A $100-million dollar supercomputer will be built at the University of Melbourne for biomedical research.

The Victorian Premier, John Brumby, announced the project in San Diego overnight.

The powerful computers will be used to process complex data for research on the life sciences.

Professor Geoffrey Taylor says, high performance computing is essential for medical advances to be made.

“Now by leapfrogging, really, from a situation where we are short of computer power and compute expertise, to being really to the top of the list in the world, is going to make a huge difference to our researchers, and for Victoria generally,” he said.