Terahertz lasers in the fight against illicit substances. This project aims to investigate the application of cutting-edge terahertz laser technology with new spectroscopic methods, for detection of illicit substances. Using a collaborative approach, the project aims to bring together expertise in laser physics, spectroscopy, law enforcement and instrumentation, and seeks to develop new sources and detection protocols which will offer new capabilities to law enforcement, aiding in detection and ....Terahertz lasers in the fight against illicit substances. This project aims to investigate the application of cutting-edge terahertz laser technology with new spectroscopic methods, for detection of illicit substances. Using a collaborative approach, the project aims to bring together expertise in laser physics, spectroscopy, law enforcement and instrumentation, and seeks to develop new sources and detection protocols which will offer new capabilities to law enforcement, aiding in detection and identification protocols for illicit substances.Read moreRead less
Milk protein profiling powered by multiplexed single molecule assay. This project aims to develop a novel device, comprising advanced single molecule imaging, microfluidics and immunoassay technologies, for quantification of milk protein variants. Milk quality is central to dairying and variants of proteins in milk affect its market value. No current milk protein detection technologies are readily applied in milk production quality control. This project aims to produce a device that can be used ....Milk protein profiling powered by multiplexed single molecule assay. This project aims to develop a novel device, comprising advanced single molecule imaging, microfluidics and immunoassay technologies, for quantification of milk protein variants. Milk quality is central to dairying and variants of proteins in milk affect its market value. No current milk protein detection technologies are readily applied in milk production quality control. This project aims to produce a device that can be used by milk producers and farms to profile protein variants with high sensitivity in a single test in an hour and screen unwanted protein contamination. The platform also has great potential for detecting other complex and low content analytes. It builds on innovations in nanoparticles and recent industry collaboration.Read moreRead less
Next generation lasers for short-reach optical fibre communication. This project aims to develop next-generation laser systems for multimode fibre-optic communication systems, by leveraging recently developed techniques for measuring and controlling the spatial properties of light. These techniques will provide new insights into the physics of the lasers themselves, as well as overcoming fundamental limitations which have traditionally hindered their operation at high speed. The expected outcome ....Next generation lasers for short-reach optical fibre communication. This project aims to develop next-generation laser systems for multimode fibre-optic communication systems, by leveraging recently developed techniques for measuring and controlling the spatial properties of light. These techniques will provide new insights into the physics of the lasers themselves, as well as overcoming fundamental limitations which have traditionally hindered their operation at high speed. The expected outcome of this project is the inclusion of these techniques in the development and operation of future generations of fibre communication systems. Creating new classes of laser systems, which can scale to large bit rates, will enable the growth in this area to be sustained into the future.Read moreRead less
Time reversed optics. The development of technology to precisely control how light travels through space and time yields the ability to deliver light through objects in ways which would not traditionally be possible and hence opens new applications. This project aims to develop new programmable optical systems for transforming the spatial and temporal properties of light, leveraging recent advances in optical beam shaping. Expected outcomes of this project include the construction and testing of ....Time reversed optics. The development of technology to precisely control how light travels through space and time yields the ability to deliver light through objects in ways which would not traditionally be possible and hence opens new applications. This project aims to develop new programmable optical systems for transforming the spatial and temporal properties of light, leveraging recent advances in optical beam shaping. Expected outcomes of this project include the construction and testing of two new types of optical systems. This should provide significant benefits in the areas of biomedical imaging, telecommunications, advanced manufacturing and both classical and quantum optical information processing.Read moreRead less
Targeting conjugated markers with new metabolomic methods. Detecting the illicit use of natural steroids like testosterone, or compounds that modulate natural steroid levels, remains the greatest challenge for drug testing in all forms of sport. This project aims to develop new metabolomic methods based on liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry to detect the changes occurring in the conjugated steroid profile following the administration of steroids or steroid modulators. The in ....Targeting conjugated markers with new metabolomic methods. Detecting the illicit use of natural steroids like testosterone, or compounds that modulate natural steroid levels, remains the greatest challenge for drug testing in all forms of sport. This project aims to develop new metabolomic methods based on liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry to detect the changes occurring in the conjugated steroid profile following the administration of steroids or steroid modulators. The intended outcome will be a set of sensitive and analytical methods using a range of newly identified conjugated steroid markers and associated reference materials, which promises to enhance integrity and animal welfare in the thoroughbred racing industry.
