Professor Nigel Spooner | Shining a Light on Asbestos: How Fluorescence Technology Could Save Lives

Working with colleagues in geology, physics, optical engineering, and machine learning, Professor Spooner has overseen the development of a groundbreaking tool: a portable device that can detect asbestos in real time using a technique known as ‘novel fluorescence’.

Fluorescence might be familiar to anyone who’s seen how certain minerals or biological samples glow under ultraviolet light.

What makes this research unique is the ability to shine different colours of light that specifically target a material and capture the unique ‘fingerprints’ it gives off. These fingerprints – or spectra – can distinguish asbestos fibres from other materials. Professor Spooner and his team have been refining this technique for years, and this project brought it into the real world.

Two prototypes were built during the project. The first, a trolley-mounted system, was tested on both pure asbestos minerals and everyday building materials including cement sheeting and vinyl tiles.

A second, improved version featured more light sources, better imaging, and a movable stage that could handle bulkier samples, even those in museum collections. This allowed the team to capture thousands of images and emission spectra from asbestos and non-asbestos samples, building up a powerful data library.

To make sense of this enormous dataset, the group partnered with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning. Together, they trained algorithms to recognise asbestos fibres automatically, achieving accuracy rates above 90% with the second prototype.

These promising results suggest that future devices could give a simple yes-or-no answer in the field, sparing workers from lengthy lab tests and reducing the risk of exposure.

Importantly, the research hasn’t stopped at asbestos. The same fluorescence technology can be applied far more widely – including space exploration. In fact, Professor Spooner’s team has been discussing with NASA and private space exploration companies on potential off-world applications, like putting this fluorescence technology onto lunar rovers, where the ability to analyse lunar material in real time could prove invaluable for future missions.

At the project’s heart is the original mission: protecting people from one of the most persistent public health threats of the modern era. Thanks to the team’s vision, a future with safer, faster asbestos detection is now within reach.