Find an expert

Dr. Yahia Ali serves as a research fellow and lecturer within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at the University of Queensland, Australia. His primary research focus centers on applying scientific principles to address industrial challenges. He earned his PhD from the University of Queensland, while his MSc and BSc were obtained from the German University in Cairo. Throughout his career, he has amassed extensive expertise in areas such as alloy design, solidification, tribology of materials, and characterization techniques.

In conjunction with his academic responsibilities, Dr. Ali collaborates closely with the UQ Materials Performance (UQMP) consulting group. This interdisciplinary interaction between research and consulting significantly shapes his research direction, particularly in tackling industrial issues. As an illustration, Dr. Ali and his team have developed a distinctive range of devices for evaluating the performance of wear-resistant materials against abrasion and fracture. In Australia, Dr. Ali and his team holds a pivotal role in advancing the mining sector, providing innovative materials solutions, spanning from failure investigation to the development of novel materials. Through consecutive endeavors, they have influenced substantial business decisions for renowned companies like Rio-Tinto, Bradken, Molycop, IXL Metal Casting, Trelleborg, and others, often involving multi-million-dollar investments.

In 2023, Dr. Ali was honored as an Advance Queensland Industry Fellow, with a specific focus on developing sustainable alloys tailored for Queensland's agricultural and mining sectors. Additionally, he leads several projects concentrated on devising new testing techniques that can be conducted in the laboratory while preserving the authentic complexity of the industrial field environment.

After completing my undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Newcastle, I held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Basel (Switzerland) from 1990-2. I returned to Australia in 1993 to take up an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Australian National University (Canberra) from 1993-4. I joined The University of Queensland in 1994.

Present Position

I am an ARC Future Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Imaging and associated with the University of Oxford as a Senior Visiting Research Fellow.

Previous Positions

• August 2007 to March 2013: Scientific Coordinator and Applications manager of the Centre of Advanced Electron Spin Resonance (CAESR) at the Oxford University, UK.
• 2002-July 2007: Project leader (“Ober-assistent”) in the Physical Chemistry Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich. I was a project leader in the electron paramagnetic resonance group of Prof. Arthur Schweiger.
• 1999-2002: Postdoctoral position at ETH, Zurich. In the group of Prof. Arthur Schweiger I used CW and pulse EPR as a tool to investigate the geometric and electronic properties of transition metal complexes.
• 1996-1999: Doctor of Philosophy from the Chemistry Department of the University of Newcastle, Australia, Advanced Coal Characterization by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. The project was funded by the Collaborative Research Centre for Black Coal Utilization and I was supervised by the University of Newcastle (Prof. Marcel Maeder), BHP Research Melbourne (Dr. Brian Smith) and Callcott Coal Consulting (Dr. Tom Callcott).
• 1995: Researcher at BHP Central Research Laboratories, Newcastle, Australia. I developed experimental techniques to measure the conductivity and the permeability of coal as it pertains to coke ovens.
• 1992-1995: Researcher at Oakbridge Research Center, Newcastle, Australia. I worked on high temperature Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for coal characterization (for my Bachelor of Science Honors thesis). This was a collaboration between the CSIRO Coal and Energy Division (North Ryde, Sydney), Oakbridge Research Centre and the University of Newcastle.

Keywords

structural biology · protein interactions · metalloenzymes · metal complexes · electron transfer · Iron sulphur clusters · pulse EPR · CW EPR · DEER · PELDOR ·HYSCORE · ENDOR · ESEEM · density functional theory · molecular dynamics

Organic Chemistry

PhD

Longbin Huang is a full professor and a Program leader in The University of Queensland, leading a research program of "Ecological Engineering in Mining". Driven by the passion to translate leading knowledge into industry solutions, Longbin has pioneered transformative concepts and approach to tackle rehabilitation of mine wastes (e.g., tailings, acidic and metalliferous waste rocks). Recent success includes the "ecological engineering of Fe-ore tailings and bauxite residue" into soil, for overcoming the topsoil deficit challenge facing the mining industry. Scaled up field trials have been going on to deliver the much-needed technology into field operations.

The program consists of a group of researchers with leading knowledge and research skills on: soil/geo-microbial ecology, environmental mineralogy, bioweathering of minerals, native plant rhizosphere (micro)biology, soil-plant relations, and environmental materials (such as biochar and environmental geopolymers). It aims to deliver transformative knowledge and practices (i.e., technologies/methdologies) in the rehabilitation of mine wastes (e.g., tailings, mineral residues, spoils, waste rocks) and mined landscapes for non-polluting and ecologically and financially sustainable outcomes.

In partnership with leading mining companies, Longbin and his team have been focusing on developing game-changing knowledge and technologies of tailings valorisation for achieving non-polluting and ecologically sustainable rehabilitation of, for example, coal mine spoils and tailings, Fe-ore tailings, bauxite residues (or red mud), and Cu/Pb-Zn tailings. Leading the global progress in bauxite rehabilitation, Longbin and his team are currently taking on field-scale research projects on bauxite residue rehabilitation technologies at alumina refineries in Queensland (QAL- and Yarwun refineries) and Northern Territory (Gove refinery).

