The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) received yet another feather in its cap with the recent recognition by Australian Economic Accelerator (AEA) scheme. AEA is a $1.6 billion Federal Government-led initiative that will bring discovery through to commercialisation, ensuring Australia reaps the benefits of investment in research within the university sector.

Following a highly competitive selection process from Tranche 1 (206 submitted proposal), a JCSMR-led project - Spatial Adaptive Imaging (SAI) Project developed by The Lee Group headed by Dr Woei Ming Steve Lee, in collaboration with Garvan Institute of Medical Research, was one of the 10 selected medical science projects chosen to bridge the “valley of death”. SAI aims to use computational optics to surpass the current gold-standards for high resolution imaging that is directly applicable to all single cell technologies (microscopy to cytometry).

“Our team is grateful and heartened to receive commercialisation grant because it gives us a clear mandate and momentum to accelerate the practical implementation of our discoveries and inventions in the real world” stated Dr W M Steve Lee, Head of Optical Biofluidic Imaging Group (OBIG).

The AEA grant will support new industry partnerships with Evident-Australian Pty Ltd  and a new ANU spin off Ability Optics Pty Ltd, to translate their technology to the broader community of researchers. This project is fully aligned with the Australian Government's National Reconstruction Fund priorities, which includes medical science.

This award recognition shows the strategic approach undertaken by JCSMR to translate and impact laboratory invention and discoveries into industry partnerships for commercialisation ability.

Computational single-objective scanning light sheet (a part of spatial adaptive imaging -SAI platform) Image: The Lee Group.

Related links