Broad spectrum nanomedicine for Meningitis treatment. Brain inflammatory diseases are among the top ten infectious causes of death. The project aims to provide Australian doctors with a superior alternative of treating infections that do not respond to conventional antibiotics. The nanomedicine developed will reduce the burden of hospital and boost Australia economy in the biomedical sector.
Image-guided skin microbiopsy technology development. There is a need for targeted biopsies in dermatology. This novel technology enables minimally invasive biopsies to be taken from suspicious skin lesions by integrating micromedical and imaging devices.
Breaking The Wavelength Barrier: Near-Field T-ray Imaging. Australia will benefit from the interaction between engineering, physics, and biology to develop a new T-ray imaging system that will ultimately be able to probe microstructures, biological single cells or even neurons. The project will exploit a powerful new electrooptical technique for obtaining chemical 'fingerprints' at the cellular level. This breakthrough will be a fundamental step towards a system for probing disease states of sin ....Breaking The Wavelength Barrier: Near-Field T-ray Imaging. Australia will benefit from the interaction between engineering, physics, and biology to develop a new T-ray imaging system that will ultimately be able to probe microstructures, biological single cells or even neurons. The project will exploit a powerful new electrooptical technique for obtaining chemical 'fingerprints' at the cellular level. This breakthrough will be a fundamental step towards a system for probing disease states of single cells and will open up new lines of scientific enquiry. Ultimately, Australia will benefit from a new technology and new diagnostic biomedical techniques. This is potentially an enabling technology for future customised medicine, where rapid biochip sensing becomes foreseeable.Read moreRead less
Biomaterials with multifaceted tunability and bio-specificity. Polyurethanes, a family of polymers with independently tunable mechanical and biodegradation properties, will be developed as a versatile platform material for biomedical implants. Novel energetic ion treatments that allow the coupling of bioactive agents to surfaces will eliminate adverse reactions and enable integration with surrounding tissue.
Towards a miniaturised on-chip terahertz biosensing system. Terahertz (or T-ray) radiation is highly sensitive to minute changes in the molecular structure of many substances. Furthermore most packing materials are transparent to this new form of radiation. This implies enormous potential for T-rays in a range of applications from quality control via non-invasive contact-less chemical fingerprinting through to safety and security applications. A detailed study of the molecular vibrations that gi ....Towards a miniaturised on-chip terahertz biosensing system. Terahertz (or T-ray) radiation is highly sensitive to minute changes in the molecular structure of many substances. Furthermore most packing materials are transparent to this new form of radiation. This implies enormous potential for T-rays in a range of applications from quality control via non-invasive contact-less chemical fingerprinting through to safety and security applications. A detailed study of the molecular vibrations that give rise to these fingerprints will help chemists and biologists to learn more about the underlying molecular binding forces, impacting on wide applications for safe non-invasive sensing in the medical, security, chemical and food industries.Read moreRead less
Molecularly engineered cell-instructive hydrogels for enhanced tissue regeneration. The outcomes of this project will be relevant to range of wounds, including burns, bed-sores, and diabetic and venous ulcers. Clearly, innovation in wound healing is urgently required as the treatment of wounds represents a significant challenge at all levels of our society, in terms of cost (physical, emotional and financial) to patients, the economy and to the wider community. Despite this obvious and overwhelm ....Molecularly engineered cell-instructive hydrogels for enhanced tissue regeneration. The outcomes of this project will be relevant to range of wounds, including burns, bed-sores, and diabetic and venous ulcers. Clearly, innovation in wound healing is urgently required as the treatment of wounds represents a significant challenge at all levels of our society, in terms of cost (physical, emotional and financial) to patients, the economy and to the wider community. Despite this obvious and overwhelming need, research in wound healing is relatively under-developed and has yet to adopt modern biotechnology and biomaterials approaches. This project is therefore directed at generating cost-effective frontier wound dressing technologies that accelerate wound repair.Read moreRead less
