Robert Batchelor completed both his MS in Pharmacology and BS in Biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. Since then, he has gained over twenty years’ experience in the biotech industry and has launched over 50 products to market at several companies, including ThermoFisher. He is an expert on developing electrochemical aptamer-based sensors based on his experience at four startup companies in the US and Australia, including Base Pair Biotechnologies in Houston, Texas, and former wearable medicine sensing industry leader Eccrine Systems in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is currently the Head of Biosensors at Nutromics in Melbourne, Australia

In Biomedical Engineering, inductive wireless power transfer (IWPT) has been investigated by many researchers to charge active implantable medical devices (AIMDs) since IWPT is safe and avoids the implementation of cables, preventing infections through the skin and movement limitations. This research develops a high coverage inductive interface to build a cage that works as a tool to acquire and study the neuronal activity in small animals. The coverage is constituted by big transmitter coils in order to charge homogeneously implants in free-moving small animals, where the receiver coil is fully implanted. Different approaches, as the implementation of bigger coils, segmentation technique, multicoil array were combined to maximize the covered area and optimize the power distribution homogeneity as well as the power transfer efficiency.

For many decades, sensing has been a key global application for many commercial and defence applications [1]. Early sensing technologies has been using either electrical (or RF/Microwave) technologies however, in recent global research and development has focused on smart optical sensing technologies. Predominantly these technologies provide: (a) compact and robust (b) immunity to electromagnetic interference; (c) use of low cost telecommunication fibre cables; (d) long distance; and (e) not susceptible to harsh environment [1, 2] (f) ease of manufacture and other factors. The optical sensing technologies have been applied for leak detection, vibration/perimeter detection and health monitoring due to its high sensitivity and localisation with sub-metre spatial resolution. In traditional optical sensing technologies have been used in monitoring of large-scale perimeter and pipeline monitoring [3] due to the cost of the technology.

Red blood cell (RBC) genetic disorders affect millions of peoples in the world. Abnormal hemoglobin (HbS) is produced and fills the denuclearized RBC. Under hypoxic condition, HbS polymerizes and RBC with a diameter of 8µm loses its elasticity and deformability to pass through the blood microcapillaries network. Such disorder can be found for example in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), and might induce vaso-occlusive and organs dysfunction. For the abnormal RBCs detection, bioimpedance measurement of cells injected into a microfluidic device is proposed. Electrically monitoring the transit of RBC in the microfluidic network, comprising fluidic restrictions, the RBCs of different pathological states can be discriminated. The device was made in Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) casted thanks to soft lithography technology.

Water sources in rural areas are exposed to harmful Organophosphorus pesticides (OP) that should be detected before human consumption [1], and biosensors have emerged as an alternative [2]. The application of nanomaterials, including carbon quantum dots (CD), can significantly improve the performance of optical biosensors. In this work, naturally fluorescent and non-toxic CD synthesized previously [3]from African-oil palm biochar were integrated with Acetylcholinesterase enzyme (AChE) as a bioreceptor, to produce a fluorescent biosensor. This system is modulated with graphene oxide (OG), showing a fluorescence recovery in the presence of the OP. The biosensor was evaluated under pure chlorpyrifos, but also under a commercial formulation called Lorsban®. We obtained a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.13 ppb and 2.14 ppb for chlorpyrifos and Lorsban® respectively. The system also shows a good selectivity against proteins and other organic substances usually present in drinking water, even in tests with tap water.

The present study developed an optical biosensor based on Carbon Dots (CDots) obtained from Elaeis guineensis biochar, for the detection of a model molecule, in this case, Bovine albumin serum (BSA). The CDots had a size of 2.5 ± 0.7 nm determined through a High-Resolution Transmission Electronical Microscopy (HR-TEM), a Z potential of -56.1 ± 2.37 mV and a Quantum yield of 1.69%, with emission and excitation wavelengths of 428 and 320 nm, respectively. As a bioreceptor molecule, the anti-BSA was used and conjugated to the CDots surface using the carbodiimide method. The fluorescence of the CDots was evaluated through a fluorescence spectroscopy and posteriorly modulated using graphene oxide. Finally, the performance of the biosensor was analysed by evaluating the specificity and sensitivity, where a qualitative biosensor was obtained that detects in a range of 1000 - 10 mg / µL of BSA. With the implementation of this technology, it will contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of Colombian vulnerable populations while contributing to the closing of cycles of the oil palm industry.

To improve the efficiency of current medical practices, more significant data from technology is needed. One lever to optimize medical decision time is to shorten the delay from biological test to results. In the field of fast biological tests, biosensors have received increasing attention and several technologies have been developed to deliver portable, cheap and sensitive analytical systems(1,2). Nevertheless, two main obstacles prevent the marketing of these biosensors: 1) an accurate analysis of the market in terms of real needs for medical practices and 2) perfect matching with current medical recommendations