About the Institute
Solving the Worlds' Most Challenging Problems
Solving the Worlds' Most Challenging Problems
Solving the Worlds' Most Challenging Problems
Our world is complex and intertwined and its greatest challenges coexist in a space
defined by intersections, interactions, synergies and contrasts.
Understanding this complexity and solving real world problems requires
multifaceted study and integration of knowledge, and
forging of connections between people and disciplines,
which will lea
Our world is complex and intertwined and its greatest challenges coexist in a space
defined by intersections, interactions, synergies and contrasts.
Understanding this complexity and solving real world problems requires
multifaceted study and integration of knowledge, and
forging of connections between people and disciplines,
which will lead to acceleration of discoveries and their translation to solutions.
The Solution
bmwi3 brings together teams of scientists and engineers, and creative thinkers across disciplines,
from the public, university, industry and government arenas, and
spanning disciplines and career stages, to pose, probe and crack these challenges.
Why Interdisciplinary?
Solving the Worlds' Most Challenging Problems
Solving the Worlds' Most Challenging Problems
Increasingly, groundbreaking discoveries occur at disciplinary interfaces,
in biosystems from cells to people to planets, brains to trees to slime mold.
bmwi3 aims to make the unknown known by crossing boundaries & embracing diversity across people and species and biological kingdoms,
because without doing so, we can't solve the world's
Increasingly, groundbreaking discoveries occur at disciplinary interfaces,
in biosystems from cells to people to planets, brains to trees to slime mold.
bmwi3 aims to make the unknown known by crossing boundaries & embracing diversity across people and species and biological kingdoms,
because without doing so, we can't solve the world's most challenging problems.
The Institute aims to serve as a physical and virtual place of convergence*,
- cultivating convergent thinking and approaches, and
- providing an interface and platform for discovery between different disciplines, cultures, and generations, whilst
- serving the local community with global impact, and serving the global community with local impact, and
- leading societal change through education and discovery.
*The U.S. National Science Foundation describes convergence research as a "means of solving vexing research problems, especially those focusing on societal needs,....driven by a specific and compelling problem [regardless of whether posed via "deep scientific questions or pressing
societal needs"... [with a] deep integration across disciplines...intentionally bring[ing] together intellectually diverse researchers to develop effective ways of communicating across disciplines,...[causing] their knowledge, theories, methods, data and research communities [to] intermingle." [https://new.nsf.gov/funding/learn/research-types/learn-about-convergenceresearch]
Why bmwi3?
Solving the Worlds' Most Challenging Problems
Why bmwi3?
bmwi3 is located
- physically in the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage site, recognized by UNESCO for its ecosystems' and species' diversity across the six kingdoms of life, and its representation of evolution and adaptation, both essential elements for survival.
- virtually as a global entity, where its local diversity represents a
bmwi3 is located
- physically in the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage site, recognized by UNESCO for its ecosystems' and species' diversity across the six kingdoms of life, and its representation of evolution and adaptation, both essential elements for survival.
- virtually as a global entity, where its local diversity represents a microcosm of the world and its complexity.
interdisciplinary because the purpose and principles of bmwi3 bridge between and across disciplines, e.g.science to engineering to art to music, and matter, e.g. fluids to solids, water to rocks and bark to skin. Only by crossing disciplines can we understand and solve the complexity of our world's challenges.
innovation because our greatest natural resources include the human mind and its capacity to understand the diversity of the world around us, leading to new discoveries that will improve the life for all inhabitants of the Earth and beyond. bmwi3 is one-of-a-kind in its organization, approach and vision.
institute - the noun, institute, refers to a scientific and educational organization with a specific purpose and/or a summary of principles.
As an organization, bmwi3 encourages deep thinking and study of life in diverse biosystems.
It aims to encourage investigation across disciplines and kingdoms, to decipher the basic laws of biology and physiology, and to improve health of cells, organs, organisms and societies in Earth's biosystems.
Our Vision
Our Vision
Why bmwi3?
Our ideals and ideas,
our minds and bodies,
and the cells that inhabit them,
form seeds for current and future worlds.
We are interdependent on
our world and all of its inhabitants,
our bodies' worlds and
all of their cellular inhabitants.
We aspire to
- bring together global thought leaders across disciplines,
- reduce barriers to participation a
Our ideals and ideas,
our minds and bodies,
and the cells that inhabit them,
form seeds for current and future worlds.
