12 November 2014

The human body – the final frontier?

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Want to hear about a rainbow band-aid that can diagnose skin cancer and how ecstasy causes brain hypothermia? Come along!

Despite hundreds of years of advances, the highly complex workings of the human body are still largely a mystery. A group of researchers at a new ARC Centre of Excellence are aiming to change all that.

They are building new tools to look into the body in ways never before possible, without pain, as the living body goes about its daily business. Using advances in fibre optics and manufacturing they will be able to see right down to smallest of small, the individual cell.

These new generation sensors will be able to see inside the heart as it beats, inside the brain as it registers pain and inside the reproductive tract as life is sparked.

The potential is enormous, and holds out the hope of the ultimate in disease prevention, seeing what has gone wrong before disease has had a chance to take hold.

There is also very real potential for new products and new jobs as they design the tools that will be able to see into our living bodies.

A group of stellar researchers Professor Nicki Packer, Professor Mark Hutchinson and Dr Brant Gibson will join forum host 666 ABC Canberra presenter Genevieve Jacobs, to discuss their extraordinary work. Read the speaker biographies here.

When: Wednesday 26 November 1-2.30pm
Where: The Finkel Theatre, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, Garran Road, The Australian National University

Register here.

Free and open to the public.

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