SABRE aims to bolster biotech collaboration between Australian universities, research institutes and SMEs to inform projects across the Defence and national security spaces.

The three initial themes to be explored by SABRE include:

• human performance and decision making;
• genomics, bioinformatics and synthetic biology; and
• agriculture and biosecurity.

According to Defence Chief Scientist Professor Tanya Monro AC, the new framework would ensure defence and national security stakeholders have access to the latest biotech capabilities.

“SABRE will lead to the right questions being asked by the right people under the right framework,” Professor Monro said.

“This will ensure that defence and the national security sector capitalise on new opportunities arising from biotech research and development conducted within Australia’s research and industry sectors.

“SABRE, with its national focus, will draw together the right capabilities and capacities which currently exist in the biotech sector and support new horizon research into tangible outcomes.”

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The launch of SABRE comes just a week after Professor Monro announced the round two recipients of the National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants (NISDRG) program, aimed at addressing emerging threats in a changing national security environment.  

The grants are expected to fund further research into:

• addressing vulnerabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) systems;
• investigating supply chain risks;
• new explosive detection methods;
• the development of sensing technology;
• secure computing; and
• machine learning for miniature satellites and electromagnetic shielding.

The grants are administered by the Australian Research Council (ARC), tasked with enabling national intelligence and security communities to systematically engage with Australian researchers.

[Related: National security projects secure funding boost]