ASTech

ASTech

The ARC Training Centre for Portable Analytical Separation Technologies (ASTech) developed new capabilities and technologies that have the potential to progress the deployment of portable separation science systems into society, as well as training the next generation of industry-ready researchers.

Research themes

ASTech encompasses research under three themes:

  1. Sampling and preparation
    • Microsampling
    • Enzyme reactors and trap technology
    • Micro SPE (solid phase extraction)
    • Lab-in-a-syringe
  2. Separation
    • Multidimensional strategies
    • Packed micro-channels
    • Microchip columns
    • Bio-selective phases
  3. Detection
    • Interfaces for miniaturized MS
    • Optical biosensors
    • Platform integration

Collaborators

ASTech was established as a $5.2M program over 3 years, including funding awarded by the Australian Research Council. Trajan was the sole commercial collaborator, in partnership with the University of Tasmania (UTAS), University of South Australia (UniSA) and La Trobe University; combining research and industry knowledge to innovate in product design, development and manufacturing techniques.

Collaboration concept

ASTech (Analytical Separation Technologies) is the ARC Training Centre for Portable Analytical Separation Technologies. Like the Aztec Empire which began as an alliance of three Nahua city-states, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan, ASTech is a triple alliance of academia, industry and government.

ASTech Goals

Transforming Research, Education and Knowledge

ASTech keeps the end-user in mind, driving research innovations into industry production, ultimately for use by the scientific community and society – transforming research.

ASTech embodies a sustainable collaboration concept, a research partnership establishing a critical mass of HDR candidates, post-doctoral researchers, university-based and industry-based researchers, and business professionals to execute a research and development program with unique industry opportunities that crosses borders between academic and commercial worlds – transforming education.

Our focus is on developing new capabilities and technologies, looking for solutions that don’t exist in what we know now – transforming knowledge.

This will lead to the development of technologies that will drive the development of new, portable and affordable analytical separation systems, through transformation of analytical innovations into real-world applications, such as point-of-care diagnostics and environmental monitoring.

University of Tasmania

University of Tasmania

The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is Trajan's founding academic partner in ASTech. 

UTAS has a growing reputation as one of Australia’s foremost teaching and research institutions. With a history spanning 125 years, the university is ranked in the top ten research universities in Australia and in the top two per cent of universities in the world and has excellent facilities for research in separation science.

University of South Australia

The University of South Australia (UniSA) became an ASTech academic partner in 2016. 

UniSA has an outstanding track record in end-user driven research, and through the Future Industries Institute continues a commitment to conducting research that is deeply engaged with industry. UniSA is committed to solving complex, real-world problems in collaboration with government, industry, commerce, the professions and other community groups.

La Trobe University

La Trobe University (La Trobe) became an ASTech academic partner in 2017. 

La Trobe University is home to the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS) and Centre for Materials and Surface Science (CMSS); with a commitment to solving global problems and improving the welfare of human societies.

Australian Research Council

Australian Research Council

The Australian Research Council (ARC) is committed to providing funding under the National Competitive Grants Program Industrial Transformation Training Centres Scheme to foster close partnerships between university-based researchers and industry to provide innovative training for young researchers vital to Australia’s future industry.

This includes ASTech, established by Trajan and UTAS.

People

Governance and Management

The governance and management of ASTech consists of the Training Centre Director and the Steering Committee.

Training Centre Director

Steering Committee

Investigators

ASTech Investigators are responsible for the intellectual conduct of the Project and for any strategic decisions called for in its pursuit and the communication of results.

Industry Supervisors

ASTech Industry Supervisors are experts in the field of the subject matter and provide support from technical and commercial perspectives.

Past Postdoctoral Research Fellows

ASTech Postdoctoral Research Fellows undertake research and assist with the supervision of HDR candidates.

Outcomes

Work programs

◄1a. Micro‐sampling of whole blood and plasma-like fraction collection using porous Polymer Monolith Technology

  • Ricardo Neto
    HDR Candidate

  • Emily Hilder
    Academic Supervisor

  • Dario Arrua
    Academic Supervisor

  • Paul Haddad
    Academic Supervisor

  • Jason (Wei Boon) Hon
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor
◄1b. Micro-sampling of whole blood and plasma-like fraction collection of an accurate volume for PoCT

  • Florian Lapierre
    Post-doctoral Research Fellow

  • Michael Breadmore
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor

  • David Bailey
    Trajan Supervisor
◄3. in vivo sampling strategies – development of a robust equilibrium approach

  • Neeraj Verma
    HDR Candidate

  • Emily Hilder
    Academic Supervisor

  • Michael Breadmore
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Hans-Jürgen Wirth
    Trajan Supervisor
◄5a. For mixing and/or separation: Liquid- Liquid Extraction