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High-brightness wavelength tuneable lasers for quantum science. This project aims to establish the capability to manufacture application-specific semiconductor lasers. The project will use existing facilities in Australia to enhance our world-leading quantum science research, and establish a viable export-dominated high-tech manufacturing business. Semiconductor lasers are a critical enabling technology for many scientific applications, particularly for quantum science including quantum computin ....High-brightness wavelength tuneable lasers for quantum science. This project aims to establish the capability to manufacture application-specific semiconductor lasers. The project will use existing facilities in Australia to enhance our world-leading quantum science research, and establish a viable export-dominated high-tech manufacturing business. Semiconductor lasers are a critical enabling technology for many scientific applications, particularly for quantum science including quantum computing and quantum sensing. This project is expected to enable the establishment of a high-tech manufacturing capability to support Australia's leading role in quantum science, and expand our scientific instrumentation exports to new and rapidly developing applications such as magnetic sensing and imaging at nanoscale, quantum communication and computation.Read moreRead less
Artificial intelligence to explore and combat eukaryotic pathogens. The revolution in artificial intelligence (AI) provides unprecedented opportunities for integrative analyses of complex multi-omics data sets and for creating radically new strategies to control some of the world’s most serious animal diseases. In a strong partnership with international experts, we will use AI-based methods to make major conceptual advances in our understanding of eukaryotic pathogens and host-pathogen interacti ....Artificial intelligence to explore and combat eukaryotic pathogens. The revolution in artificial intelligence (AI) provides unprecedented opportunities for integrative analyses of complex multi-omics data sets and for creating radically new strategies to control some of the world’s most serious animal diseases. In a strong partnership with international experts, we will use AI-based methods to make major conceptual advances in our understanding of eukaryotic pathogens and host-pathogen interactions, discover the "choke-points" in biological pathways, and develop novel treatments, vaccines and diagnostics. This leap forward will substantially enhance the global profile of pathogen research in Australia, build major capacity in a priority area, and enable access to international research funding and networks.Read moreRead less
Fabrication of silicon solar cells in a Lunar-like vacuum environment. In-situ power generation on the Moon is essential for the advancement of space exploration and habitation. At present this involves transportation of solar cells to the Moon. This proposal aims to pave the way for manufacture of solar cells on the Moon from Lunar materials. Utilising the future extraction and purification of silicon, abundant in lunar regolith, the project will focus on fabrication of silicon solar cells. Thi ....Fabrication of silicon solar cells in a Lunar-like vacuum environment. In-situ power generation on the Moon is essential for the advancement of space exploration and habitation. At present this involves transportation of solar cells to the Moon. This proposal aims to pave the way for manufacture of solar cells on the Moon from Lunar materials. Utilising the future extraction and purification of silicon, abundant in lunar regolith, the project will focus on fabrication of silicon solar cells. This will provide power for: water mining, oxygen extraction, vehicles and habitats on the Moon and delivery of materials to Low Earth Orbit. The proposed research aims to develop solar cells that can be manufactured on the Moon, using materials abundant there, and techniques exploiting the natural vacuum of space.Read moreRead less
Bioinks that Advance 3D bioprinting of cells to the 4th dimension. The aim of this research is to provide a simple method for creating complex 3D cell cultures for in vitro cell based assays using 3D printing. A versatile polymer system as a bioink made from entirely commercially available components, will be advanced that gives a full range of soft tissue mimics and which can be dynamically change on-demand after printing of the 3D cell cultures. The latter will provide in vitro mimics of in vi ....Bioinks that Advance 3D bioprinting of cells to the 4th dimension. The aim of this research is to provide a simple method for creating complex 3D cell cultures for in vitro cell based assays using 3D printing. A versatile polymer system as a bioink made from entirely commercially available components, will be advanced that gives a full range of soft tissue mimics and which can be dynamically change on-demand after printing of the 3D cell cultures. The latter will provide in vitro mimics of in vivo events never previously possible with more realistic models of what is found in vivo. Applications are in fundamental cell biology, studying diseases and developing new drugs. The outcomes from this research will be new knowledge on designing cheap extracellular matrix mimics and high throughout 3D cell assays.Read moreRead less
Photonic chip inertial movement sensors. This project aims to create a new class of optical inertial movement sensors using integrated photonic chip technology. By replacing optical fibre coils with compact waveguides, integrating light sources on-chip and by harnessing smart sensing approaches, we intend to reduce the required power from watts to milliwatts and reduce the dimensions from meters to centimetres. The expected project outcomes are sensors with military grade precision but with the ....Photonic chip inertial movement sensors. This project aims to create a new class of optical inertial movement sensors using integrated photonic chip technology. By replacing optical fibre coils with compact waveguides, integrating light sources on-chip and by harnessing smart sensing approaches, we intend to reduce the required power from watts to milliwatts and reduce the dimensions from meters to centimetres. The expected project outcomes are sensors with military grade precision but with the size, cost and manufacturability of consumer electronics. This technology will fill a strategic gap in the movement sensor market enabling applications ranging from robotic infrastructure monitoring, manufacture and surgery to guiding satellites and other space craft.Read moreRead less