We are interdependent on
our world and all of its inhabitants,
our bodies' worlds and
all of their cellular inhabitants.
We aspire to
- bring together global thought leaders across disciplines,
- reduce barriers to participation and thereby maximise equity, diversity and inclusion in science, as an a-/vocation, from discovery to translation, and
- promote ideation and translation of discoveries for the health of our planet and its inhabitants, as well as the health of our bodies and their cellular inhabitants.
Background
Our Vision
Background
From "blue sky" to "deep dive" - done
Founded in 2021, the blue mountains world interdisciplinary innovation institute (bmwiii, bmwi3 or blueinnovations) is
a not-for-profit global think tank
dedicated to improving health
and the quality of life, for
- the world & its inhabitants, across kingdoms (e.g. animals, plants, insects)
- organisms & th
From "blue sky" to "deep dive" - done
Founded in 2021, the blue mountains world interdisciplinary innovation institute (bmwiii, bmwi3 or blueinnovations) is
a not-for-profit global think tank
dedicated to improving health
and the quality of life, for
- the world & its inhabitants, across kingdoms (e.g. animals, plants, insects)
- organisms & their resident cells.
The institute is unique in its
interdisciplinary approach to solving the world's toughest health and life challenges.
Goals
Our Vision
Background
- to maximise stakeholder participation and positive impacts by building upon a foundation of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) in our teams, approaches, processes & governance,
- to be guided by science while challenging dogma,
- to cross disciplines, focusing on common principles & mechanisms underpinning diverse biosystems,
- to promo
- to maximise stakeholder participation and positive impacts by building upon a foundation of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) in our teams, approaches, processes & governance,
- to be guided by science while challenging dogma,
- to cross disciplines, focusing on common principles & mechanisms underpinning diverse biosystems,
- to promote creative and visionary (so-called blue sky) approaches,
- to dive deep in real and virtual worlds to learn, discover & translate new understanding, and
- to cultivate a healthy world for its current and future inhabitants
Our global team
Founding Director
Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board
Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board
Nature is the Mother of Innovation
Professor Melissa Knothe Tate is the Founding Director of the Blue Mountains World Interdisciplinary Innovation Institute.
She is a global thought leader in cross-disciplinary tech and healthcare innovation. Her R&D discovery and translation approaches are epitomised by their cross-cutting nature, where t
Nature is the Mother of Innovation
Professor Melissa Knothe Tate is the Founding Director of the Blue Mountains World Interdisciplinary Innovation Institute.
She is a global thought leader in cross-disciplinary tech and healthcare innovation. Her R&D discovery and translation approaches are epitomised by their cross-cutting nature, where the fundamental laws of mechanics are applied to bio-logical and -medical systems, to elucidate and emulate emergent and smart properties.
Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board
Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board
Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board
Spanning the physical, digital and virtual worlds
Our Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board includes world renowned bioengineers, medical doctors, environmental scientists, computer scientists and computational systems modellers,.
In order of joining the Board,
- Professor Luke Lee, Harvard University Schools of Medicine and Engineering
- Professo
Spanning the physical, digital and virtual worlds
Our Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board includes world renowned bioengineers, medical doctors, environmental scientists, computer scientists and computational systems modellers,.
In order of joining the Board,
- Professor Luke Lee, Harvard University Schools of Medicine and Engineering
- Professor Rebecca Grainger, University of Otago Department of Medicine
- Professor Vittorio Sansalone, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle
- Associate Professor Eric J. Anderson, Colorado School of Mines, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Dr. Sohie Lee, Wellesley College Department of Computer Science
Governance
Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board
Governance
Board of Directors
Professor Melissa Knothe Tate, Chair
Dr. Rachel Coxon, Treasurer
Dr. (cand.) Lucy Ngo, Secretary
The Board of Directors adhere to the established principles and pillars of excellence for governance of non-profit R&D Institutes to ensure that strategies, decision making, activities and outcomes of the Institute reach the hig
Board of Directors
Professor Melissa Knothe Tate, Chair
Dr. Rachel Coxon, Treasurer
Dr. (cand.) Lucy Ngo, Secretary
The Board of Directors adhere to the established principles and pillars of excellence for governance of non-profit R&D Institutes to ensure that strategies, decision making, activities and outcomes of the Institute reach the highest standards, including
- the implementation of strategy to ensure sustainability of the organisation, and
- monitoring and management of change, including emerging risks and opportunities, and management thereof.
