An Adjunct Research Fellow and PhD alumnus from The University of Western Australia and the UWA-affiliated Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research has won a 2025 Prime Minister's Science Prize for two novel medical inventions that are making healthcare more affordable and accessible.
The Prime Minister's Prizes for Science are Australia's most prestigious and highly regarded science awards, celebrating achievements in scientific research, research-based innovation, the practice and preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems, and excellence in science teaching.
Dr Nikhilesh Bappoo – co-founder of WA-based medtech companies VeinTech and Lubdub – won the 2025 Prime Minister's Prize for New Innovators for ultrasound technology that is helping healthcare workers find veins more accurately, and AI-driven health digitisation technology that is allowing patients to track their cardiac health from home.
At VeinTech where he is also CEO, Dr Bappoo invented and led the development of a handheld imaging device that improves the success rate of intravenous cannulation.
Cannulation is the most common invasive medical procedure in healthcare but has a high failure rate due to the inability to see or feel a vein.
VeinTech's technology is designed to help healthcare workers find the right vein the first time, every time, leading to better patient care, improved therapeutic efficiency and reduced costs for the healthcare system.
Dr Bappoo was also recognised for his innovative work with Lubdub, which has developed a 'heart health in a box' solution that combines data from three critical heart function tests – a wearable electrocardiogram patch to track a heart's rhythm, a saliva-based biosensor that detects key cardio biomarkers in minutes, and a wearable ultrasound for real-time heart imaging.
The technology allows patients to track their own heart health in real time, without the need for travel or specialist visits – creating an affordable, accessible solution to detect and help prevent heart disease.
"I am incredibly honoured to receive the prize for new innovators," Dr Bappoo said. "It gives me a licence to go bigger so that great science can make it out into the real world."
Also honoured in this year's Prime Minister's Prizes for Science was Professor Michael Wear from Tidal Moon – Australia's first Indigenous-owned and led sea cucumber fishery and marine restoration enterprise.
Professor Wear, a Malgana Traditional Custodian of Shark Bay (Gutharraguda), was the inaugural winner of the Prime Minister's Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Systems after developing a model that improves Indigenous livelihoods through the practice of Aboriginal knowledges for Sea Country conservation and sustainable commercial practices.
Under Professor Wear's leadership, Tidal Moon is partnering with scientists including UWA Oceans Institute evolutionary biologist and seagrass expert Dr Elizabeth Sinclair on a world-first project to conserve and restore seagrass at Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, following a devastating 2011-2012 heatwave.
Tidal Moon's highly skilled Aboriginal divers play a leading role in environmental observation and seagrass restoration, sustainably harvesting healthy seagrass and replanting it in areas that have been damaged.
For more information on this year's prizes and winners, see here.
