Industrial - Bachelor
BIONEST is an advanced air sampler designed for remote, long-term biomonitoring. It collects airborne eDNA while recording key contextual data to support accurate surveys. By enabling reliable, field-ready DNA capture, BIONEST addresses a significant gap in environmental science and offers a new approach to large-scale, sustainable biomonitoring.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is genetic material shed by organisms into their surroundings through skin cells, feathers, faeces, pollen and other biological fragments. Sampling eDNA from air, water or soil allows researchers to identify species present in an ecosystem, providing a non-invasive, highly sensitive method of biodiversity monitoring.
eDNA is important because it offers a non-invasive, highly sensitive way to understand what species are present in an environment. Traditional surveying can be time-consuming, expensive, and often misses rare or hard-to-find species. By analysing tiny traces of DNA in air, water or soil, eDNA can reveal hidden biodiversity, track threatened species, identify invasive organisms early, and support conservation decisions.
While current eDNA methods have transformed biodiversity monitoring in water and soil, they still leave critical gaps in understanding terrestrial ecosystems. To push eDNA further, we need approaches that capture species signatures moving through the atmosphere. Airborne eDNA offers this opportunity. By sampling DNA suspended in air, researchers can detect flying insects, birds, mammals, plants, fungi and microbes without needing physical contact or visual sightings. This expands eDNA from point-based collection to continuous, landscape-scale monitoring, opening new possibilities for remote surveys, threatened species detection, and real-time ecosystem insights. Airborne eDNA is the next frontier—allowing biodiversity monitoring to become broader, non-invasive, and significantly more comprehensive than ever before.
So if you really want innovation, go air.
Senior research officer at tropwater, james cook university (jcu)
Remote environments present significant challenges for eDNA biomonitoring. Field teams often work with limited access to electricity, clean water, refrigeration, specialised equipment, and reliable transport, making sample collection and preservation difficult. Long travel times increase the risk of DNA degradation, while dust, heat, humidity, and harsh weather heighten contamination and damage to equipment. Many remote regions also lack nearby laboratories, meaning samples must be transported over long distances before processing, which introduces additional risk and cost. These constraints can reduce data accuracy, limit survey frequency, and make long-term monitoring difficult. To support remote communities, ranger groups, and conservation efforts, eDNA tools must become more robust, field-ready, and less dependent on laboratory infrastructure.
When people go out to the field, they have really busy schedules…if you have a method that is too fiddly or involves specialised equipment that can break and stuff like that, people are not going to want to use it.
Senior research officer at tropwater, james cook university (jcu)
You might be in a very remote area and this is your chance to get there and that’s pretty much it.
head of earth and atmospheric sciences at queensland university of technology (qut)
Reducing contamination is essential because even small traces of foreign DNA can distort results and lead to incorrect species detections. In airborne sampling, where captured DNA is often scarce and highly degraded, contamination poses an even greater risk. If samples contain DNA from equipment, handling, or previous sites, the recorded biodiversity no longer reflects the true environment. Ensuring clean, reliable sampling is therefore fundamental to producing scientific data that can be trusted for conservation, research, and decision-making.
In remote areas, deployment must be simple, fast, and practical. The sampler should be lightweight, easy to mount, and operable by non-specialists, allowing rangers and field teams to collect samples without extensive training. Clear workflows for starting, stopping, and removing samples reduce errors and make ongoing or large-scale monitoring feasible.
Airborne eDNA becomes far more valuable when paired with environmental context. Integrating sensors for temperature, humidity, wind, or air volume helps researchers interpret how weather and airflow affect DNA capture. This data strengthens scientific accuracy and allows comparisons across time, locations, and species detections.
A remote Australian setting demands durability. The sampler should withstand heat, dust, UV exposure, rain, and wildlife interaction while remaining repairable and long-lasting. Materials and form must suit rugged terrain, while power sources should support long deployments where electricity is unavailable. Designing for the environment ensures reliable sampling in the places where biodiversity data is most needed.
The sampler harnesses wind energy to charge an internal battery, allowing it to operate continuously without external power. This makes long-term deployment possible in remote areas while keeping the device lightweight, low-maintenance, and self-sustaining.
Built-in radio communication allows the device to transmit status updates or sensor data to nearby receivers. This reduces the need for frequent site visits and helps researchers monitor sampler performance from a distance.
The system tracks how long each sampler has been active, providing accurate timelines for filtering and data comparison. Knowing the sampling duration ensures consistency across surveys and supports scientific repeatability.
An onboard temperature sensor records environmental conditions during sampling. Temperature data helps researchers understand how heat may influence DNA degradation, airflow, and detection rates.
By measuring wind speed, the sampler links DNA capture to the volume of air passing through the filter. This supports stronger scientific interpretation—helping estimate detection probability and comparing different sites.
Tracking UV exposure provides insight into how sunlight may damage airborne DNA. This helps researchers understand DNA degradation patterns and refine sampling strategies for different environments.
A barometric pressure sensor helps interpret how changing air pressure influences particle movement and DNA capture. This adds valuable context to environmental data, especially in shifting weather conditions.
GPS logging records the exact location of each sampler, ensuring samples can be accurately mapped to field sites. This is essential for remote surveys and supports reliable spatial analysis of biodiversity data.
The quick twist-and-pull mechanism allows the filter cartridge to be removed rapidly without tools, making sample collection efficient and reducing handling time in the field. This simplicity is valuable in remote environments where conditions may be hot, dusty, or unpredictable. By enabling fast cartridge changes, the design supports continuous sampling, minimises contamination risk, and makes the device accessible to non-specialist users such as rangers and community field teams.
Katarina is an industrial designer driven by curiosity and a commitment to purposeful design with environmental and social value. She combines research, visualisation, and hands-on prototyping to create clear, functional outcomes that respond to real-world context and community needs. Her work is grounded in asking the right questions, exploring possibilities, and designing with intention.