ARC Linkage grant for diamond-based microneedling technology

Professor Steven Prawer from the School of Physics and Professor Andrew Gooley of Trajan Scientific and Medical are set to collaborate in developing an innovative blood sampling tool.

The ARC Linkage program fosters collaborative partnerships between higher education researchers and industry. The scheme aims to encourage the transfer of knowledge, skills and ideas to drive innovation while yielding commercial benefits in areas of national priority.

Blood sampling is a routine but invasive procedure, with large needles inserted into a patient’s vein. The research team, led by Professor Prawer, is developing a microneedle array for blood collection that can collect small volumes of blood samples by painlessly perforating the skin.

The aim of the diamond-based microneedling technology being developed at the University of Melbourne, in collaboration with Trajan Scientific and Medical, is to minimize pain and invasiveness for patients while maximising efficiency in diagnosis and monitoring.

Benefits of microneedle based collection devices include less trauma from blood-extraction procedures (for example in infants and sufferers of diabetes), while also eliminating the need for a blood-extraction technician, and facilitating cost-effective point-of-care diagnostics.

It is hoped that this work will help grow the medical consumables industries in Australia.