$15.6M Tasmanian Informatics Center Falls Through

NEW YORK, April 25 (GenomeWeb News) - The federal government of Australia has canceled a AU$20 million ($15.6 million) informatics center called "Tasinformatics center of excellence," according to a newspaper report.

The center was part of a AU$40 million IntelligentIslandprogram, funded by Tasmanian senator Brian Harradine from the sale of telecommunications company Telstra. Originally, the center was meant to be a bioinformatics center, which was cancelled in 2003 and replaced by the Tasinformatics center, according to the Sunday Tasmanian. A year ago, the planned center was found to have problems with intellectual property arrangements.

The federal government is now looking for alternative projects, according to the newspaper.