Monash University and Alfred Develop AI-Based Super Bug Detection System

Monash University and Alfred Hospital are developing artificial intelligence-based systems to improve the way super bugs are diagnosed, treated and prevented.

According to Christopher Bain, a professor of digital health at Monash University, a superbug infection kills 700,000 people each year, and by 2050 the world could die from previously treatable diseases of 10 million people each year.

Super bugs are created when microorganisms evolve to be unaffected by antibacterial agents.

The project, primarily based in Alfred, has received A $ 3.4 million from the Federal Medical Research Future Fund.

According to the project’s lead researcher, Antony Peleg, the project aims to integrate genomics, electronic medical data, and AI technologies to address antimicrobial resistance in healthcare systems. Specifically, it leverages tens of thousands of data points per patient to help predict pathogen infections and treatment responses and patient outcomes.

“This project pushes the boundaries of what healthcare can achieve and how new technologies can be applied to understand how superbugs infect humans and spread within hospital systems. I’ll make it clear, “Peleg said.

reference: Researchers at Monash University are developing AI to improve suicide prevention

In addition to providing early detection of antibiotic resistance, the two tissues also hope that the system can create personalized treatments for patients and prevent their outbreaks.

Elsewhere in Australia’s healthcare sector, Austin Cyber ​​has funded cybersecurity start-up Haveventec with A $ 500,000 to develop a new healthcare consent system.

This system, called eConsent for Genomics, aims to improve the way healthcare providers, service providers, and patients securely store and consent to personal health information.

Funding will be provided by the Austin Cyber ​​Projects Fund. This is a three-year, A $ 15 million federal initiative designed to help the Australian cybersecurity industry grow locally and globally.

Building this system will cost around A $ 1 million, and Haveventec and its consortium partner 23 Strands are expected to provide the remaining A $ 500,000.

According to Haventec, the development of eConsent for Genomics is important because current models for storing personal health information have consistently failed and regularly exceed the list of data breaches that the hospital can notify. It’s time to come.

In partnership with 23Strands, Haveventec will also use the new consent system in research projects focused on COVID-19 patients. This study examines the correlation of negative and positive health outcomes with specific DNA profiles. This is expected to improve predictions about an individual’s response to COVID-19 infection.

Monash Uni publishes ethical analysis of agricultural robots

Monash University also released a report on Monday focusing on the ethical and policy issues behind the use of robots in agriculture.

In this report, author Robert Sparrow, a professor of philosophy at Monash University, and Dr. Mark Howard, a philosophical researcher, state that little attention has been paid to the ethical and policy issues surrounding increasingly automated agriculture. It was created when

“People weren’t thinking or talking about unintended consequences, what happened in life, and things that didn’t go perfectly,” Sparrow told ZDNet.

Today, Australia’s agricultural sector makes up about 2.5% of the country’s workforce.

After conducting a literature review on the application of agricultural robots to address these questions, the report reports that farmers improve yields and productivity, resulting in climate variability, soil depletion, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and population. We have discovered that it may help us face challenges such as growth.

Physically intensive labor related to farming has also led to the development of robots for tasks such as weeding, fruit and vegetable picking, food handling, packaging, productivity and the amount of produce delivered to the market. The author said it could be increased.

Sparrow pointed out that technologies such as fruit picking robots could also be developed over the next decade, which could have a significant impact on seasonal employment.

reference: Australia’s report on agtech confirms that technology can lead to a fertile future

“Because of the lack of technological innovation, robots are not yet widespread in agriculture, but it is expected that precision agriculture technology will gradually emerge and automation will be used in food processing and packaging.” Said.

But they also have the potential for the proliferation of robots in agriculture, where chemical mismanagement and heavy robotic soil compaction, consumers come to expect standardized or “perfect” produce. It may have adverse effects such as worsening food loss.

Harvesting is better suited for robots, as pairs can lead to standardization of livestock breeding and production of GM crops by increasing the use of robots. Small or struggling farms can miss technology, fail to catch up, and lead to centralized farm ownership, Sparrow said.

“Sufficient for governments and researchers to enable use on small lands to further centralize ownership of the agricultural sector and reduce the risk of robots further encouraging monoculture at the expense of biodiversity. We may prioritize the development of sophisticated robots with great flexibility. We have a wide range of crops and livestock. “

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