Aperture Innovations has an incredible team of entrepreneurs, seasoned executives and innovative researchers who work collaboratively to make each project come to life.
Management
Management
Elicia Wong
PhD SCPM MRACI CChem
Founder & CEO
A serial entrepreneur in the life sciences and high tech industries, Elicia focuses on strategy and management at Aperture. She brings more than a decade of experience in developing early-stage technology companies having founded two startups. Her first startup is in the life sciences sector (Sensor Innovations Inc.) in which she served as the Chief Scientific Officer in 2007. In 2014, she founded another startup in the high-tech sector (Elemental Machines Inc.), in which she served as the Chief Technology Officer, with three products currently in the market.
Upon returning to Australia, Elicia was appointed as the Director of Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Swinburne University of Technology, where she helped to advance Swinburne's presence in the Silicon Valley through a partnership with CSIRO, rolling out industry-embedded PhD programs and establishing links with multiple US industry partners. While at Swinburne, Elicia also served as the Chief Operating Officer of its biotech startup (Capsular Technologies Pty Ltd), where she oversaw the completion of three live animal trials for its single-shot vaccine encapsulation platform technology.
Edith Chow
PhD FRACI CChem FRSN
Co-Founder and CSO
Edith has a strong background in nanomaterials research and chemical/bio-sensing. Prior to co-founding Aperture Innovations, Edith was a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO where she worked successfully across interdisciplinary projects with Government partners, international agencies and SMEs to tackle problems faced by the environmental, agricultural, food and healthcare sectors. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed research papers and has two granted patents.
Edith is a passionate advocate for STEM education and is an IMNIS mentor. She has been recognised for her excellence in science through a NSW Young Tall Poppy Award (2015) and UNSW Sydney Alumnus Award in Science & Technology (2019). Edith serves on the Editorial Board of Sensors and is an Adjunct Professor at Torrens University.
Advisory Board
Burkhard Raguse
PhD
Advisor
Burkhard is a seasoned inventor and expert in diverse areas such as synthetic organic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, physical/chemical/biochemical sensor research, self-assembled monolayers and lipids, nano-actuators, formation and physical properties of nanoparticle aggregates and bio-nanotechnology.
Burkhard was a Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, an ARC “Assessor of international standing” (Intreader status) in the area of nanotechnology and sensor research and a reviewer for Discovery, Future Fellowship and Discovery Early Career Researcher grant applications. He was engaged by several government organisations as an expert consultant and produced a number of confidential studies on nanotechnology development. His research interests include cross-disciplinary research involving biology, chemistry and physics and has patents (21 patent families, >100 national-phase patents) and research articles (>70 ISI articles). He is a co-inventor of the “Ion Channel Switch” technology with 18 US patents. The ion channel switch work eventuated in the formation of an Australian company (AMBRI Pty Ltd) to further develop and commercialise the technology.
Khuong Vuong
PhD MenvMan
Advisor
Khuong is an experienced research chemist who is very passionate about environmental and sustainability issues. His research focused on developing catalysts and catalytic processes (including photocatalysis) for efficient chemical transformations and conversion of biomass to chemical feedstock. After more than 15 years working as a research chemist at reputable research institutions in Australia, the United Kingdom and Singapore, Khuong's professional development is now directed towards environmental and sustainability issues.
Khuong has co-authored more than 30 internationally peer-reviewed journals in both chemistry, climate change mitigation and environmental science. He has successfully obtained competitive research grants including from the Australian Research Council.
