UQ's most fascinating gadgets revealed
The University of Queensland boasts an extraordinary range of unique and mind-blowing capabilities. From supercomputers, to cyclotrons for nuclear medicine, these are some of our most fascinating gadgets used at UQ to assist in research. This Research and Innovation Week, take a look at what sets us apart.
Bunya, the supercomputer
Nicknamed 'Bunya', this supercomputer is faster, multifaceted, and more efficient than its predecessors.
Bought from Dell in 2022, Bunya is named after the native South-East Queensland tree and has strengthened UQ’s position as a tier-2 supercomputing capability.
It sits at the Polaris Data Centre at Springfield, near Brisbane, and is primarily used by many of UQ's researchers, across a wide range of scientific research domains and disciplines.
Applications that are communication intensive, or move lots of data as part of their workflow, can run many times faster on Bunya, when compared to UQ's previous platforms. This significantly shortens the time to reach research discoveries.
Bunya is also more power efficient than previous supercomputers, limiting UQ's environmental output.
The supercomputer replaces 3 of UQ’s older models that have served the University for almost 7 years: Awoonga, FlashLite and Tinaroo.
Wiener, UQ’s imaging-intensive, GPU-enhanced supercomputer, will continue to operate.
UQ has allocated funding to expand Bunya’s capabilities and capacity over the next few years, so the single system should be a sufficient replacement for the three supercomputers.
Bunya is available for UQ researchers and some QCIF member researchers.
Sarah Walters, from UQ's Research Computing Centre, check the Polaris Data Centre in Springfield, where Bunya is located. Image: Ashley Wright, RCC.
Sarah Walters, from UQ's Research Computing Centre, check the Polaris Data Centre in Springfield, where Bunya is located. Image: Ashley Wright, RCC.
'Nanoscale' machining using electron beams
Within the Centre of Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM) lie 2 state-of-the-art machines capable of generating a nanoscale, focused beam of electrons to draw custom shapes on a surface.
This process is known as electron beam lithography, and these devices – Raith EBPG5150 and Raith eLINE Plus – are Australia's premier nanofabrication systems.
Results have shown that EBPG5150 can produce a spot size of 2 nanometres, while the eLINE has a spot size down to 1.5nm.
One nanometre is a billion times smaller than a metre and is not visible with the naked eye.
The eLINE is a specialised tool with high-resolution capabilities; able to create lithography features that are less than 10nm in size.
It can also deposit material with 5nm accuracy (additive manufacturing) and remove material (subtractive manufacturing) from wafers – hence it’s called the “Swiss Pocket knife for nanopatterning".
It was installed at UQ in 2017.
The 100 kilovolt EBL lens.
The 100 kilovolt EBL lens.
The EBPG5150 is a fully automated system running 50 times faster in most cases than the eLINE.
It operates at 100 kilovolts of acceleration voltage and runs 24/7 via remote control in an environmental controlled cleanroom with 0.1 degree Celsius per hour temperature stability.
It was installed in 2018 and can operate at 100 kilovolts of acceleration voltage.
It produces wafers up to 6 inches in diameter and have been the workhorse of nanofabrication in Queensland, for application such as Quantum Electronic Device (QED), integrated photonics, Micro-Electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS), and Biosensors.
This instrument is also accessed by users from University of Sydney, Monash, University of Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney, RMIT, as well as industry.
These lines are microscopic and measure about 7.4 nanometres. 1 nanometre is a billion times smaller than a metre and can't be seen with the naked eye. Images: Dr Keith Moulding
These lines are microscopic and measure about 7.4 nanometres. 1 nanometre is a billion times smaller than a metre and can't be seen with the naked eye. Images: Dr Keith Moulding
Predictive agriculture drones
Scientists are using drones to help predict the future success of crops.
“What we try to do as scientists is provide a whole series of tools that help plant breeders make better predictions about how to design a new variety that will work on that farm or work in that particular environment,” says Scott Chapman, Professor in Crop Physiology at The University of Queensland.
“We want to support informed decision-making during the season – things like whether to add more nitrogen to increase the protein to get a particular outcome, or how much specialty noodle wheat we're going to produce in Australia and where are we going to sell it?
“For example, the same kind of technology that's used to identify people in crowds in an airport is the technology that we use to count 1000s of plants when I fly a drone over that field.”
How digital technology is used in agriculture.
Some of the tasks now performed by drones include pest and disease detections, crop cover estimates, in-field fertiliser application, and targeted weed spraying.
Along with this, data has now become key to planning future success in agriculture.
Satellite data, field experimentation, modelling tools, and socioeconomic data, are integrated into planning to generate new science that supports decision-making for economic, environmental, and social outcomes to design farming systems better able to deal with production, climate and market risks.
A drone image of a cattle mob.
A drone image of a cattle mob.
Cyclotron for radioactive cancer treatments
The Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) houses an on-site cyclotron – an apparatus used to accelerate charged particles to high energies. The particles are held to a spiral trajectory by a static magnetic field and are accelerated by a rapidly varying electric field to form a beam of protons used to produce radioisotopes.
The cyclotron is housed in a vault to protect people outside from the radiation. The walls are made of concrete and are approximately 2 metres thick.
It was designed and manufactured in Belgium, weighing 20 tonnes.
CAI also has state-of-the-art radiochemistry facilities, which together with the cyclotron are used in the process of novel drug discovery and nuclear medicine.
UQ research radiochemist Damion Stimson operates the tele-manipulators in one of the hot cells at the radiochemistry suite.
UQ research radiochemist Damion Stimson operates the tele-manipulators in one of the hot cells at the radiochemistry suite.
The cyclotron is capable of accelerating negative ions H- up to 18 mega electron volts, with 2 internal proton sources and 8 independent exit and extraction ports. Eight targets are able to be simultaneously mounted on the cyclotron for radioisotope production and research activities.
It is also capable of making a wide range of radioisotopes including carbon-11, fluorine-18, copper-64 and iodine-124. In addition to these isotopes, the facility is able to handle isotopes including lead-212, gallium-68, zirconium-89, technetium-99m and lutetium-177.
The capability will soon be expanded by the addition of a new target station and processing equipment for the development and production of new radioisotopes for use as theranostic pairs in nuclear medicine.
A brief overview of the way a cyclotron works.
Generated radioisotopes are delivered to a suite of hot cells suitable for purification, manipulation, research synthesis and dispensing. The radio-analytical laboratory for the quality control of radiolabelled compounds includes high-pressure liquid chromatography, thin-layer chromatography and gamma spectrometry systems.
With access to 15 hot cells and 4 fume hoods, the facility provides a unique environment for performing novel drug discovery, preclinical research and translation of radiopharmaceuticals to human imaging and cancer therapy.
For more information about UQ's research capabilities, please visit https://www.uq.edu.au/research/about/research-infrastructure, or contact director-infrastructure@research.uq.edu.au.
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