ARC Launch of the Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science (COMBS)

The ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science (COMBS) was officially launched on 28th October 2024 at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

The event was attended by Centre of Light for Life Director Kishan Dholakia as Adelaide Node Leader for the Centre of Excellence, and Centre postdoc Chris Perrella who is also a member of the Centre of Excellence.

The Adelaide node consists of the chief investigators: David Lancaster, Kishan Dholakia, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Andre Luiten, and Andy Boes.

They will work alongside experts in optical physics, geophysics, astrophysics, and communications from RMIT, University of Technology Sydney, The University of Sydney, Swinburne University of Technology, Monash University, and the Australian National University, advancing the field of microcombs research.

Chris Perrella was part of a panel discussion discussing his work in developing breath analysis technology for detecting biomarkers that may indicate the presence of disease before symptoms present. Along with applying new microscopic techniques to extract maximum information from samples without damaging them to progress fields like IVF to improve IVF success rates. The panel was chaired by Rachael Vorwerk and featured fellow panellists Meghan Miller (COMBS Chief Investigator, ANU) and Michaël Roelens (Chief Security Officer and Co-Founder, terra15) for a fascinating discussion of what the future might look like in 2050 with COMBs technology.

The Centre of Excellence is lead by Centre Director Arnan Mitchell from RMIT. This monumental launch provides the first look into seeing how the Centre will transform industries from telecommunications to environmental monitoring to health care.

RMIT news release: https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2024/oct/combs-launch