Diamond Microneedles for Minimally Invasive Blood Collection. Blood sampling is a routine procedure for medical purposes to determine the physiological and biochemical status of patients. The aim of this project is to develop a reliable microneedle array for a blood collection procedures. Micro-scale needles for low-volume perforated blood samples are highly desirable due to its minimal invasiveness and painlessness. The miniaturization of sampling platforms driven by microneedles has the poten ....Diamond Microneedles for Minimally Invasive Blood Collection. Blood sampling is a routine procedure for medical purposes to determine the physiological and biochemical status of patients. The aim of this project is to develop a reliable microneedle array for a blood collection procedures. Micro-scale needles for low-volume perforated blood samples are highly desirable due to its minimal invasiveness and painlessness. The miniaturization of sampling platforms driven by microneedles has the potential to shift disease diagnosis and monitoring closer to the point of care. Expected outcomes include the development of synthetic diamond-based microneedles for the potential to greatly benefit society through improved and affordable healthcare and the development of new high-tech industries.Read moreRead less
AI for Legal Problem Diagnosis in the Diverse Language of Australians. The number of Australians with unmet legal needs is estimated to be over four million people per year and growing, and free legal assistance is severely under-resourced. A bottleneck for free legal assistance providers is the determination of what (if any) specific legal needs the individual has, to which end this project proposes to develop AI models to semi-automate the process, with particular focus on fairness across user ....AI for Legal Problem Diagnosis in the Diverse Language of Australians. The number of Australians with unmet legal needs is estimated to be over four million people per year and growing, and free legal assistance is severely under-resourced. A bottleneck for free legal assistance providers is the determination of what (if any) specific legal needs the individual has, to which end this project proposes to develop AI models to semi-automate the process, with particular focus on fairness across users of all backgrounds, generalisation from small amounts of curated data, and dynamic interaction with the help-seeker. The project will help deliver legal assistance to some of the most vulnerable members of Australian society, and reinforce Australia's position as a world leader in AI for Law.Read moreRead less
Integrative brain imaging technologies. This project aims to develop quantitative metabolic imaging using simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). The current generation of MR-PET scanners are capable of simultaneously acquiring MRI and PET data to enable quantitative anatomical, physiological and metabolic imaging. The project aims to develop new MRI methods for quantitative anatomical mapping, MR-based motion correction of dynamic PET scan data, and ....Integrative brain imaging technologies. This project aims to develop quantitative metabolic imaging using simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). The current generation of MR-PET scanners are capable of simultaneously acquiring MRI and PET data to enable quantitative anatomical, physiological and metabolic imaging. The project aims to develop new MRI methods for quantitative anatomical mapping, MR-based motion correction of dynamic PET scan data, and joint estimation of physiological and metabolic organ activity. These advances will create innovative imaging technologies for advanced biomedical imaging research with a particular emphasis in healthy ageing.
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The Fluid-Particle Mechanics of a Synthetic Jet-based Dry Powder Inhaler. This project aims to untangle the fundamental principles that govern the fluid mechanics and particulate interactions in a novel concept chip-based micro-zero-net-mass-flux (micro-ZNMF) jet-assisted dry powder inhaler (DPI). Respiratory diseases affect 6.2 million Australians. The treatment of these diseases is hampered by the poor efficiency of current delivery systems, with conventional DPI devices exhibiting sub-optimum ....The Fluid-Particle Mechanics of a Synthetic Jet-based Dry Powder Inhaler. This project aims to untangle the fundamental principles that govern the fluid mechanics and particulate interactions in a novel concept chip-based micro-zero-net-mass-flux (micro-ZNMF) jet-assisted dry powder inhaler (DPI). Respiratory diseases affect 6.2 million Australians. The treatment of these diseases is hampered by the poor efficiency of current delivery systems, with conventional DPI devices exhibiting sub-optimum performance, delivering typically less than 20% of the loaded dose to the target site, the lungs. The new fundamental knowledge resulting from this research will enable the engineering of a high-efficiency groundbreaking DPI, with the potential to be fully adaptive user-specific benefiting millions of Australians. Read moreRead less
