Spectroscopy Goes Viral! (Breakthrough in Covid-19 Detection)

Abstract:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in an unprecedented need for diagnostic testing that is critical in controlling the spread of COVID-19. The team has proposed a portable infrared spectrometer with purpose-built transflection accessory for rapid point-of-care detection of COVID-19 markers in saliva. A proof-of-concept high throughput infrared COVID-19 test that is rapid, inexpensive, portable and utilizes sample self-collection thus minimizing the risk to healthcare workers and ideally suited to mass screening was developed.

Speaker's Profile:

Professor Bayden R. Wood completed his PhD in Chemistry in 1999. He has since pursued his research interest applying vibrational spectroscopy to biological/biomedical problems. In 2008, he was awarded an Australian Research Council QEII Research Fellowship and a Humboldt Fellowship, followed by an ARC Future Fellowship in 2012. Since 2015, he has been the Director for the Centre for Biospectroscopy, Monash University, pioneering the application of vibrational spectroscopy and chemometrics to investigate a range of biomedical and biological problems. He has over 175 peer reviewed publications and 12 book chapters with a H index =50, with close to 9000 citations (source Google Scholar author profile). He is Co-Chief Editor for the Elsevier journal Clinical Spectroscopy and sits on the steering committee of the International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy (ICORS) and also on the steering committee for the International Conference on Advanced Raman Spectroscopy (ICAVS). Wood has a number of industry collaborators including Hydrix, Perkin-Elmer, CSL and Agilent. He has a strong focus on translating spectroscopy to real world problems through his large academic and commercial network.