Advanced micro-architecture and nanotopography for enhanced tissue growth in scaffolds. Tissue engineering scaffolds offer an urgently needed synthetic biomaterials solution to overcome disease transmission from donor transplants. This work will combine biomaterial chemistry and designed surface topography to trigger bone formation within a scaffold for the first time in the world. Collaboration with national research leaders on stem cell and animal testing of the new scaffolds will provide the ....Advanced micro-architecture and nanotopography for enhanced tissue growth in scaffolds. Tissue engineering scaffolds offer an urgently needed synthetic biomaterials solution to overcome disease transmission from donor transplants. This work will combine biomaterial chemistry and designed surface topography to trigger bone formation within a scaffold for the first time in the world. Collaboration with national research leaders on stem cell and animal testing of the new scaffolds will provide the necessary interdisciplinary approach to generate a new product for patients in need of bone regeneration. Australia will benefit from the contribution to medical science, the development of a new device for rapid prototyping tissue engineering scaffolds, retain biomaterials research expertise, and generate new biomedical products.Read moreRead less
Functional Electronic Stimulation of Muscles - Development of a Model for Sensory Feedback to Amputees and Vision for the Blind. Electrical stimulation of nerve fibres is an emerging physiological technique with great promise towards rehabilitation. The field lacks techniques for detailed, focal application of stimuli to recruit specific fibres for fine muscle control or conveying useful neurosensory information. The investigator has developed microtechnology for delivering stimuli to 100 sites, ....Functional Electronic Stimulation of Muscles - Development of a Model for Sensory Feedback to Amputees and Vision for the Blind. Electrical stimulation of nerve fibres is an emerging physiological technique with great promise towards rehabilitation. The field lacks techniques for detailed, focal application of stimuli to recruit specific fibres for fine muscle control or conveying useful neurosensory information. The investigator has developed microtechnology for delivering stimuli to 100 sites, conceivably facilitating recruitment of specific fibres within a given bundle. Effects of muscle stimulation are readily measured and shall be used to model and refine techniques for generic high-resolution fibre recruitment. Benefits include, improved muscle control in functional electrical stimulation, sensory perception for amputees and patterned vision from optic nerve stimulation.Read moreRead less
Conformal Bionics - addressing the challenges in bringing miniaturised implants to the site of therapeutic delivery. Smaller, more sophisticated, lifetime-implantable bionic devices capable of being placed at the site of therapeutic delivery will facilitate new or improved opportunities for treatment of disease. Three critical areas of research aim to be explored in pursuit of this goal will be addressed within this study: introduction of new fabrication materials that enable devices to conform ....Conformal Bionics - addressing the challenges in bringing miniaturised implants to the site of therapeutic delivery. Smaller, more sophisticated, lifetime-implantable bionic devices capable of being placed at the site of therapeutic delivery will facilitate new or improved opportunities for treatment of disease. Three critical areas of research aim to be explored in pursuit of this goal will be addressed within this study: introduction of new fabrication materials that enable devices to conform to the anatomy of the targeted site of therapeutic delivery; improved means of addressing the data and energy transfer needs of devices implanted in confined spaces; and innovation of novel sensors for testing and monitoring of atmospheric conditions within the implant to anticipate and safely manage issues relating to a breach of hermetic encapsulation barriers.Read moreRead less
Large-scale Parallelization of Neural Stimulation in a Visual Prosthesis. Over time, engineers have been able to treat a large number of disorders through new technologies. For example, the deaf can now hear again through cochlear implants. Similar efforts to provide vision to the blind, however, have met with difficulties owing to the high quantities of sites that must be stimulated to provide 'useful' vision. This study addresses the important issues relating to the delivery of large quantitie ....Large-scale Parallelization of Neural Stimulation in a Visual Prosthesis. Over time, engineers have been able to treat a large number of disorders through new technologies. For example, the deaf can now hear again through cochlear implants. Similar efforts to provide vision to the blind, however, have met with difficulties owing to the high quantities of sites that must be stimulated to provide 'useful' vision. This study addresses the important issues relating to the delivery of large quantities of electrical stimulations to surviving nerves in the eyes of blind patients in an effort to devise a beneficial visual prosthesis or 'bionic eye'. The outcomes of this study could substantially enhance Australia's already prominent reputation in neurostimulation and provide much needed treatments to vision disorders.Read moreRead less