High-fidelity, long lasting, single-neuron brain machine interfaces. The ability to conduct stable, high resolution recording and stimulation within the brain is critically important to the development of technologies that interface electronics with the human body. Devices that interface directly with the brain are increasingly important in brain research, medical monitoring, treatment of neurological diseases or the enormous increase in brain-machine interface technologies. Carbon Cybernetics h ....High-fidelity, long lasting, single-neuron brain machine interfaces. The ability to conduct stable, high resolution recording and stimulation within the brain is critically important to the development of technologies that interface electronics with the human body. Devices that interface directly with the brain are increasingly important in brain research, medical monitoring, treatment of neurological diseases or the enormous increase in brain-machine interface technologies. Carbon Cybernetics have developed a high-density neural recording and stimulation array that employs fine carbon fibres as the electrode material. We aim to show that this array can record from the brain indefinitely, without loosing signal quality, and the same array can be used to stimulate the brain to recreate memories or sensations.Read moreRead less
Applications-oriented elucidation of germination triggers for Emu Bush seed. The project aims to determine the environmental and genetic mechanisms that currently limit seed germination in Emu Bush (Eremophila) species. The anticipated project outcomes aim to develop new technologies for efficient and mass production of Emu Bush seedlings. The outcomes will improve land restoration by increasing plant diversity and reducing establishment costs, and will also provide the nursery industry with nov ....Applications-oriented elucidation of germination triggers for Emu Bush seed. The project aims to determine the environmental and genetic mechanisms that currently limit seed germination in Emu Bush (Eremophila) species. The anticipated project outcomes aim to develop new technologies for efficient and mass production of Emu Bush seedlings. The outcomes will improve land restoration by increasing plant diversity and reducing establishment costs, and will also provide the nursery industry with novel products for home gardens. The intended project benefits are to increase the diversity of Australian native plants used for restoration and ornamental purposes and to promote the conservation of species in this plant family and its genetic diversity.Read moreRead less
Next generation closed-loop brain-machine interfaces . Our partners Carbon Cybernetics have developed high-density neural recording and stimulation arrays that employ fine carbon fibres as the electrode material. The aim of the project is to exploit the properties of these materials to develop miniature implantable devices that are able to achieve long-term, closed-loop, high-resolution recording and stimulation within the brain. We aim to demonstrate an advanced algorithm for control of neural ....Next generation closed-loop brain-machine interfaces . Our partners Carbon Cybernetics have developed high-density neural recording and stimulation arrays that employ fine carbon fibres as the electrode material. The aim of the project is to exploit the properties of these materials to develop miniature implantable devices that are able to achieve long-term, closed-loop, high-resolution recording and stimulation within the brain. We aim to demonstrate an advanced algorithm for control of neural function. Devices that interface directly with the brain are increasingly important in neuroscience to understand how the brain processes information and creates memories and self awareness and are critically important to the development of technologies that interface electronics with the human body. Read moreRead less
Intelligent bioprocessing for next-generation nutritional yeast extracts. This project aims to provide new, science-based levers for optimising the industrial production of tailormade yeast extracts for food applications. Advanced biochemical and engineering methods will be used to develop new knowledge of the links between yeast growth conditions, cell biochemistry, processing and the flavour and texture profiles of yeast hydrolysates. This understanding will allow the properties of yeast hydro ....Intelligent bioprocessing for next-generation nutritional yeast extracts. This project aims to provide new, science-based levers for optimising the industrial production of tailormade yeast extracts for food applications. Advanced biochemical and engineering methods will be used to develop new knowledge of the links between yeast growth conditions, cell biochemistry, processing and the flavour and texture profiles of yeast hydrolysates. This understanding will allow the properties of yeast hydrolysates to be accurately tuned during yeast production and processing. The resulting process improvements and innovations will increase the efficiency and quality of current yeast extract products and allow the development of new food products.Read moreRead less
Engineering new tools to aid structure determination of membrane proteins. This project aims to address the inherent instability of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are cell-surface proteins that are a major drug targets. The instability of GPCRs has resulted in a lack of atomic-level structural information that has hindered structure-based drug discovery efforts. This project expects to develop tools to improve GPCR stability and streamline the structure determination process. Project ....Engineering new tools to aid structure determination of membrane proteins. This project aims to address the inherent instability of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are cell-surface proteins that are a major drug targets. The instability of GPCRs has resulted in a lack of atomic-level structural information that has hindered structure-based drug discovery efforts. This project expects to develop tools to improve GPCR stability and streamline the structure determination process. Project outcomes are intended to lead to significant advances in membrane protein structure determination and will have a substantial impact on future research in the pharmaceutical industry.Read moreRead less