Emerging from the pandemic with sensing and diagnostics
The second virtual NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) COVID-19 Q&A Forum took place on 21 May 2020. The Forum brought together world-renowned scientists and practitioners from across NSW to discuss the role of sensing and diagnostics in emerging from the pandemic.
Professor Justin Gooding, Co-Director at NSSN, opened the Forum and said there had been huge differences in how countries have suffered from COVID-19 and the countries that suffered the least had very active testing regimes.
“There are different ways of doing rapid sensing but the key challenge is that there is a very small amount of material to detect,” said Professor Gooding. “We need a really sensitive detector so we can detect the virus early.”
“The New South Wales smart sensing network is about developing these new sensors to deal with major environmental, economic and societal challenges.”
Professor Bill Rawlinson, Senior Medical Virologist and Director of Virology at NSW Health, provided a brief scientific introduction to COVID-19 and said it is essential to have a process of research to improve diagnostics so testing could be done at patients’ bedside.
The Forum, moderated by science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams, continued with a Q&A between the audience and the experts.
The panel of experts included Prof. Wojciech Chrzanowski, Deputy Director, Sydney Nano Institute; Prof. Paul Dastoor, Centre of Organic Electronics, University of Newcastle; Prof. Ben Eggleton, Co-Director, NSW Smart Sensing Network & Co-Director, Sydney Nano Institute; Prof. Justin Gooding, Co-Director, NSW Smart Sensing Network & Co-Director, Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, UNSW; Prof. Mary-Louise McLaws, World Health Organisation Advisory Board for Infection Prevention; Prof. Subhas Mukhopadhyay, School of Engineering, Macquarie University; Dr. Sze-Yuan Ooi, Interventional Cardiologist, Prince of Wales Hospital; Prof. Bill Rawlinson, Director of Virology, NSW Health and Prof. Tania C Sorrell AM, Director, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity.
Professor Benjamin Eggleton, Co-Director at NSSN, said the types of thermal sensors that are used in airports are based on infrared cameras that observe the world around them in infrared and reveal temperature.
“That's a reasonably accurate way of remotely assessing the temperature if you focus on the face,” Professor Eggleton said.
Professor Tania Sorell AM, Director of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, said a sensor that could measure the amount of living virus in the body while indicating the likelihood for transmission could be utilised to track community transmissions.
“It's important for us to be able to track infection in the community, and pickup cases who have been asymptomatic and see whether we need to do some urgent tracking around those particular individuals,” said Professor Sorrell.
Another set of parameters to look at are biomarkers that are produced by the infected individual in response to the COVID-19 infection, Professor Sorrell added.
“Researchers have been looking at various components of the host response, not only in terms of whether it makes patients generate immunity to subsequent infection, but also to tell us how severe the infection is likely to be.”
The audience asked question on a range of topics such as preventing future pandemics, detecting the virus in urban wastewater networks, breath testing for infection detection and more.
As a consortium of the leading universities in NSW and ACT, the NSSN is well-placed to inform society of the research and development taking place in NSW that is contributing to the wellbeing and health of the public.
To watch a recording of the second NSSN COVID-19 Q&A Forum, please click here.
Media: Shahrzad Abbasi - 0466 548 145