Founded 15 January 2021
Institute ABN (registered 28 Oct 2024)
83681870753
Registration with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission
Application in Assessment
Inaugural Interdisciplinary Themes, Institute Outputs
Power of Life
Nano <=> Meso with Google Maps API
Inhabitant Health
Across Length and Time Scales -
from Adaptation to Transport Networks,
Cells to Systems, Bones to Brains to Trees
- "power" considers both energy needs and expenditure across length and time scales, and
- virtual power of mechanoadaptation processes - simply put, the power needed to adapt structure to function in a dynamic environment requires
Across Length and Time Scales -
from Adaptation to Transport Networks,
Cells to Systems, Bones to Brains to Trees
- "power" considers both energy needs and expenditure across length and time scales, and
- virtual power of mechanoadaptation processes - simply put, the power needed to adapt structure to function in a dynamic environment requires energy, where
- power is energy transferred or expended per unit time
Inhabitant Health
Nano <=> Meso with Google Maps API
Inhabitant Health
Health of ecosystems is interdependent with health of ecosystems' inhabitants:
- our health - the planet's health
- cell health - our tissues'/organs'/bodies' health
Nano <=> Meso with Google Maps API
Nano <=> Meso with Google Maps API
Nano <=> Meso with Google Maps API
Geonavigation of Life's Processes, from the Human Body to the Planet
- Cellular to tissue to organ to organismal to population to planetary ecosystems
- Optimizing "Entity" transport through living and infrastructural networks, for entities as diverse as nutrients, toxins, cells, people, vehicles, etc. to cultivate health and well being
- Check again in 03/2025 for uploaded maps and new content
Publications + Lectures
Publications + Lectures
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2025
- November 2025, Melissa L Knothe Tate, Engineering Innovation throughout the Life Cycles of Our Worlds to Cultivate Health and Wellbeing - Implications for an Ageing Society, Invited Plenary Talk, Asian-Pacific Association for Biomechanics, Auckland.
- February 2025, Vina DL Putra, Kris A Kilian, Melissa L Knothe Tate, Force Balances At C
2025
- November 2025, Melissa L Knothe Tate, Engineering Innovation throughout the Life Cycles of Our Worlds to Cultivate Health and Wellbeing - Implications for an Ageing Society, Invited Plenary Talk, Asian-Pacific Association for Biomechanics, Auckland.
- February 2025, Vina DL Putra, Kris A Kilian, Melissa L Knothe Tate, Force Balances At Cell Boundaries Modulate Stem Cell Mechano-adaptation, Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Phoenix.
- Vina DL Putra, Kris A Kilian, Melissa L Knothe Tate, Stem cell mechanoadaptation. I. Effect of microtubule stabilization and volume changing stresses on cytoskeletal remodeling, APL Bioeng. 9, 016102 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0231273
- Vina DL Putra, Kris A Kilian, Melissa L Knothe Tate, Stem cell mechanoadaptation. II. Microtubule stabilization and substrate compliance effects on cytoskeletal remodeling, APL Bioeng. 9, 016103 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0231287
- Sotiria Anastopolous, Melissa L Knothe Tate, The Distribution of elastin and collagen underpinning the smart properties of the interosseous membrane, bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.19.633808
2024
- Melissa L. Knothe Tate, Helen H. Lu, Regeneration of Tissue Interfaces Bridging Disparate Tissues and Systems of the Human Body - Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering:, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468451124000321
- Sotiria Anastopolous, Lucy Ngo, Joanna Ng, Vina Putra, Melissa L. Knothe Tate, Interface Tissues of the Mesoderm: Periosteum, Ligament, Interosseous Membrane, & Myofascial Tissues, an Inspiration for Next Generation Medical Textiles - Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering:, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468451124000230
- February 2024, Vina DL Putra, Kris A Kilian, Melissa L Knothe Tate, The role of cytoskeletal adaptation in mechanomics, Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Long Beach
- February 2024, Vina DL Putra, Kris A Kilian, Melissa L Knothe Tate, Paired computational and experimental approaches probing stem cell mechanoadaptation to volume- and shape-changing stresses, Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society
2023
- Lucy Ngo, Melissa L. Knothe Tate. Multi-Modal Sample Preparation and Imaging Protocol for Nano-to-mesoscopic Mapping of Cellular Inhabitants in Diverse Tissue Compartments, Across Organ Systems, 30 May 2023, PROTOCOL (Version 1) available at Nature's Protocol Exchange https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.pex-2244/v1
- Lucy Ngo, Melissa L Knothe Tate. A spike in circulating inflammatory cytokines alters barrier function between vascular and musculoskeletal tissues, Nature's Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/s41598-023-30322-7
- Vina DL Putra, Kris A Kilian, Melissa L Knothe Tate,. Biomechanical, biophysical and biochemical modulators of cytoskeletal remodelling and emergent stem cell lineage commitment, Nature's Communications Biology 6:75.
