DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL BIOMATERIAL FOR BONE TISSUE ENGINEERING. Tissue engineering of bone is emerging as a viable therapy for treating large defects in load-bearing bone. We wish to develop methods for combining novel heparan sulphate molecules (known to deliver growth factors to cell surfaces and thereby cause changes in bone cell phenotype) with load-bearing, macro-porous, biodegradable mineral/polymer biomaterials. Through the study of release profiles, protein adsorption and cell responses ....DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL BIOMATERIAL FOR BONE TISSUE ENGINEERING. Tissue engineering of bone is emerging as a viable therapy for treating large defects in load-bearing bone. We wish to develop methods for combining novel heparan sulphate molecules (known to deliver growth factors to cell surfaces and thereby cause changes in bone cell phenotype) with load-bearing, macro-porous, biodegradable mineral/polymer biomaterials. Through the study of release profiles, protein adsorption and cell responses to these derivatised biomaterials, a novel approach to bone replacement materials can be developed.Read moreRead less
Surface Chemistry meets Cell Biology: Molecular Level Control of Surface Architecture for Cell Adhesion and Migration. Biotechnological applications such as tissue engineering, bone supports, implantable materials, cell assays and biosensors all require detailed knowledge of how cells interact with their environment. The proposed research aims to provide this knowledge by developing unique modified surfaces to investigate white blood cell migration and adhesion. Additional expected outcome will ....Surface Chemistry meets Cell Biology: Molecular Level Control of Surface Architecture for Cell Adhesion and Migration. Biotechnological applications such as tissue engineering, bone supports, implantable materials, cell assays and biosensors all require detailed knowledge of how cells interact with their environment. The proposed research aims to provide this knowledge by developing unique modified surfaces to investigate white blood cell migration and adhesion. Additional expected outcome will contribute to our understanding of the many fundamental cellular processes such as cell growth, differentiation and cell death as well as the molecular basis of diseases such as inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and wound healing. This research program will establish Australia as a leading force in this new research field.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Force Microscopy of small molecular assemblies. The possibility of manipulating a single molecule seems at first unreal, indeed 5 years ago it was pure science fiction. Through the gaining popularity of the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) many perspectives about the molecular world are changing. Macroscopic effects such as adhesion and lubrication are now discussed in light of measurements made with this instrument. Newer work includes the observation of single protein unfolding experim ....Dynamic Force Microscopy of small molecular assemblies. The possibility of manipulating a single molecule seems at first unreal, indeed 5 years ago it was pure science fiction. Through the gaining popularity of the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) many perspectives about the molecular world are changing. Macroscopic effects such as adhesion and lubrication are now discussed in light of measurements made with this instrument. Newer work includes the observation of single protein unfolding experiments. The biophysics oriented project detailed in this application will extend the AFM: into multi-molecular systems formed by self-assembly, such as cell membranes; into polyelectrolyte-surface interactions; and, finally into the sequencing of DNA.Read moreRead less
Nanotherapeutics: nanoparticles with high specificity for the delivery and controlled release of drugs. This technology will deliver therapeutic drugs and/or MRI contrast agents to individual diseased cells with very high specificity and selectivity. The cells can be interogated to determine when they are "loaded" and the site of the "loaded" cells precisely determined. Drugs can be released photochemically. The administered dosage can be decreased with no loss of efficacy, and side effects re ....Nanotherapeutics: nanoparticles with high specificity for the delivery and controlled release of drugs. This technology will deliver therapeutic drugs and/or MRI contrast agents to individual diseased cells with very high specificity and selectivity. The cells can be interogated to determine when they are "loaded" and the site of the "loaded" cells precisely determined. Drugs can be released photochemically. The administered dosage can be decreased with no loss of efficacy, and side effects reduced. Read moreRead less