  • Masoomeh Tehrani-Rokh
    Post-doctoral Research Fellow

  • Michael Breadmore
    Academic Supervisor

  • Brett Paull
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Uhe
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Robert Shellie
    Academic Supervisor
◄5b. Electroseparations in a syringe

  • Ibraam Mikhail
    HDR Candidate

  • Masoomeh Tehrani-Rokh
    Post-doctoral Research Fellow

  • Michael Breadmore
    Academic Supervisor

  • Rosanne Guijt
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor
◄5c. Hand-held full blood count with differentiation

  • James Chan
    HDR Candidate

  • Emily Hilder
    Academic Supervisor

  • Michael Breadmore
    Academic Supervisor

  • Rick Barber
    Trajan Supervisor
◄6. Smart Filters: Porous glass and composite biocompatible materials for frits, separation and extraction

  • Chowdhury Kamrul Hasan
    HDR Candidate

  • Pavel Nesterenko
    Academic Supervisor

  • Brett Paull
    Academic Supervisor

  • Mike Bailey
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Hans-Jürgen Wirth
    Trajan Supervisor
◄7. Multi-dimensional chromatography: 2DLC

  • Elisenda Fornells Vernet
    HDR Candidate

  • Michael Breadmore
    Academic Supervisor

  • Emily Hilder
    Academic Supervisor

  • Mike Bailey
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Robert Shellie
    Academic Supervisor
◄8a. Portable and capillary HPLC for biopharmaceutical analysis (I)

  • John (Shing Chung) Lam
    HDR Candidate

  • Estrella Sanz-Rodriguez
    Post-doctoral Research Fellow

  • Brett Paull
    Academic Supervisor

  • Paul Haddad
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Hans-Jürgen Wirth
    Trajan Supervisor
◄8b. Portable and capillary HPLC for biopharmaceutical analysis (II)

  • Lewellwyn Coates
    HDR Candidate

  • Brett Paull
    Academic Supervisor

  • Paul Haddad
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Hans-Jürgen Wirth
    Trajan Supervisor
◄9. Novel mesoporous polymer phases for sample preparation

  • Sara Thomas
    HDR Candidate

  • Emily Hilder
    Academic Supervisor

  • Dario Arrua
    Academic Supervisor

  • Pavel Nesterenko
    Academic Supervisor

  • Rick Barber
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Hans-Jürgen Wirth
    Trajan Supervisor
◄11. The development of affordable biosensors

  • Gregory Barbante
    Post-doctoral Research Fellow

  • Emily Hilder
    Academic Supervisor

  • Hans-Jürgen Wirth
    Trajan Supervisor
◄11a. Raspberry Pi‐sensors: A new concept for low‐cost, portable sensing technology

  • Conor Hogan
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor
◄16. Reduction Gas Detection for elemental mercury

  • Ronda Gras
    HDR Candidate

  • Paul Haddad
    Academic Supervisor

  • Robert Shellie
    Academic Supervisor

  • Andrew Gooley
    Trajan Supervisor

  • Andrew Uhe
    Trajan Supervisor

Publications

Find in table:

