Hosted Projects

TUNRA provides hosting services for major collaborative research projects. This includes administrative support, financial management, account and contract management, marketing, human resources and payroll.

Under a research agreement, TUNRA can tailor support services to a project and employ staff to deliver research services.

Current Hosted Project Partners

MCi Carbon

MCi Carbon (MCi) was founded in 2013 by Orica, University of Newcastle and private capital and is an Australian clean technology platform transforming carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial emissions into building materials and other valuable products for the circular carbon economy. The process is a profitable, permanent, safe and sustainable means to decarbonise global industries and the built environment. MCi Carbon is scaling a technology to provide decarbonisation pathways for hard-to abate sectors including steel, cement, mining, chemicals, and manufacturing – these heavy industries currently face decarbonisation challenges due to high emissions intensive processes and supply chains.

MCi Carbon is currently working with industry leaders across the globe to deploy its technology and its Pilot Plant facility is hosted on the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER) site.

An aerial view of the carbon plant

ImmVirX

ImmVirX,  founded by the Team from Viralytics, focuses on the development and commercialisation of oncolytic immunotherapies by developing proprietary bio-selected RNA viruses with the capacity to selectively infect and kill cancer cells while also inducing tumour inflammation and achieving immune cell infiltration – potentially leading to the generation of specific innate and adaptive immune response against cancer cells.  Research and development is conducted at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) facility in Newcastle, supported by global partners and consultants.

A man looking at a small virus

Previous Hosted Projects

Viralytics

Viralytics, which was acquired by US-based Global pharmaceutical company Merck & Co in 2018 for $502 million, was focused on the development and commercialisation of oncolytic immunotherapies that harness the power of viruses to preferentially infect and kill cancer cells. Viralytics was a publicly-held company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:VLA). Research and development was conducted at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) facility in Newcastle, supported by global partners and consultants.