ANSTO CEO Dr Adi Paterson has congratulated the winners of the ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology at a glittering awards night in Sydney on 28 August.
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| All the winners of the 2012 Eureka Awards pose fo photos at the awards ceremony at Moore Park, Sydney. |
ANSTO sponsors this award, which is part of the prestigious awards night organised by the Australian Museum to recognise outstanding Australian science.
The Monash team has created an innovative blood test which quickly spells out blood types in written text on paper, enabling non-professional users to interpret the test results.
The revolutionary test is the first equipment-free, bioactive paper-based diagnostic device for blood typing. It takes less than a minute and uses a patient's blood to ‘write' a result in clear text.
The team behind the innovation is part of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University and is led by Associate Professor Wei Shen with support from Professor Gil Garnier, Dr Xu Li, Junfei Tian, David Ballerini, Miaosi Li and Lizi Li.
The cheap materials and technology required for production, together with its ease of use and accuracy, meet all the World Health Organisation's ASSURED requirements - that it is Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid, Equipment-free and Deliverable - for diagnostics in the developing world.
The Monash researchers are now examining potential new uses for such paper-based diagnoses, including ideas for water analysis, environmental monitoring, food safety and disease screening.
The $10,000 ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology is awarded to an Australian individual, group or organisation that has used new or existing technology in an innovative way that has significantly improved the outcome of their research.
Dr Paterson congratulated the team on their achievement: “ANSTO is very happy to be associated with this award because it highlights how the innovative application of technology forms a new way of viewing a problem that can lead to significant scientific breakthroughs for the benefit of all Australians.”
Published: 29/08/2012