Leadership & Strategic Governance
DefenSight pairs founder-led science with an advisory board that bridges laboratory innovation and national-security requirements. Our advisors keep the platform scientifically rigorous, operationally relevant, and aligned with Australia's sovereign capability priorities — across four areas:
- National biosecurity — alignment with Defence and health-preparedness frameworks.
- Defence innovation & procurement — navigating TRL advancement and Defence contracting.
- AI & pathogen kinetics — maintaining the standard in interpretable ML and high-content imaging.
- Operational CBRN-B readiness — keeping outputs matched to the speed-to-decision needs of field units.
LEADERSHIP
Sonja Frölich (PhD) | Founder & Chief Scientist (AI & Pathogen Kinetics)
Dr Frölich is an internationally published expert in high-content imaging and the architect of DefenSight's interpretable machine-learning framework. With over 15 years in infectious-disease research, high-resolution imaging, and computational biology, she works at the point where complex biological signatures meet reproducible, auditable software.
She leads DefenSight's workflow-stabilisation and QC frameworks, ensuring every AI-generated insight is governed by documented QC gates and version-controlled methods — taking microscopy from a research-grade tool to a trusted, auditable evidence source for CBRN threat assessment and countermeasure development.
She has contributed national advisory work to NPAAC, authoring guidance on the risks and governance of AI in digital pathology to support Australia's diagnostic and regulatory readiness, and serves as a guest editor for microbiology journals leading research topics on AI-enabled imaging analytics.
Nicholas Eyre (PhD) | Scientific Advisor (Virology & Viral Kinetics)
Advises on viral threat characterisation, grounding automated triage in the ground truth of viral replication kinetics.
Bart Eijkelkamp (PhD) | Scientific Advisor (Bacterial Pathogens & Metabolism)
Advises on bacterial threat assessment, focusing on metabolic-stress signatures caused by bacterial agents in CBRN-aligned contexts.
Prof Michael Wallach | Scientific & Translational Research Advisor
Advises on the path from fundamental research to deployable, scalable technology.
Anne-Marie Perret | Strategic & Defence Innovation Advisor
Advises on sovereign alignment and governance, keeping DefenSight synchronised with national biosecurity priorities and Australian Industry Capability standards.
DefenSight operates as a research-led sovereign enterprise — academic rigour applied to real-world biosecurity.
See how that rigour is built into the platform.