Strengthening Australia against infectious diseases
We are working to strengthen Australia’s capabilities in preparing for and preventing infectious and vector borne diseases through surveillance and interventions. With access to wide-ranging expertise, CSIRO provides a One-Health approach that recognises the health of people, animals and the environment are closely linked.
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Brett Sutton: It’s really incalculable, it’s really difficult to calculate what a healthy population means.
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David Hansen: Big challenges are generally what scientists like to tackle.
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Charlotte Williams: A big idea would be something that helps a lot of people. That is changing the way we do science.
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Dwane O’Brien: It takes an incredible team of diagnosticians, disease researchers and engineers and trades to solve these big problems.
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Brett Sutton: CSIRO’s role broadly is to go toe to toe with the big challenges that Australia faces, that our region faces and that the world faces.
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Charlotte Williams: Australia has a really rich biotech and med-tech sector, and CSIRO works really closely with that sector to advance all different aspects.
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David Hansen: It’s often stated that it takes up to 17 years for a new health innovation to really be embedded in our health care system.
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Dwane O’Brien: One Health is where you recognise that the health of people and animals of the environment are really closely linked.
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Brett Sutton: It’s a case of humans not just being one village on the Earth but actually sharing it with really significant eco-systems that we interact with all of the time.
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Dwane O’Brien: The impact of diseases upon the community, on the agricultural sector through their livestock, the impacts of those diseases can be massive.
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David Hansen: You know we want to diagnose things properly.
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Brett Sutton: We’re now in a complex world where diagnosis might require machine learning, AI, to be able to pick up early stages of diseases.
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David Hansen: The big idea to me is making sure that we have a sustainable health care system.
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Charlotte Williams: It’s all about the research, discovery and the build in order to deliver at a global scale.
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Dwane O’Brien: It’s an incredibly rewarding thing to do as a, as a scientist.
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Charlotte Williams: Every day we strive to bring these big ideas to life here.
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Brett Sutton: And I think we have to continue to support ideas where we’re not sure where it might lead, does that mean you don’t even go there?
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I think that’s wrong. I think you have to look at the possibilities in certain ideas and say, we’re not sure where this might lead.
[Music plays and the image changes to show a bubble moving through the air, and text appears on the right: The voices behind CSIRO’s Big Ideas]
[Image changes to show Brett Sutton talking to the camera, and text appears: Brett Sutton, Director Health & Biosecurity]
Brett Sutton: Hi, I’m Brett Sutton. I’m Director of Health and Biosecurity at CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency.
[Image changes to show David Hansen talking to the camera, and text appears: David Hansen, Research Director, Australian e-health Research Centre]
David Hansen: Hi, I’m David Hansen. I lead CSIROs Digital Health Research Program, the Australian E-Health Centre.
[Image changes to show Charlotte Williams talking to the camera, and text appears: Charlotte Williams, Group Leader, Chemical Biology, Diagnostics and Devices]
Charlotte Williams: Hi, I’m Charlotte Williams, I’m Group Leader for Chemical Biology Diagnostics and Devices.
[Image changes to show Dwane O’Brien talking to the camera, and text appears: Dwane O'Brien, Deputy Director, Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness]
Dwane O’Brien: Hi, I’m Dwane O’Brien, I’m Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness.
[Music plays and the image changes to show the CSIRO logo and text appears: CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency]