Biocompatible Electro-Ionic Signal Transduction. Bioelectronics is a new frontier field concerned with integrating electrical control systems and biological entities for applications such as in-situ bio-monitoring and cellular-level control and interrogation of tissue. Electrical signals in biology are mostly carried by ion currents, whilst conventional electronics rely on electrons. This project addresses the critical challenge of bioelectronics; the development of biocompatible electrical inte ....Biocompatible Electro-Ionic Signal Transduction. Bioelectronics is a new frontier field concerned with integrating electrical control systems and biological entities for applications such as in-situ bio-monitoring and cellular-level control and interrogation of tissue. Electrical signals in biology are mostly carried by ion currents, whilst conventional electronics rely on electrons. This project addresses the critical challenge of bioelectronics; the development of biocompatible electrical interfaces capable of transducing ion-and-electron currents. This project will specifically study the complex transport physics of conducting biomacromolecules and develop new interface devices, with an ultimate goal is to create a simple and generic transducing element for cellular-level electrical communication. Read moreRead less
Breaking emulsions. Droplet coalescence is the key to breaking emulsions, that is, separating oil from water. This process underpins the recovery of crude oil and the remediation of industrial and environmental waste-waters. Through a unique and novel experimental program that simultaneously tracks drop trajectories up to the millimetre scale and drop deformations in the nanometre scale, this project aims to fill a fundamental gap in our understanding of such coalescence events. A complete theor ....Breaking emulsions. Droplet coalescence is the key to breaking emulsions, that is, separating oil from water. This process underpins the recovery of crude oil and the remediation of industrial and environmental waste-waters. Through a unique and novel experimental program that simultaneously tracks drop trajectories up to the millimetre scale and drop deformations in the nanometre scale, this project aims to fill a fundamental gap in our understanding of such coalescence events. A complete theoretical model of coalescence will result, forming a predictive framework for separating emulsions to recover pure oil and water, and laying the foundation for using compound drops to tune the optical properties of surface for speciality applications.Read moreRead less
Theoretical foundations of dynamic surface forces. Australian scientists are current world leaders in developing novel materials for biomedical and industrial applications. This project will create the key theoretical framework to interpret experimental measurements and will be vital in ensuring that our scientific endeavour in novel materials maintains its current world leadership position.
Meta-microscopy of insect tissue: How nature grows bicontinuous nanosolids. Several butterfly species grow a complex nano-sculptured matrix whose chiral network structure confers remarkable optical properties, including jewel-like reflections. The formation process remains mysterious and a spectacular case of bottom-up self-assembly at far larger scales than accessible in the lab. The project aims to decipher this process, by (a) tomography of a species where arrested growth sites represent time ....Meta-microscopy of insect tissue: How nature grows bicontinuous nanosolids. Several butterfly species grow a complex nano-sculptured matrix whose chiral network structure confers remarkable optical properties, including jewel-like reflections. The formation process remains mysterious and a spectacular case of bottom-up self-assembly at far larger scales than accessible in the lab. The project aims to decipher this process, by (a) tomography of a species where arrested growth sites represent time-frozen snapshots of the development, and (b) by a combination of micron-resolved in-vivo microscopy of a developing butterfly wing with a growth model to infer nanometer-scale information. This insight will lead to blueprints for self-assembly strategies and shed light on function and form of inner-cellular membranes. Read moreRead less
A portable sensor for explosives. The National Research priority, safeguarding Australia, recognises that there is a real threat of terrorism and the need to protect Australians at home and abroad. Although there is often talk of dirty bombs, and biological and nuclear terrorism, the most easily sourced weapon of the terrorist is still the conventional explosive. The ability to detect trace amounts of explosives is therefore required. This means that there is a real need for a portable detection ....A portable sensor for explosives. The National Research priority, safeguarding Australia, recognises that there is a real threat of terrorism and the need to protect Australians at home and abroad. Although there is often talk of dirty bombs, and biological and nuclear terrorism, the most easily sourced weapon of the terrorist is still the conventional explosive. The ability to detect trace amounts of explosives is therefore required. This means that there is a real need for a portable detection system with the ability to reliably sense a specific explosive selectively at low concentrations. This project concerns the development of a new handheld sensor that has the potential to increase the nation's security.Read moreRead less
Interactions, phase behavior and self-assembly of colloidal nanorods: Establishing design rules for creating new nano-structured materials. This project aims to apply new computational methods developed by the applicant to characterise the interactions between colloidal nanorods and their self-assembly in the presence of interfaces and directional interactions. While nanoparticles can currently be made in a staggering array of shapes, patterns and materials, organising such objects into extended ....Interactions, phase behavior and self-assembly of colloidal nanorods: Establishing design rules for creating new nano-structured materials. This project aims to apply new computational methods developed by the applicant to characterise the interactions between colloidal nanorods and their self-assembly in the presence of interfaces and directional interactions. While nanoparticles can currently be made in a staggering array of shapes, patterns and materials, organising such objects into extended structures that could revolutionise technology remains a challenge. The expected outcome is a robust strategy for making monolayer films of rods aligned perpendicular to a variety of interfaces for the fabrication of solar cells, microfiltration membranes and biosensors.Read moreRead less
Mechanisms and Platforms for Acoustomicrofluidic Intracellular Delivery . This project aims to advance a novel platform to facilitate faster and more effective molecular transport into cells as a means for enhancing cell engineering. Besides elucidating the fundamental physicochemical and biological mechanisms underpinning this new method of intracellular transport through a combination of theoretical modelling and advanced imaging and neutron diffraction, the project aims to show the scalabilit ....Mechanisms and Platforms for Acoustomicrofluidic Intracellular Delivery . This project aims to advance a novel platform to facilitate faster and more effective molecular transport into cells as a means for enhancing cell engineering. Besides elucidating the fundamental physicochemical and biological mechanisms underpinning this new method of intracellular transport through a combination of theoretical modelling and advanced imaging and neutron diffraction, the project aims to show the scalability of the technology for high throughput processing to handle the large cell numbers typically required for doses to be effective in practice. Given recent breakthroughs in cell therapies, it is expected that translation of the technology in the longer term will improve treatments for cancer and other infectious diseases.Read moreRead less