Region. Chambers celebrate

The Penrith Valley Chamber of Commerce marks its 85th anniversary on February14 and the Parramatta Chamber of Commerce celebrates 100 years in the city on February 17.

Blue Mountains. $250,000 grant for projects

Touch screens, iPhone apps and a loyalty rewards program are among the first local projects to be funded under a $5 million state government program to boost regional tourism, with the Blue Mountains Lithgow and Oberon Tourism has received $250,000 in grants through the Regional Tourism Product Development Funding.

Westmead. $10 million grant

Professor Phil O’Çonnell, director of the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research’s Centre for Transplantation and Renal Research, is part of a select team of Australian researchers which has received a $10 million National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) grant from the Australian Government to work on a cure for diabetes.

The team brings together world-renowned Australian researchers who are looking at the role of genetics and autoimmunity that causes diabetes, and the use of pigs to grow replacement insulin-producing cells as a novel treatment for diabetes. Prof O’Connell’s role is in the transplantation and treatment aspects of the program.

Parramatta. Approvals up

The value of non-residential building approvals by Parramatta City Council was $152.1 million over the year to September 2011, representing a significant annual increase of 38.7 per cent from the value of approvals for the year to September 2010, $109.6 million.

Blacktown. Possible expansion of suburb

Landcom has asked Blacktown City Council for permission to expand The Ponds by more than a third - from 320 hectares to 465 hectares.to 465. If the request is granted, the suburb will spread from its current western boundary on Ridgeline Drive all the way to Hambledon Rd, taking in a part of Schofields. Landcom said Hambledon Rd, being a future main road, presented a more logical boundary for the suburb.