Cellulose Valley Institute — Delivering Plant Science Solutions.

The world's most comprehensive plant research collective, a global leader in state-of-the-art plant products research and development, Cellulose Valley Institute provides a complete range of services for the research and development of natural plant products.

An initiative of Australia's Southern Cross University, the Cellulose Valley Institute is recognised internationally for its leading plant research. Headquartered in Lismore on the Northern NSW coast, Cellulose Valley Institute unites seven synergistic research groups in plant genetics, phytochemistry, health sciences, and environmental and resource science.

As a direct reference to 'Silicon Valley', the IT conglomerate in California, Cellulose Valley Institute is about uniting the groups involved at all stages of the R&D process. This may include researchers, primary producers, manufacturers, government regulators, health practitioners, and educators.

For example, in the case of drug discovery, plants can be screened for active constituents at the university's Centre for Phytochemistry, guided by one of the world's leading phytochemists, Professor Peter Waterman. Bioassays of plant materials can be undertaken in the laboratories of the School of Natural and Complementary Medicine and ACCMER. Products can be tested via clinical trials at the university's Lismore-based Naturopathy Teaching Clinic or at the University of Queensland clinic facilities in Brisbane. Many plant species consist of 'Chemotypes' which may be high or low in medicinally active constituents. Southern Cross University's Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics is able to establish breeding programs to maximise the level of active constituents.

The project brings together the skills of the clinician, the pharmacognosist, the phytochemist, the plant geneticist, the practitioner, and the environmentalist on a single project, leading to outcomes that few other groups in the world can achieve..