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Scientist in finals of national award

30 July 2008

Dr Leslie Yeo
Dr Leslie Yeo

Monash microfluidics expert Dr Leslie Yeo has been selected as a finalist in the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes in the category of People's Choice Award -- and the Monash community can help make him a winner.

Dr Yeo, one of six finalists for the Sydney Museum's People's Choice Award, will win the award if he receives the most online votes on the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes website.

Voting opens Friday 25 July and closes at midnight on Sunday 17 August, with the winner announced at a gala dinner in Sydney on Tuesday 19 August. Dr Yeo and the other finalists will be profiled on ABC television show Catalyst and their research will be outlined on the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes website.

Dr Yeo and other researchers in the Micro/Nanophysics Research Laboratory, in the Faculty of Engineering, used Albert Einstein's 80-year-old tea leaf paradox principle to separate red blood cells from blood plasma.

Dr Yeo said the discovery could lead to pocket diagnostics such as a microchip-based "smart card" that performs on-the-spot blood tests.

"In an altruistic sense, where this could be really useful in saving lives, for example, would be in the development of a cheap and portable AIDS test kit that can be distributed across Africa where about one in four people now suffer from the disease," Dr Yeo said.

"It is these people, who perhaps have to walk five to 10 hours to a clinic that would benefit most from this technology."

Dr Yeo said the technology could also be used for concentrating pathogens in miniaturised biosensors, providing a rapid early warning detection system in the event of a bio-terrorist attack.

"I'm really thrilled to be nominated for the award," he said.

"More than recognition of the work, the People's Choice Award is an excellent opportunity to share scientific discoveries with the broader community and to inspire school kids about the wonderful possibilities that science can offer."

Monash University PhD graduate Dr Maxine Piggott has also been named a finalist in the Research That Contributes To Animal Protection category. Dr Piggott, who now works at Macquarie University in Sydney, has been nominated for her PhD research into the development of novel DNA methods to study wildlife populations without animal capture or handling.