A digital smart lab for molecular biology and diagnostics translation

Biology Meets Technology: a multidisciplinary approach to advancing medical research with robotics and digital augmentation

Digital and immersive technologies have developed rapidly, enabling adoption in industries spanning agriculture, manufacturing, mining, education and medicine. Immersive analytics, an emerging science area, is focused on better understanding human-computer interaction in physical environments and how technology, specifically augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can support data analytics and decision making. Currently there are no immersive virtual environments available to support the scientist conducting research at the lab bench although the vision is widely discussed. In the diagnostics research lab, an interactive virtual environment for representation and manipulation of data can assist the researcher to:

• design, perform, and simulate experiments in a realistic and controlled environment where experimental variables can be readily assessed and validated
• predict outcomes of new and innovative methodologies in a low risk and low cost environment,
• cohesively track, aggregate and visualise disparate “big data” for biological processes to support analysis and interpretation

This project will develop cutting-edge technologies intersecting computer science, immersive analytics and molecular biology in a first-of-its-kind application of augmented reality (AR) in the research environment. We envisage that these technological advances will transform the landscape of wet lab science, making AR a staple inclusion in the molecular diagnostics toolkit of the future.

TEAM MEMBERS:

In collaboration with Matt Adcock (Data61) and Shaun Howard (CSIRO Manufacturing).