Richard Banati is an internationally-recognised scientist with interdisciplinary research interests in the brain’s innate immune system and the development of advanced medical imaging for the detection of subtle of non-obvious brain pathology. The tracer principle, on which this medical research is based, has applications far beyond neuroscience, such as the measurement of naturally occurring isotopes (‘isotopic signatures’) as well as the detection of hazardous trace contaminants due to human activity as they bio-accumulate in water, food and aerosols.