As part of its contribution to the national COVID-19 response, DMTC has teamed with the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre to produce a video highlighting four simple steps that manufacturers and Aussie defence companies can take in returning to the workplace.
Resilient supply chain partners can work together to get the job done, in line with the Government’s safe work principles.
A clinical trial has commenced to test the effectiveness of a low-dose regimen of the anti-malarial drug Chloroquine to prevent coronavirus illness.
The clinical trial is being funded by Defence and managed by the national Medical Countermeasures Initiative led by DMTC Limited. Experts with experience in clinical trials from DMTC are working alongside personnel at the trial site, the ADF Malaria and Infectious Diseases Institute.
The trial will focus on military healthcare and civilian healthcare workers at the frontline of the national response to COVID-19.
Chloroquine is a well-known drug that is already used around the world for the prevention and treatment of malaria as well as the treatment of some inflammatory and connective tissue diseases.
DMTC CEO Dr Mark Hodge urged caution in the race to provide answers to combating COVID-19.
“Clinical trials are essential to establish global benchmarks and ultimately to prove whether this drug, at these prescribed dose amounts, can prevent infection,” Dr Hodge said.
“Novel medications can take a long time to get through all the tests and approvals that are needed to confirm safety, quality and effectiveness. Re-purposing of an existing drug with a known safety profile has potential benefits in regard to expediting conclusive results.”
Because its safety profile is well understood, the trial can be undertaken rapidly to the high standards required by Australian and international pharmaceutical regulators. (more…)
Capability Improvement Award – Winner: Sustainment of Emergent Materials team
This collaborative team (working under the auspices of DMTC Project Team 5.77) has worked extensively on the development of laser additive deposition (LAD) technology for the past 10 years and has achieved significant outcomes for commercial and Defence customers.
Smiles all-round for members of the team awarded the DMTC Capability Improvement Award for 2020
For defence customers, innovative approaches to, and adoption of new technologies for, sustainment of fleets is crucial, especially in light of the cost pressures associated with life cycle support on military platforms. Through this project and previous enabling research, DMTC has been an integral partner in helping to generate a sovereign industrial capability in Australia in laser repair technology. RUAG Australia has shown repeatedly that repairing components, rather than replacing them, enables Defence to achieve the desired structural performance rates and fleet availability results at a fraction of the cost, and in fractions of the time.
“RUAG Australia continues to be a top performer in innovation in Australia. Working together with DMTC has directly proven that this passionate pursuit of innovation and collaborative research and development ensures solid benefits for all stakeholders,” Neil Matthews, Chief Technical Advisor & Senior Manager Additive Technologies, RUAG Australia said.
This project has not only demonstrated the successful geometrical restoration of actual aircraft components, but also the viability of LAD technology for repair of Defence-grade materials. Researchers from RUAG, Swinburne and RMIT developed and supported the establishment of state-of-the-art sustainment and repair laser cladding facility at RUAG which is now fully operational through the funding of the Defence Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program. The work carried out by research partners, RMIT and Swinburne, ensured that the restored Defence components meet certification, operational and design requirements.
Project Leadership Award – Winner: Professor Flavia Huygens
Professor Flavia Huygens received the Project Leadership Award at the 2020 DMTC Annual Conference.
Professor Huygens receiving the Project Leadership Award from CEO DMTC, Dr Mark Hodge (left) and special guest dinner speaker Adam Goodes (right)
Professor Huygens is Associate Director at the Institute of Health Biomedical Innovation (QIMR-Berghofer), a Professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences at Queensland University of Technology and a director of Australian med-tech start-up company, Microbio.
Professor Huygens has shown excellent project leadership over the last year in seamlessly bringing together a multidisciplinary team from academia and industry to develop a rapid diagnostic with her company Microbio, which is helping to address significant issues in the diagnosis of bio-threat pathogens.
She is the pioneer behind the technology of InfectID®, which uses novel and innovative bioinformatic tools to genetically identify blood/plasma borne bacteria. This technology has been shown to distinguish between more than 10 closely related pathogens without the generation of false positives. This type of technology is critical for the military to respond to outbreaks of infection or deliberate biological attacks.
The way Professor Huygens has managed the complexities of working across partners to meet the delivery requirements has been second to none.
More information on this project is in our 2019 Annual Report here.