Repulsive van der Waals forces and Brownian ratchet motors: manipulating thermal and quantum Fluctuations. A fundamental problem with miniaturizing machines and mechanical devices below the micron scale is the issue of friction and lubrication. One way to completely circumvent the need for lubrication is to use a little-studied phenomenon known as 'repulsive van der Waals forces', to create materials that fundamentally repel each other in certain fluid environments. This effect is very large at ....Repulsive van der Waals forces and Brownian ratchet motors: manipulating thermal and quantum Fluctuations. A fundamental problem with miniaturizing machines and mechanical devices below the micron scale is the issue of friction and lubrication. One way to completely circumvent the need for lubrication is to use a little-studied phenomenon known as 'repulsive van der Waals forces', to create materials that fundamentally repel each other in certain fluid environments. This effect is very large at the nanoscale and this proposal examines how such forces can be used to make 'lubricant free' motors and nanomachines. This will open up the possibility of building small and portable sensors, actuators, microfluidic devices and eventually active drug delivery systems for health applications.Read moreRead less
Self-Organised 3-D Arrays of Stimulus Responsive Block Copolymer Micelles. At the core of developments in nanotechnology is a desire to manufacture functional devices from molecular or colloidal building blocks. A significant component of this effort is directed at the self-assembly of these materials on solid substrates. Ultimately, the development of higher order functional nanomaterials requires a fine control over the 3-dimensional location of each component; this is a significant problem. I ....Self-Organised 3-D Arrays of Stimulus Responsive Block Copolymer Micelles. At the core of developments in nanotechnology is a desire to manufacture functional devices from molecular or colloidal building blocks. A significant component of this effort is directed at the self-assembly of these materials on solid substrates. Ultimately, the development of higher order functional nanomaterials requires a fine control over the 3-dimensional location of each component; this is a significant problem. In this project our aim is to develop novel self-assembled surface coatings using block copolymer micelles. Spatial control of the micelle adsorption at the solid-aqueous interface will give us a significant degree of control over molecular location in 3-dimensions.Read moreRead less
Carbon-based electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage and water desalination. Clean energy and water resource are two critical issues for an environmentally sustainable Australia. The research project will lead to the discovery of innovative carbon-based electrode materials with well-designed physical and chemical properties for clean energy storage and alternative water desalination technology.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100121
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$670,000.00
Summary
A facility for the nanoscale imaging and characterisation of materials. Nanotechnology is dependent on measuring surface properties and this cutting-edge scanning probe microscopy facility will provide this capability. Atomic resolution imaging, along with spectroscopy for chemical information, and nanoindentation for physical information, will generate solutions for physical and life sciences, and materials engineering.
Preparation of nanostructured surfaces by electrochemical deposition through lyotropic liquid-crystal templates. Hexagonal-phase lyotropic liquid crystals may be used as templates to deposit metals on electrodes. The sizes of the structures made by this method are a few nanometres. We propose to exploit both the aqueous and non-aqueous parts of the liquid crystal to deposit different metals, polymers or metals and polymers. Thin metal wires (nano-wires) sheathed in polymer will be the thinnest i ....Preparation of nanostructured surfaces by electrochemical deposition through lyotropic liquid-crystal templates. Hexagonal-phase lyotropic liquid crystals may be used as templates to deposit metals on electrodes. The sizes of the structures made by this method are a few nanometres. We propose to exploit both the aqueous and non-aqueous parts of the liquid crystal to deposit different metals, polymers or metals and polymers. Thin metal wires (nano-wires) sheathed in polymer will be the thinnest insulated wires ever made. Carbon nanotubes will also be aligned in the hexagonal hole in the template allowing exploitation of these unique species. The structures that will be fabricated will be candidates for catalysts, sensor arrays and electronic devices.Read moreRead less
The Interface of Oil-in-Water Emulsions. The interface between two immiscible liquids controls many phenomena including the formation and properties of emulsions, the nature of many chemical separation processes and the behaviour of biological systems. There are few methods to study such interfaces and most of these are susceptible to trace contamination by adventitious surfactants, but emulsions with their large surface area avoid this problem. Significant advances are possible with the new Aus ....The Interface of Oil-in-Water Emulsions. The interface between two immiscible liquids controls many phenomena including the formation and properties of emulsions, the nature of many chemical separation processes and the behaviour of biological systems. There are few methods to study such interfaces and most of these are susceptible to trace contamination by adventitious surfactants, but emulsions with their large surface area avoid this problem. Significant advances are possible with the new Australian technique of electroacoustics, complemented by neutron scattering, nmr, rheological and dielectric response measurements on concentrated emulsions. Our surfactant-free emulsions provide a fundamental breakthrough in such studies, leading to new materials from nanostructures.Read moreRead less