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Hello.
As little as 30 years ago,
if you'd ended up critically ill in intensive care and needed a detailed analysis of your blood to decide the next course of treatment,
chances are doctors would have had to wait a day or more for results to come back from a lab,
time that could have meant the difference between life and death.
But that weight has been transformed down to less than a minute,
thanks to the research of my guest today.
Professor Amilra Prasanna de Silva, or AP de Silva, as he likes to be known,
is a pioneer in the fields of photochemistry and molecular computing.
Born in Sri Lanka, AP studied at both University of Colombo and then at Queen's University Belfast,
where he's still based today as Emeritus Professor of Chemistry.
In the 1980s, he developed a molecular photosensor.
Yes, this will be explained, that's led to a range of small,
portable blood analysers that have saved thousands of lives around the world.
His achievements have won in many awards,
including a prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry, Blue Plac,
but he insists it's a career that's been shaped and dictated by serendipity,
along with the kindness and passion of others.
AB De Silva, welcome to the Life Scientific.