Publication title Authors Publication Year
Capillary gap flow cell as capillary-end electrochemical detector in flow-based analysis Islam, M.A., Lam, S.C., Li, Y.,, Atia, M.A., Mahbub, P., Nesterenko, P.N., Paull, B., Macka, M. Electrochimica Acta, 303, pp. 85-93 2019
Selective capillary electrophoresis separation of mono and divalent cations within a high-surface area-to-volume ratio multi-lumen capillary Nakatani, N., Cabot, J.M., Lam, S.C., Rodriguez, E.S., Paull, B. Analytica Chimica Acta, 1051, pp. 41-4 2019
On-line solvent exchange system: Automation from extraction to analysis Fornells, E., Hilder, E.F., Shellie, R.A., Breadmore, M.C. Analytica Chimica Acta, 1047, pp. 231-237 2019
Reversed-Phase Functionalised Multi-lumen Capillary as Combined Concentrator, Separation Column, and ESI Emitter in Capillary-LC–MS Rodriguez, E.S., Lam, S.C., Haddad, P.R., Paull, B. Chromatographia, 82(1), pp. 197-209 2019
Miniaturized micromachined gas chromatography with universal and selective detectors for targeted volatile compounds analysis Gras, R., Luong, J., Shellie, R.A. Journal of Chromatography A, 1573, pp. 151-155 2018
Low-Cost Passive Sampling Device with Integrated Porous Membrane Produced Using Multimaterial 3D Printing Kalsoom, U., Hasan, C.K., Tedone, L., Desire, C., Li, F., Breadmore, M.C., Nesterenko, P.N., Paull, B. Analytical Chemistry Volume 90(20), pp. 12081-12089 2018
Comparison of cation-exchange capillary columns used for ion chromatographic separation of biogenic amines Li, Y., Nesterenko, P.N., Stanley, R., Paull, B., Macka, M. Journal of Chromatography A, 2018, 1571, pp. 193-200 2018
Miniaturized capillary ion chromatograph with UV light-emitting diode based indirect absorbance detection for anion analysis in potable and environmental waters Murray, E., Li, Y., Currivan, S.A., Moore, B., Morrin, A., Diamond, D., Macka, M., Paull, B. Journal of Separation Science, 2018, 41(16), pp 3224-3231 2018
Flow injection gas chromatography with sulfur chemiluminescence detection for the analysis of total sulfur in complex hydrocarbon matrixes Hua, Y., Hawryluk, M., Gras, R., Shearer, R., Luong, J. Journal of Separation Science, 2018, 41(2), pp. 469-474 2018
Evaporative membrane modulation for comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography Fornells, E, Barnett, B., Bailey, M., Hilder, E.F, Shellie, R.A., Breadmore, M.C. Analytica Chimica Acta, 2018, 1000, pp. 303-309 2018
In situ methanation with flame ionization detection for the determination of carbon dioxide in various matrices Luong, J., Hua, Y., Gras, R., Hawryluk, M. Analytical Methods, 2018, 10(10), pp. 1275-1279 2018
Precise, accurate and user-independent blood collection system for dried blood spot sample preparation Neto, R., Gooley, A., Breadmore, M.C., Hilder, E.F., Lapierre, F., Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2018, 410(14), pp. 3315-3323 2018
Multi-channel capillaries and photonic crystal fibres for separation sciences Currivan, S., Upadhyay, N., Paull, B. TrAC – Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 2018, 102, pp. 322-331 2018
Direct Measurement of Elemental Mercury Using Multidimensional Gas Chromatography with Microwave-Induced Helium Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Gras, R., Luong, J., Shellie, R.A. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 2018, 2(5), pp. 471-478 2018
Positive Temperature Coefficient Compensating Heating for Analytical Devices  Gras, R, Luong, J., Pursch, M., Shellie, R.A. Analytical Chemistry, 2018, 90(11), pp. 6426-6430 2018
Gas chromatography with simultaneous detection: Ultraviolet spectroscopy, flame ionization, and mass spectrometry Gras, R., Luong, J., Haddad, P.R., Shellie, R.A. Journal of Chromatography A, 2018, 1563, pp. 171-179 2018
Review of the structural characterization, quality evaluation, and industrial application of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides Wu, D.-T., Guo, H., Lin, S., Lam, S.-C, Zhao, L, Lin, D.-R., Qin, W. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 2018, 79, pp. 171-183 2018
High sensitivity deep-UV LED-based z-cell photometric detector for capillary liquid chromatography Li, Y., Nesterenko, P.N., Stanley, R., Paull, B., Macka, M. Analytica Chimica Acta, 2018, 1032, pp. 197-202 2018
Evaporative membrane modulation for comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography Fornells, E., Barnett, B., Bailey, M., (…), Shellie, R.A., Breadmore, M.C. Analytica Chimica Acta, 2018, 1000, pp. 303-309 2018
Recent advances in enhancing the sensitivity of electrophoresis and electrochromatography in capillaries and microchips (2014–2016) Breadmore, M.C., Wuethrich, A., Li, F., Phung, S.C., Kalsoom, U., Cabot, J.M., Tehranirokh, M., Shallan, A.I., Abdul Keyon, A.S., See, H.H., Dawod, M., Quirino, J.P. Electrophoresis, 2017, 38, 33-59 2017
Principles around Accurate Blood Volume Collection Using Capillary Action Lapierre, F., Gooley, A., Breadmore, M. Langmuir, 2017, 33(50), pp. 14220-14225 2017
The evolution of 3D printing Paull, B. LC-GC Europe, 2017, 30(11), pp. 611-612 2017
Membrane assisted and temperature controlled on-line evaporative concentration for microfluidics Fornells, E., Barnett, B., Bailey, M., Hilder, E.F., Shellie, R.A., Breadmore, M.C. Journal of Chromatography A, 2017, 1486, pp. 110-116 2017
High-throughput gas chromatography for volatile compounds analysis by fast temperature programming and adsorption chromatography Gras, R., Hua, Y., Luong, J. Journal of Separation Science, 2017, 40(9), pp. 1979-1984 2017
A simplified approach in flow controlled multi-dimensional gas chromatography Luong, J., Gras, R., Shellie, R.A. Analytical Methods, 2017, 9(19), pp. 2835-2839 2017
Gas chromatography with diode array detection in series with flame ionisation detection Gras, R., Luong, J., Shellie, R.A. Journal of Chromatography A, 2017, 1500, pp. 153-159 2017
Gas chromatography and diode array detection for the direct measurement of carbon disulfide in challenging matrices Gras, R., Luong, J., Shellie, R.A. Analytical Methods, 2017, 9(26), pp. 3908-3913 2017
Differential ion mobility spectrometry with temperature programmable micromachined gas chromatography for the determination of bis(chloromethyl)ether Luong, J., Gras, R., Shellie, R.A. Analytical Methods, 2017, 9(34), pp. 5003-5008 2017
A brief history and recent advances in ozone induced chemiluminescence detection for the determination of sulfur compounds by gas chromatography Luong, J., Gras, R., Hawryluk, M., Shearer, R. Analytical Methods, 2016, 8, 7014-7024 2016
Trace-level screening of dichlorophenols in processed dairy milk by headspace gas chromatography Gras, K., Luong, J., Gras, R., Shellie, R.A. Journal of Separation Science, 2016, 39, 3957-3963 2016
Thermal Independent Modulator for Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography Luong, J., Guan, X., Xu, S., Gras, R., Shellie, R.A. Analytical Chemistry, 2016, 88, 8428-8432 2016
Membrane assisted and temperature controlled on-line evaporative concentration for microfluidics Fornells, E., Barnett, B., Bailey, M., Shellie, R.A., Hilder, E.F., Breadmore, M.C. Journal of Chromatography A, 2016, 1486, 110-116 2016
New perspectives on the annihilation electrogenerated chemiluminescence of mixed metal complexes in solution Kerr, E., Doeven, E.H., Barbante, G.J., Hogan, C.F., Hayne, D.J., Donnelly, P.S., Francis, P.S. Chemical Science, 2016, 7, 5271-5279 2016
Cheers: Cracking open the bottleneck of extraction in bioanalysis Breadmore, M.C. Bioanalysis, 2015, 7, 3053-3055 2015
Direct Measurement of Trace Elemental Mercury in Hydrocarbon Matrices by Gas Chromatography with Ultraviolet Photometric Detection Gras, R., Luong, J., Shellie, R.A. Analytical Chemistry, 2015, 87, 11429-11432 2015

