Smart affinity membranes for manufacture of high value therapeutic proteins. This project aims to develop next generation separation membranes for production of high-value proteins from serum. Through a combination of innovative chemistries, biotechnology and engineering, the project will enhance production, efficiency and resolution of membranes for separating complex mixtures, thereby contributing to broader understanding in membrane science. By establishing a strong collaborative link between ....Smart affinity membranes for manufacture of high value therapeutic proteins. This project aims to develop next generation separation membranes for production of high-value proteins from serum. Through a combination of innovative chemistries, biotechnology and engineering, the project will enhance production, efficiency and resolution of membranes for separating complex mixtures, thereby contributing to broader understanding in membrane science. By establishing a strong collaborative link between academic and industry researchers, this project has the potential to significantly value-add to existing and exciting Australian technology by enhancing the efficiency of plasma fractionation, improving isolation of large molecules from complex media and by improving the downstream manufacturing and bioprocessing pipeline. Read moreRead less
MRI Molecular Imaging Agents - from fundamental design to In Vivo Applications. Of approximately 60 million magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures performed annually worldwide, around 30 per cent of these use MRI imaging agents. Imaging agents allow the doctors to study blood flow and to identify particular tissue types and diseases. This project will lead to new classes of high-performance imaging agents which offer the prospect of faster more accurate diagnosis.
Origami with triblock copolymers. This project aims to develop new nanoparticles structures with optimised shapes for biological applications. Most nanoparticles developed for drug delivery are spherical. However, these are not always the most efficacious as they often encounter problems penetrating the living cell. Viruses which have evolved to highly effectively invade living cells are often elongated. The project aims to mimic these structures by using the self-assembly of polymers. Expected ....Origami with triblock copolymers. This project aims to develop new nanoparticles structures with optimised shapes for biological applications. Most nanoparticles developed for drug delivery are spherical. However, these are not always the most efficacious as they often encounter problems penetrating the living cell. Viruses which have evolved to highly effectively invade living cells are often elongated. The project aims to mimic these structures by using the self-assembly of polymers. Expected outcomes include a better understanding how various sizes, shapes and surface groups of the prepared nanoparticles interact with cells. The knowledge could assist in the creation of better drug carriers for more efficient disease treatment.Read moreRead less
Bioinks that Advance 3D bioprinting of cells to the 4th dimension. The aim of this research is to provide a simple method for creating complex 3D cell cultures for in vitro cell based assays using 3D printing. A versatile polymer system as a bioink made from entirely commercially available components, will be advanced that gives a full range of soft tissue mimics and which can be dynamically change on-demand after printing of the 3D cell cultures. The latter will provide in vitro mimics of in vi ....Bioinks that Advance 3D bioprinting of cells to the 4th dimension. The aim of this research is to provide a simple method for creating complex 3D cell cultures for in vitro cell based assays using 3D printing. A versatile polymer system as a bioink made from entirely commercially available components, will be advanced that gives a full range of soft tissue mimics and which can be dynamically change on-demand after printing of the 3D cell cultures. The latter will provide in vitro mimics of in vivo events never previously possible with more realistic models of what is found in vivo. Applications are in fundamental cell biology, studying diseases and developing new drugs. The outcomes from this research will be new knowledge on designing cheap extracellular matrix mimics and high throughout 3D cell assays.Read moreRead less
Engineering macromolecular architectures for targeted applications. The purpose of the project is to use intelligent design to synthesise highly complex polymer architectures for targeted applications. The advances of this research will be expanded to target ultrathin gas separation membranes, self-assembling star polymers for drug delivery and fluorinated macromonomers for in-vivo biodistribution studies.