Whilst the PPB Tech Team spent a lot more time on home soil this month, focusing on building our team and scaling up our manufacture to continue to provide our customers with consistent quality devices and reagents, our devices are now travelling to more international destinations than ever before (which has incidentally has been recognised by an award nomination – scroll to the bottom of this page to learn more!)

…AND THEN THERE WERE SIX!:

This month we’re incredibly happy to announce an addition to our company with Laura Kennedy joining our science technical team.

Laura joins our technical team (pictured right) bringing previous experience in the production and quality control of biologicals in research and production settings. They are supporting both Felix and Raquel with product development; helping with new applications of existing tests and development of new biosensors, assisting in the scale of biosensor production and continuing to ensure the highest level of quality for our customers of our in-market products.

With Laura on board this month, we have officially doubled our head count in little over 12 months. A representation of overall company growth as we strive to exceed customer and industry needs and continue to provide the highest quality products, availability and exemplary customer service and support.

SINGAPORE NATIONAL BIOFILM CONSORTOIUM:
In early June, our Founder and CEO, Dr Stephen Trowell was given the opportunity to speak at the 2025 Singapore National Biofilm Consortium (SNBC). Stephen presented at a half-day workshop during the event “Decoding Food Spoilage: the food microbiome, biofilms, and solutions”.

In his presentation titled “Pseudomonas Biofilms in The Milk Supply Chain and Beyond” Stephen discussed how bacterial proteases, primarily from Pseudomonas spp., can severely damage the quality of raw milk. This has downstream impacts on UHT milk and cheese, a combined USD$ 350 Billion segment.
In 2022, Dr Stephanie Gieschler showed for the first time that biofilms on dairy farms are leaching high levels of protease into raw milk. PPB Technology has developed the first rapid test to detect these point sources throughout the dairy supply chain. This enables a paradigm shift in the management of the quality of dairy products and is a precedent for how to track biofilms in other food supply chains.

Not only did Stephen have the opportunity to share his learning about biofilms gained through the research and development of CYBERTONGUE® technology, but he also had the opportunity to share ideas and learn from Singapore-based experts in the area of biofilms and food spoilage.
One such learning being that Pseudomonas fluorescens and some of its close cousins are the primary food spoilage organisms across most if not all wet food types: meat, seafood, dairy, and vegetables.

So, when PPB Technology Pty Ltd developed CYBERTONGUE®, the ultimate technology for detecting Pseudomonas biofilms in the dairy supply chain, we didn’t know we were also addressing a much broader food spoilage problem.

And if the above scratched your science itch, be sure to scroll down below to learn more about the importance of controlling biofilms.

BIOFILMS ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRESENCE OF PROTEASE:

Most dairy processors know that they need to control the density of free-floating psychrotroph bacteria in their raw milk. They do this by:

• ensuring rapid cooling to ≈4°C as soon as possible after milking
• maintaining good hygiene to avoid seeding the milk with high starting levels of psychrotrophs
• limiting the time between milking and pasteurisation or UHT

Because, if you keep the final psychrotroph* density at or below 10^8 cfu/mL, the bacteria won’t produce damaging protease enzymes. But dairy processors tell us that many shelf-life problems caused by proteases happen even when psychrotroph counts are low. So, what’s happening?

Well, as shown in the figure (above right), biofilms formed by psychrotrophs are also secreting protease. Biofilms are not free-floating bacteria, and they don’t correlate with excessively high cfu/mL in the milk. But they can still make enough protease to cut UHT shelf-life dramatically.

Take home: It’s more important to measure the protease activity than the psychrotroph counts if you want the best quality and shelf-life.

*A psychrotroph is a bacterial species that grows well in the cold. Pseudomonas fluorescens and its relatives are common examples.

Although our team may have spent most of the month on home soil (apart from this quick trip over to Singapore), our devices and reagents have been increasingly finding new homes in more and more international locations. Which leads us to the following exciting announcement, fresh of the presses!

2025 ACT CHIEF MINISTER’S EXPORT AWARDS FINALIST:

Just yesterday we learned that we are a finalist in the ACT Chief Minister’s Export Awards for the second year running. Last year we were honoured to be recognised as a 2024 Promising Exporter in the Emerging Exporter category.

We are incredibly grateful to be recognised once again this year as we transition from the Emerging Exporter category, now having greater than 3 years of exports history under our belts.

The finals will be held on Tuesday, September 9th 2025, with the winners going through to the National Export Awards Finals later this year. We feel privileged to be nominated as a finalist in these new categories and look forward to celebrating the greatest exporters the ACT has to offer in just over one month’s time.