Western Australia's medical innovation and research capabilities have received a substantial boost with $2.5 million from Lotterywest.

WA Health Minister Roger Cook presented the cheque today – injecting money into WA's National Imaging Facility Node to fund key equipment including state-of-the-art MRI and PET-CT scanners.

The new equipment will not only augment and replace ageing equipment, it will align WA's National Imaging Facility Node with others across Australia. The project is led by The University of Western Australia and the Western Australian Health Translation Network.

UWA Deputy Vice-Chancellor Tim Colmer said the new facility would lead to greatly improved health outcomes for Western Australians.

“This generous Western Australian Government support through Lotterywest to purchase vital imaging equipment is securing the WA NIF Node’s expansion and is a significant increase to WA’s STEM research capabilities,” Professor Colmer said.

Mr Cook said Western Australia was committed to expanding its human imaging research expertise and infrastructure and overcoming the obstacles sometimes faced in accessing imaging equipment outside of WA because of distance and costs. Cancer Council WA CEO Ashley Reid said supporting the WA NIF Node would result in direct improvements for cancer research in WA patients.

“Cancer Council WA is thrilled to commit to a funding contribution for this equipment,” Mr Reid said.

Three dedicated pieces of imaging equipment will be will be added to the node including a new human 3T MRI facility; a new human PET-CT machine; and an upgraded preclinical 9.4T MRI and small animal imaging machine.

The scanners will cover a broad scope of diseases and treatment needs from paediatric to geriatric, from basic science through to clinical trials, and will be available to all WA researchers.

This work will impact all key medical fields, particularly oncology, neurology, cardiology and studies into ageing.

NIF partner organisations include Lotterywest, Cancer Council WA, Ian Potter Foundation, the National Imaging Facility, the WA Department of Health, WA Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation, UWA, Curtin University, Murdoch University, Edith Cowan University, Perron Institute, Harry Perkins Institute, and Radiation Oncology Charles Gairdner Hospital.