A NOBEL laureate had acclaimed the opening of a new cancer research laboratory in Ballarat.

Professor Peter Doherty said the expansion of the Ballarat Cancer Research Centre added enormous value to the community.

BCRC yesterday dedicated the new laboratory to former Ballarat man Bruce Stewart, who died from mesothelioma in January last year.

The laboratory will work to individualise chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients.

"If you've got cancer research going on here rather than just cancer care delivery, what you've got the potential to do is attract a different category of physician who's interested in research as well as interested in health care,"

Prof Doherty said after officially opening the laboratory.

"You also attract scientists who will work in the laboratory and work on these problems.

"When you've got that sort of dynamic going it's very good for maintaining (connection) with what's happening in the world more broadly.

"Also, you get people who are very bright and very engaged because they're both doing research and clinical care. So it's a big positive in the community to have this sort of thing going on."

The Melbourne resident shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of how the immune system recognises virus-infected cells.

BCRC director Dr George Kannourakis said the new laboratory would participate in a world-first, two-year trial collaboration project with the United Kingdom.

He said researchers would test individualised chemotherapy drugs relating to lung cancer.

"It's very important because it's the first trial in this area. Ballarat will be the centre to do all the studies here in Australia," he said.

The BCRC now comprises five laboratories, including the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Laboratory.

Dr Kannourakis last night spoke at the Committee for Ballarat Round Table Dinner to highlight the importance of the centre's work.