In addition to translating discoveries to improve patients’ lives, our group leaders develop transformative tools for the scientific community. One such innovation is a freely available, ultracompact and highly sensitive 3D-printed microscope with the potential to revolutionise health diagnostics.
Attobright, the portable, single-molecule microscope created by A/Prof Yann Gambin and Dr Emma Sierecki (UNSW Sydney), simplifies rapid disease screening and diagnosis.
It is freely available for researchers to download, build and use, overcoming the typical barriers of expensive and cumbersome diagnostic technology, and has been used in labs throughout Australia, Europe and Canada.
The team also developed a one-step assay that enables the early, accurate and fast detection of Parkinson’s disease, one million times more sensitive than previous methods.
This breakthrough allows for diagnosis before motor symptoms appear, enabling earlier therapeutic intervention and improving patient outcomes.
Unlike traditional methods that require cerebrospinal fluid samples, the Gambin Group is working on diagnostics that use a single drop of blood, which could extend to Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The Gambin Group is also adapting this technology for early diagnostics of tuberculosis, antibiotic resistance and sepsis in neonates using just small blood samples.
Read more case studies on EMBL Australia group leaders in our Impact Report.