2022
- Melissa L Knothe Tate. The Ebb and Flow of Life - Through the Lens of Mechanics and Thermodynamics, 2022 Opening Talk for mech-life-2022 Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Living Systems, a French - Australian Workshop on Mechanical Modeling of Living Systems, Paris (France), 8 November 2022.
- Melissa L Knothe Tate. Microscopy-Aided Design and ManufacturE (MADAME) of Materials and Devices Musculoskeletal Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2022 Plenary Talk for the Gordon Research Conference on Musculoskeletal Biology and Bioengineering,Accelerating Discovery in the Musculoskeletal System, at Proctor Academy in Andover, NH; August 2022.
2021
- Knothe Tate ML, Srikantha A, Wojek C, Zeidler D. Connectomics of Brain to Bone - Probing Physical Renderings of Cellular Experience, Frontiers in Physiology | Integrative Physiology, Special issue on the relationship between neural circuitry and biomechanical action, 12:647603.
- Knothe Tate ML. Women at the forefront of innovation, International Women's Day Talks and Panel, Monash Engineering Students' Society, 23 June 2021.
- Knothe Tate ML. Perks and Perils of Machine Learning Approaches in Human Subjects Research, Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Virtual Meeting, February 2021.
- Knothe Tate ML. The Rules of Life in our Mechanobiological Worlds and their Impact on the Health of our Worlds’ Inhabitants, Virtual Seminar at the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, 22 March 2021.
Data Repositories
Publications + Lectures
Data Repositories
2025
- Sotiria Anastopolous, Melissa L Knothe Tate, The Distribution of elastin and collagen underpinning the smart properties of the interosseous membrane, bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.19.633808
2024
- Vina D. L. Putra, Vittorio Sansalone, Kristopher A. Kilian, Melissa L. Knothe Tate, Tuning mechanical milieux of tissue templates an
2025
- Sotiria Anastopolous, Melissa L Knothe Tate, The Distribution of elastin and collagen underpinning the smart properties of the interosseous membrane, bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.19.633808
2024
- Vina D. L. Putra, Vittorio Sansalone, Kristopher A. Kilian, Melissa L. Knothe Tate, Tuning mechanical milieux of tissue templates and their cellular inhabitants to guide mechanoadaptation, bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.03.626678
- Vina D. L. Putra, Kristopher A. Kilian, Melissa L. Knothe Tate. Stem cell mechanoadaptation - Part A - Effect of microtubule stabilization and volume changing stresses on cytoskeletal remodeling, bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.28.605421
- Vina D. L. Putra, Kristopher A. Kilian, Melissa L. Knothe Tate. Stem cell mechanoadaptation - Part B - Microtubule stabilization and substrate compliance effects on cytoskeletal remodeling, bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.28.605537
2023
- Lucy Ngo, Melissa L. Knothe Tate. Multi-Modal Sample Preparation and Imaging Protocol for Nano-to-mesoscopic Mapping of Cellular Inhabitants in Diverse Tissue Compartments, Across Organ Systems, 30 May 2023, PROTOCOL (Version 1) available at Nature's Protocol Exchange https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.pex-2244/v1
- Ngo L, Knothe Tate ML. A spike in circulating inflammatory cytokines alters barrier function between vascular and musculoskeletal tissues, Nature's Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/s41598-023-30322-7
Siblings of Innovation
Outreach Program
Educational Materials
Educational Materials
Inspired by the Three Sisters rock formation and its Aboriginal symbolism, the Institute's outreach program, Siblings of Innovation, aims to empower youth to learn from Indigenous peoples and to innovate early and throughout life, for the benefit of human and planetary health. Contact us to arrange for school visits and/or online programming.
Educational Materials
Educational Materials
Educational Materials
Building on Professor Knothe Tate's successful outreach programs with youth and students around the globe, these shared materials and tutorials are designed to inspire the next generation of innovators, from budding inventors to entrepreneurs.
Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live, and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community.
We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.