The NSW-RPRN Production Pillar is a series of closely linked production facilities established at CMRI Westmead, UNSW and USYD. 

The USYD facility specializes in producing key raw materials such as capping nucleotides and lipids for nanoparticles through a designated synthesis facility at the School of Chemistry run by Prof. Richard Payne and A/Prof. Christopher McErlean. 

The CMRI Facility at CMRI Westmead ,under the leadership of Dr. Scott Cohen establishes processes for developing mRNA synthesis at the milligram scale. 

The UNSW RNA Institute Accelerator is housed in two facilities: 

• A PC2/OGTR certified facility located in the UNSW Ian Jacobs Building for production of plasmid DNA and mRNA 
• A larger scale, purpose-built facility located in the UNSW Hilmer Building for production of mRNA, synthetic RNA’s (including siRNA), and lipid nanoparticle formulations. 

Both Institute facilities are ISO 9001 certified and include dedicated quality control analytical labs supporting all relevant methods for testing and release of RNA-based therapeutics. The RNA Institute works closely with the Recombinant Products Facility at UNSW under the management of A/Prof. Christopher Marquis, to improve yield and quality of plasmid DNA and mRNA.

The four closely connected facilities provide researchers in NSW access to a range of materials and products relevant to RNA therapeutics at a scale and of sufficient quality to use in animal studies. This includes siRNA, other synthetic RNA’s, mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulations containing either siRNA or mRNA. In addition to supporting pilot research projects within the NSW-RPRN,  these facilities have become key components of the emerging RNA manufacturing and research ecosystem in NSW.