercialisation provider to the SMART CRC bid, CCRM Australia is delighted to announce that the University of Queensland will be the proud host of the Solutions for Manufacturing Advanced Regenerative Therapies (SMART) CRC at its St Lucia campus in Brisbane, should the bid be successful.

CCRM Australia is honoured to join forces with the University, which will play a vital role in providing unparalleled research capability and state-of-the-art facilities. Together, with the support of other research organisations and industry partners, we see the SMART CRC as a collaboration of national significance that will lead to breakthrough innovations and greatly enhance the skills and capacity of Australia's regenerative therapies sector. 

Silvio Tiziani, CEO of the Centre for Commercialisation of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Australia, which is the SMART CRC’s Foundation Industry Partner, was delighted to announce today that Dr Leanna Read BAgSc(Hons), PhD, FAICD, FTSE, has agreed to lead the SMART CRC’s Bid Steering Committee and assume the role of interim Chair if the bid is successful.

Leanna has broad-ranging research, company executive, board and investment experience in technology-based enterprises, particularly biotechnology and cell therapies.  She brings a long-standing engagement with the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) program since its introduction in 1991.  This includes co-founding the CRC for Tissue Growth and Repair (CRC TGR - funded in the inaugural round of CRCs) and experience as CEO of CRC TGR as well as the CRC for Cell Therapy Manufacturing (CRC CTM).  She has served on the board of three CRCs and chaired CRC CTM for its entire 6-year term.  Leanna also founded and served as Managing Director of TGR BioSciences Pty Ltd, a successful spin-out company from CRC TGR.  She currently chairs two spin-out companies from CRC CTM - TekCyte Ltd and Carina Biotech Pty Ltd and continues as a director of the CTM CRC charity - CureCell Ltd.  Her contributions to the CRC program were recognised in 2018 through a Distinguished Friend of the CRC Association Award for ‘outstanding dedication to the advancements of Cooperative Research Centres’.

In addition to her CRC roles, Leanna currently chairs Health Translation SA and is a board member of Biosensis Pty Ltd, Uniseed Venture Capital and the Federal Government Biomedical Translation Fund Committee. Previous roles include Chief Scientist for South Australia (2014-2018), and Member of the Commercialisation Australia Board (2012-2014).  She holds honorary doctorates at the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.