Encoding Interactions and Printability into Hairy Colloidal Biomaterials. Printing mixtures of live cells and biomaterials (or 'BioInks') to make bespoke engineered tissues has the potential to enable personalised platforms for therapeutic discovery and organ replacement. Using a novel high throughput approach to materials synthesis, BioInk design and process optimisation, this project aims to discover new biomaterials and printing nozzles to help realise this potential. It will produce new insi ....Encoding Interactions and Printability into Hairy Colloidal Biomaterials. Printing mixtures of live cells and biomaterials (or 'BioInks') to make bespoke engineered tissues has the potential to enable personalised platforms for therapeutic discovery and organ replacement. Using a novel high throughput approach to materials synthesis, BioInk design and process optimisation, this project aims to discover new biomaterials and printing nozzles to help realise this potential. It will produce new insights in colloid science, cell-laden biomaterials design, and BioInk processing. Structure-property-function guides for colloid-based BioInks and quality-assured bioprinting as outcomes represent significant benefits for researchers and industries alike engaged in biofabrication, cell therapy and biotherapeutics.Read moreRead less
Engineering the trafficking of nanoparticles within cells. This project aims to engineer responsive nanoparticles capable of trafficking efficiently within cells. The site of release of therapeutic cargo has importance for improving the efficacy of many treatments, for example vaccine delivery. Therefore fundamental understanding of how nanoparticle structure can be engineered to control cellular behaviour is necessary. The project will engineer new polymeric nanomaterials and investigate the im ....Engineering the trafficking of nanoparticles within cells. This project aims to engineer responsive nanoparticles capable of trafficking efficiently within cells. The site of release of therapeutic cargo has importance for improving the efficacy of many treatments, for example vaccine delivery. Therefore fundamental understanding of how nanoparticle structure can be engineered to control cellular behaviour is necessary. The project will engineer new polymeric nanomaterials and investigate the impact of their structure on biological properties. The benefits of this project will include new fundamental insights into improving nanoparticle design for vaccine delivery, as well as the expansion of Australia’s knowledge base in the area of biodegradable polymers.Read moreRead less
Non-polyamide-based polymer membranes for efficient water processing. This project aims to develop an innovative, two-dimensional nanosheet scaffold polymerisation technique for the fabrication of advanced membranes. Membrane technology plays a key role in wastewater treatment and water desalination and purification. However, current membranes are not stable in an oxidation environment such as chlorine, which leads to significant membrane replacement costs. Through the development of new membran ....Non-polyamide-based polymer membranes for efficient water processing. This project aims to develop an innovative, two-dimensional nanosheet scaffold polymerisation technique for the fabrication of advanced membranes. Membrane technology plays a key role in wastewater treatment and water desalination and purification. However, current membranes are not stable in an oxidation environment such as chlorine, which leads to significant membrane replacement costs. Through the development of new membrane fabrication technology the project aims to produce non-polyamide-based polymer membranes with outstanding oxidation tolerance and separation properties. This will potentially simplify membrane processes, and improve water processing efficiency in wastewater treatment for power generation, and clean drinking water production.
