Global phase imaging enhancement technology company Iatia Limited's (ASX:IAT) Scientific Director and board member, Professor Keith Nugent, leads a team that has been awarded $9 million by the Australian Research Council (ARC) to establish a Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science.

This award is a testament to Professor Nugent's research capabilities and scientific profile as well as further validating Iatia's pioneering Quantitative Phase Imaging (QPI) technology. The centre will be hosted by the University of Melbourne and will involve an interdisciplinary team from La Trobe, Monash and Swinburne universities, CSIRO, the Australian Synchrotron Research Program and a number of major international laboratories. The centre will be formally launched in late 2005 and will involve ongoing research into X-rays using Iatia's QPI technology.

Iatia believes that the research will directly benefit larger range research and applications for QPI technology by strengthening its X-ray capabilities and expanding its biological applications.