The BEST Centre presents: Sensing for Defence

About

The BEST (Biomedical and Environmental Sensor Technology) Centre in collaboration with the Research and Innovation Precinct presents Sensing for Defence.

Chemical sensors and biosensors have made a large impact in environmental, food, biomedical, and other applications because of their advantages compared to standard laboratory analytical methods. These include portability, minimal sample preparation and handling, rapid detection and simplicity for use by non-scientific personnel.

These are precisely the characteristics required in order to enable rapid response to threats from chemical and biological agents in the context of a conflict or terrorist attack.  There is an obvious need for new technologies in this area which can be addressed by the scientists working in diverse fields.

The BEST centre was created at the beginning of 2019 with the aims of fostering world-leading interdisciplinary research into sensing and imaging and encouraging translation of fundamental science in this area. This event is an opportunity to look forward to new opportunities and build new partnerships.

The BEST centre seeks to reduce barriers to translation and commercialisation and to facilitate partnership between industry, govt bodies and academia.

The research undertaken in the BEST centre is broad-based, targeting applications in medical diagnostics, personalized medicine, food analysis wearables and environmental testing. Therefore, the BEST centre encourages an interdisciplinary mindset with collaboration between diverse fields.

Program

4:00pm Event commences: Opening remarks and welcome

4:05pm Professor Brian Abbey (LIMS, La Trobe University)

Title: “Mobile sensing platforms for point-of-care diagnostics”

Keynotes

4:45pm Prof Paul Dastoor (University of Newcastle)

Title TBA

5:25pm Dr Axel Bender (CBRN STaR Shot Leader at DST Group)

Title: “Operating in CBRN environments: the need for paradigm shifts in sensing"

6:00pm  Refreshments (BYO!)