Disruptive approaches to biological sensing. Optical fibre-based biosensors have the potential to transform our ability to monitor our environment, protect our nation's assets and safeguard our citizens, and to offer improved clinical diagnostics and food quality control by creating tools that can detect biomolecules in real-time within complex samples. To fulfil this mission, we propose to develop new fibre-based sensing architectures for sensing biomolecules that have the potential to be sensi ....Disruptive approaches to biological sensing. Optical fibre-based biosensors have the potential to transform our ability to monitor our environment, protect our nation's assets and safeguard our citizens, and to offer improved clinical diagnostics and food quality control by creating tools that can detect biomolecules in real-time within complex samples. To fulfil this mission, we propose to develop new fibre-based sensing architectures for sensing biomolecules that have the potential to be sensitive, selective, fast and compact.Read moreRead less
Protein biosensors for detecting smoke exposure of grapes. Bush fires and controlled burns that take place in the vicinity of vineyards can lead to grape contamination with tasteless phenolic glucosides. Their hydrolysis during wine making leads to “smoke taint” – an unpleasant medicinal taste that can render wine undrinkable. We will apply a combination of organic synthesis, protein engineering and directed evolution to develop protein-based biosensors of phenolic glucosides. These biosensors w ....Protein biosensors for detecting smoke exposure of grapes. Bush fires and controlled burns that take place in the vicinity of vineyards can lead to grape contamination with tasteless phenolic glucosides. Their hydrolysis during wine making leads to “smoke taint” – an unpleasant medicinal taste that can render wine undrinkable. We will apply a combination of organic synthesis, protein engineering and directed evolution to develop protein-based biosensors of phenolic glucosides. These biosensors will be used to devise a simple portable colorimetric test that can be performed in the vineyard or the winery. The ability to rapidly determine the level of grape contamination with phenolic glucosides would give Australian wine growers and wine makers a powerful tool to mitigate the effects of bushfires.Read moreRead less