Understanding platinum dissolution in biomedical stimulating electrodes. Platinum is the main material used in electrodes for neurostimulators like the cochlear implant. Platinum electrodes can experience dissolution during implantation, which can impact on their function. The mechanisms governing this dissolution process are complex and still not fully understood. This research aims to understand the chemical, electrical and biological factors that impact on platinum dissolution in electrodes. ....Understanding platinum dissolution in biomedical stimulating electrodes. Platinum is the main material used in electrodes for neurostimulators like the cochlear implant. Platinum electrodes can experience dissolution during implantation, which can impact on their function. The mechanisms governing this dissolution process are complex and still not fully understood. This research aims to understand the chemical, electrical and biological factors that impact on platinum dissolution in electrodes. It will also develop new 3D models to simulate conditions in the human body for more rapid testing of electrodes. The new knowledge generated will improve the accuracy of predictions of platinum dissolution, develop new approaches for minimising dissolution, and contribute to reducing need for animal experimentation.Read moreRead less
Modelling human brain development with stem cells and biomaterials. With limited resources to directly study and advance our understanding of human neural development, this
proposal will establish models of 4 key stages. Employing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches, biomaterials will be fabricated to provide structural and chemical support for human stem cells during: (i) neural induction, (ii) specification into neuronal progenitor subpopulations, (iii) neuronal maturation and integration ....Modelling human brain development with stem cells and biomaterials. With limited resources to directly study and advance our understanding of human neural development, this
proposal will establish models of 4 key stages. Employing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches, biomaterials will be fabricated to provide structural and chemical support for human stem cells during: (i) neural induction, (ii) specification into neuronal progenitor subpopulations, (iii) neuronal maturation and integration into complex neural networks as well as, (iv) the organisation of neurons into larger 3-dimensional brain structures, namely folding of the human cortex. Further, biomaterials developed here have commercialisation potential, targeted at standardizing the culturing of human stem cells to defined neural populations.
Read moreRead less
Understanding self-organising tissues. This project will discover how an organ can form from a mixture of component cells by 'self-organisation'. Understanding of how this can occur, could potentially be applied to the bioengineering of organs from component cells.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100001
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$875,000.00
Summary
A 3-photon imaging system for deep live imaging. This project aims to establish Australia’s first 3-photon microscope system with adaptive optics for deep intravital imaging. This advanced imaging system will enable researchers to investigate the biology of cells and tissue structures in a wide range of organs and engineered tissues, to a degree not possible with existing technology. This project will capitalise on advanced laser, microscope and adaptive optics technologies with the expected out ....A 3-photon imaging system for deep live imaging. This project aims to establish Australia’s first 3-photon microscope system with adaptive optics for deep intravital imaging. This advanced imaging system will enable researchers to investigate the biology of cells and tissue structures in a wide range of organs and engineered tissues, to a degree not possible with existing technology. This project will capitalise on advanced laser, microscope and adaptive optics technologies with the expected outcomes to include the generation of new knowledge of major biological systems, including the immune system and the nervous system. This will provide significant benefits to fundamental interdisciplinary research into immunology, infectious disease, neuroscience, mechanobiology and engineering.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100200
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$270,427.00
Summary
AutoStem: a high performance, automated stem cell bioengineering facility. This project aims to establish an automated stem cell bioengineering ("AutoStem") facility that will enable critical insights into the molecular mechanisms that underly the loss in stem cell function and tissue homeostasis as we age. The AutoStem facility expects to lead to the discovery of the key drivers of stem cell ageing and the development of novel technological solutions to maintain tissue function with age. The o ....AutoStem: a high performance, automated stem cell bioengineering facility. This project aims to establish an automated stem cell bioengineering ("AutoStem") facility that will enable critical insights into the molecular mechanisms that underly the loss in stem cell function and tissue homeostasis as we age. The AutoStem facility expects to lead to the discovery of the key drivers of stem cell ageing and the development of novel technological solutions to maintain tissue function with age. The outcomes produced from the AutoStem facility will have significant economic and social benefits in enabling healthy ageing and increased productivity for an ageing Australia.Read moreRead less
Evolutionary computation for expensive bilevel multiobjective problems. This project aims to develop an evolutionary computation framework to solve computationally expensive bilevel multiobjective problems. The research is fundamental in nature and will address key open challenges in solving such problems, including hierarchical decision-making, multiple performance criteria, uncertainties and computational expense. The proposed research has applications in diverse domains such as environmental ....Evolutionary computation for expensive bilevel multiobjective problems. This project aims to develop an evolutionary computation framework to solve computationally expensive bilevel multiobjective problems. The research is fundamental in nature and will address key open challenges in solving such problems, including hierarchical decision-making, multiple performance criteria, uncertainties and computational expense. The proposed research has applications in diverse domains such as environmental policy formulation, network design, engineering, defence and cybersecurity; offering significant benefits to the researchers and practitioners in these fields. In addition to research outputs, it will strengthen international collaboration and build research capacity to put Australia at the forefront of this research.
Read moreRead less
Evolutionary computation for robust multi-objective engineering design. This project aims to develop an evolutionary computation framework for robust multi-objective design, a critical pursuit in engineering industries. Such problems are characterised by multiple conflicting performance objectives
and constraints which are highly nonlinear, often black-box, and prone to unavoidable real-life uncertainties. The existing evolutionary algorithms are often computationally impractical and have a numb ....Evolutionary computation for robust multi-objective engineering design. This project aims to develop an evolutionary computation framework for robust multi-objective design, a critical pursuit in engineering industries. Such problems are characterised by multiple conflicting performance objectives
and constraints which are highly nonlinear, often black-box, and prone to unavoidable real-life uncertainties. The existing evolutionary algorithms are often computationally impractical and have a number of fundamental
shortcomings which restrict their use in real applications. This project aims to investigate and overcome the underlying key challenges to advance knowledge and contribute towards diverse domains such as energy, transport and space research, helping deliver high quality robust designs.
Read moreRead less
Learning deep resilient behaviour for uncertainty-aware autonomy. This research project aims to propose a novel framework for developing uncertainty-aware autonomous systems using deep learning. There are fundamental gaps in our knowledge of deep uncertainty quantification and its application for risk-aware decision making. Novel algorithms will be proposed to reliably generate deep uncertainty estimates with low computational overhead. These estimates will be then exploited by safety-critical s ....Learning deep resilient behaviour for uncertainty-aware autonomy. This research project aims to propose a novel framework for developing uncertainty-aware autonomous systems using deep learning. There are fundamental gaps in our knowledge of deep uncertainty quantification and its application for risk-aware decision making. Novel algorithms will be proposed to reliably generate deep uncertainty estimates with low computational overhead. These estimates will be then exploited by safety-critical systems such as autonomous robots to identify risky actions and avoid catastrophise. Developed algorithms will be implemented on an autonomous robotic system to make it averse to uncertainties. The outcomes will greatly increase reliable telerobotic applications in mining, manufacturing, defence, and health.Read moreRead less
Development of methods and algorithms to support multidisciplinary optimisation. This project will aim to develop a number of novel and computationally efficient schemes to deal with the key challenges facing multidisciplinary optimisation. These advancements will allow us to solve a number of challenging and intractable problems in science and engineering.
Breathing and snoring sound analysis in sleep apnea. About 800,000 Australians suffer from the disease sleep Apnoea (OSA) which has snoring as its earliest symptom. We develop electronics and snore processing algorithms to classify snorers into OSA-positive and OSA-negative classes, based on advanced technology derived from speech recognition systems.