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Development of Fire Retardant Thermal Insulation Materials for Buildings. This Fellowship proposal aims to develop next-generation fire-retardant rigid polymer foams (RPF)-based thermal insulation materials for buildings. Through investigating fire-retardancy, mechanical and ageing properties, we will fundamentally understand the structure/composition - performance relationships of as-designed nanostructured fire-retardant polymer coatings and will achieve robust, durable and fire-retardant coat ....Development of Fire Retardant Thermal Insulation Materials for Buildings. This Fellowship proposal aims to develop next-generation fire-retardant rigid polymer foams (RPF)-based thermal insulation materials for buildings. Through investigating fire-retardancy, mechanical and ageing properties, we will fundamentally understand the structure/composition - performance relationships of as-designed nanostructured fire-retardant polymer coatings and will achieve robust, durable and fire-retardant coatings. This project will then apply the fire-retardant coatings to the RPF to create the target fire-retardant thermal insulation materials. New knowledge and patentable technologies to be generated will bring significant benefits to Australia by reducing energy costs and economic losses associated with building fires.Read moreRead less
Conducting polymer materials. This project aims to understand the optical, electrical and optoelectronic properties of conductive polymers by studying how ions influence the charge transport through the polymeric structure. The discovery of conductive polymers in the 1970s led to smartphone and laptop touch displays and solar cells. These materials promise even more still – but how they operate at the atomic level is not understood. This project could lead to an ability to harness and control th ....Conducting polymer materials. This project aims to understand the optical, electrical and optoelectronic properties of conductive polymers by studying how ions influence the charge transport through the polymeric structure. The discovery of conductive polymers in the 1970s led to smartphone and laptop touch displays and solar cells. These materials promise even more still – but how they operate at the atomic level is not understood. This project could lead to an ability to harness and control these properties for energy storage and wearable displays. These materials’ biological neutrality could lead to drug delivery and sensing applications in the agriculture and healthcare spaces.Read moreRead less
Stretchable Organic Transistors for Wearable Electronics and Robotics. The project aims to address the challenges of fabricating stretchable organic transistors for applications in wearable electronics and robotics through the development of new semiconducting polymers with stretchability and integrating them into novel, stretchable organic transistor configurations. The project will take a molecular engineering approach to the complex needs of this challenge by combining appropriate chemical f ....Stretchable Organic Transistors for Wearable Electronics and Robotics. The project aims to address the challenges of fabricating stretchable organic transistors for applications in wearable electronics and robotics through the development of new semiconducting polymers with stretchability and integrating them into novel, stretchable organic transistor configurations. The project will take a molecular engineering approach to the complex needs of this challenge by combining appropriate chemical functionality which provides high charge carrier mobility with judiciously placed flexible spacers and side chains to provide mechanical dexterity. These novel polymers will be integrated into transistor structures and their fabricated arrays deposited on stretchable substrates will be used for a real world applications.Read moreRead less
Bioinspired interfaces for improved carbon fibre composite performance. Carbon fibre composites, where carbon fibres are embedded in a polymer matrix, are gradually replacing traditional materials such as steel. For example, composites make up 50 per cent of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, resulting in a 20 per cent improvement in fuel economy. There is significant scope for improving the damage tolerance of these materials. A fundamental lack of understanding around the fibre matrix interface currentl ....Bioinspired interfaces for improved carbon fibre composite performance. Carbon fibre composites, where carbon fibres are embedded in a polymer matrix, are gradually replacing traditional materials such as steel. For example, composites make up 50 per cent of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, resulting in a 20 per cent improvement in fuel economy. There is significant scope for improving the damage tolerance of these materials. A fundamental lack of understanding around the fibre matrix interface currently limits the development of new composite systems to overcome the problems with damage tolerance. This project takes inspiration from nature to develop a fundamental understanding of the interfaces within carbon fibre composites and optimise their behaviour via model-guided surface and interface engineering. Read moreRead less
New stimuli-responsive polymer membranes using graphene as a multifunctional scaffold. Membranes are used in a range of applications to filter liquids and gases and increasingly must be able to be activated by stimuli such as temperature, pH and voltage. We will develop a new type of membrane which is easy to make, is strong and allows the incorporation of a variety of stimuli-responsive polymers within a functional graphene scaffold.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101550
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Functional polymer encapsulation to enhance biological performance of implantable materials. This project will develop biomaterial films from essential oils using a low-cost 'green' technology. Applied to commercial biomaterials, these films will minimise infections and inflammations commonly associated with implants. These films will also enable clinical use of metallic resorbable implants for tissue engineering and function restoration.
New bar-encoded polymer microbeads for multiplexed bioanalysis-a quick and high-throughput approach for complex disease diagnosis. Distinguishable new bar-encoded (element-encoded) polymer microbeads associated with a mass spectroscopy-flow cytometer detector provide a novel platform for highly multiplexed biological analysis. Such an approach can simultaneously identify many non-self-agents at low concentrations, which facilitates early-stage complex disease diagnosis.