Capital Award: Quantification for frontier engineering

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Biological Systems Science and Engineering is an exciting new frontier. It spans Synthetic Biology where engineering principles are applied at the molecular and cellular level, to design new metabolic pathways, materials and devices, through to management of large scale biological systems such as wastewater treatments systems which underpin modern societies.Across this massive range of scales highly precise quantitative measurement is fundamental - to engineer reliably, it is essential to be able to measure what is being engineered. The greater the precision of the measurement, the more effective and efficient will be the engineered product. This award will be used to purchase high sensitivity, high precision measurement systems that will allow quantification of nucleic acids in synthetic, smart biological materials and cells as well as quantifying key organisms that drive important processes (e.g. pollutant removal) in large scale biological treatments. Application of the equipment will contribute to the development of more reliable, efficient and sustainable new materials and processes and improve the efficiency of large scale biological treatment systems leading to more effective control of pollutants and reduce the energy requirements of the treatments systems.