University of Sydney: Tony Weiss to chair Expert Panel of the $40m NSW Biosciences Fund

The NSW Government has appointed Professor Tony Weiss AM to chair the Expert Panel of the NSW Biosciences Fund (BioSF). The initiative, announced in January, will support startups to develop and commercialise products, devices and delivery platforms in agrifoods, medical and life sciences, and clean energy and waste sectors.

Professor Weiss is the McCaughey Chair in Biochemistry at the University of Sydney School of Life and Environmental Sciences and a leading member of the Charles Perkins Centre.

Over four years, the NSW Biosciences Fund will allocate $40 million to companies and organisations with promising translational technology in biosciences.

“I am excited by the State Government’s superb commitment to the future of NSW and our dynamic biosciences industry,” Professor Weiss said.

Professor Weiss joins the Biosciences Fund after a stint on the Expert Panel of the NSW Physical Sciences Fund. He brings a wealth of experience in translational science. The company he founded, Elastagen, was the first to receive support from the NSW Medical Devices Fund, the first to win second-round funding and the first company to pay it all back.

Elastagen was founded in 2008 to commercialise Professor Weiss’ work on synthetic elastin biomaterials. It was sold a decade after foundation to Allergan in one of the largest transactions ever completed in the Australian life sciences sector.

Professor Weiss is an outstanding choice to lead the NSW Biosciences Fund Expert Panel. He was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in 2021 and the NSW Premier’s Prize for Science & Engineering Leadership in Innovation in 2018 among a slew of many other awards.