Reports and citations

ACROSS Annual Reports (includes highlights for ASTech)
Citations of ASTech affiliated papers

ASTech papers have been cited 142 times to-date so far, with 74 of those citations in 2018, and 37 to-date in 2019.

Co-authors on ASTech affiliated papers include:

  • Abdul Keyon, A.S.
  • Atia, M.A.
  • Bailey, M.
  • Barbante, G.J.
  • Barnett, B.
  • Breadmore, M.C.
  • Cabot, J.M.
  • Chen, W.Q.
  • Connolly, D.
  • Currivan, S.A.
  • Dawod, M.
  • Fornells, E.
  • Gooley, A.
  • Gras, R.
  • Haddad, P.R.
  • Hawryluk, M.
  • Hilder, E.F.
  • Hua, Y.
  • Kalsoon, U.
  • Lam, S.C.
  • Lapierre, F.
  • Li, F.
  • Li, Y.
  • Luong, J.
  • Macka, M.
  • Nesterenko, P.N.
  • Neto, R.
  • Paull, B.
  • Rodriguez, E.S.
  • Shearer, R.
  • Shellie, R.A.
  • Stanley, R.
  • Upadhyay, N.

International affiliations of ASTech affiliated papers include:

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • Czech Republic
  • Bangladesh
  • Egypt
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • Russian Federation
  • United States of America

Source titles for ASTech affiliated papers include:

  • ACS Earth and Space Chemistry
  • Analyst
  • Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Analytica Chimica Acta
  • Analytical Methods
  • Bioanalysis
  • Chemical Science
  • Chromatographia
  • Electrochimica Acta
  • Electrophoresis
  • Journal of Chromatography A
  • Journal of Separation Science
  • Langmuir
  • LC GC Europe
  • Trac Trends in Analytical Chemistry
  • Trends in Food Science and Technology

Opportunities

Research

11 Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Scholarships and 3 Post-doctoral Research Fellowships (3 years funding) were recruited on a global basis, with research primarily undertaken at University of Tasmania and University of South Australia. Candidates and post-doctoral researchers also spent a minimum of one of the three years within industry, at Trajan and/or Trajan’s partner organizations around the world.

Partnerships

ASTech played an important part in Trajan’s mission to develop collaborative partnerships. Trajan engaged global business partners in some specific research themes. Supplemental agreements included exclusive engagement in a specific project element, deployment of a Centre research candidate within partner organization.

To discuss partnership opportunities please contact us.

Commercialization

Explore our website to browse our product range, or learn more about specific innovations such as hemaPEN®(initial product concept developed through ASTech, with further development by Trajan).

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