Longbin's industry-partnered research was recognised in 2019 UQ’s Partners in Research Excellence Award (Resilient Environments) (Rio Tinto and QAL).

Membership of Board, Committee and Society

Professional associations and societies

2010 – Present Australian Soil Science Society.

2016 – Present Soil Science Society of America

2015 – Present American Society of Mining and Reclamation (ASMR)

Editorial boards/services

2018 - present: Member of Editorial Board, BIOCHAR

2013 – present: coordinating editor, Environmental Geochemistry and Health

Awards & Patent

2019 UQ’s Partners in Research Excellence Award (Resilient Environments) (Rio Tinto and QAL)

2017 SMI-Industry Engagement Award, University of Queensland

2015 SMI-Inaugural Bright Research Ideas Forum Award, University of Queensland

2014 SMI-RHD Supervision Award, University of Queensland

2015 Foliar fertilizer US 20150266786. In. (Google Patents). Huang L, Nguyen AV, Rudolph V, Xu G (equal contribution)

Dr Kaneti focuses on the design of novel nanoporous carbon and inorganic materials with controlled structural parameters (size, shape, and porosity) to optimize their functional performance toward energy storage and conversion, sensing, and bio-related applications. In particular, he is interested in the rational design and construction of metal-organic frameworks and mesoporous materials and has demonstrated the novel self-assembly of inorganic 1D nanomaterials into 2D sheet-like structures using template-assisted approaches for renewable energy conversion applications. Finally, he has conducted several theoretical studies using density functional theory (DFT) simulations to understand the adsorption of gas molecules on various crystal facets of metal oxides.

Dr Yusuf Valentino Kaneti received his PhD degree from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. After that, he joined the Monash University/University of new South Wales as a part-time postdoctoral fellow with the Laboratory of Simulation and Modeling of Particulate Systems (SIMPAS). In December 2015, he was awarded the Endeavour Australia Fellowship and participated in a 4-month research exchange at the Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University (China) between February-July 2016 and worked on the development of anode materials for sodium-ion batteries using metal-organic framework-derived composites. In September 2016, he joined the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), specifically at the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) as a Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellow. His JSPS research focuses on the fabrication of metal-organic frameworks and mesoporous materials for energy and environmental applications. In October 2018, Dr Kaneti was awarded the MANA Research Fellowship and worked at the Nanotubes group in NIMS with research projects focusing on the self-assembly of 1D nanomaterials into 2D nanostructures and vice versa for energy storage and conversion applications. Currently, he is working as an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland.

Dr Kaneti has published 1 book chapter and 137 peer-reviewed journal articles (~60% as first and/or corresponding author). These include publications in leading Materials Science and Chemistry journals, such as Chem. Rev., Chem. Soc. Rev., Adv. Mater., ACS Nano, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Matter, Mater. Horiz., and Small. These papers have attracted >12,000 citations with h-index of 58 (Google Scholar as of Dec. 2023). His work is well regarded in the field, as it is cited at rate of 3.94 times above the average for articles in the same field (SciVal, Dec. 2023). Currently, Dr Kaneti has 20 ESI Highly Cited Papers (Top 1% most cited papers worldwide) according to Web of Science (Dec. 2023). He has obtained several competitive grants from a range of research funding schemes, securing ~8M AUD in the last five years, including three ARC (3 LPs and 1 ARC Industry Hub) and one JST-ERATO grants as Chief Investigator [CI], one Advance Queensland as sole CI and two Australia-Japan Foundation Grants (funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). Furthermore, he has also secured two competitive UQ research grants/awards, including one UQ Global Seed Funding and UQ Grand Agriculture Seed Funding, both as the lead CI. His standing in the field of functional nanomaterials is further evidenced by his recognition as a 2023 Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (Cross-Field, Thompson Reuters) and inclusion in Top 2% most cited scientists in a single year (2019-2022) across all fields by Stanford University (USA). Currently. Dr Kaneti is serving as the Youth Editorial Board Member for Nano-Micro Letters (Springer), Editorial Advisory Board Member for Langmuir (ACS) and Editorial Board member for three MDPI journals (Batteries, Crystals, and Gases) and an Associate Editor for Frontiers of Materials (Carbon-Based Materials).

Dr Kaneti has previously collaborated with several international companies. He has worked with NBC Meshtec Inc. (Japan) to develop mesoporous iron oxide catalysts for room-temperature carbon monoxide oxidation. He has also collaborated with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to develop mesoporous alumina and alumina-titania composite adsorbents toward medical radioisotope production. Furthermore, he has work with Sensync Inc. (Indonesia) to develop metal oxide-based sensors using biomass precursors for the detection of toxic gases and to understand the underlying sensing mechanisms of these sensors toward such gases. Currently, Dr Kaneti is collaborating with AI Fluidics. Pty Ltd. (Australia) to develop point-of-care diagnostics device incorporating microfluidics and electrochemical biosensors for the detection of coronavirus RNA.

Research Interests

• Advanced Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine 1.Advanced drug delivery methods (controlled release dosage forms such as tablets, granules and microspheres) 2. Biomaterials as next generation adjuvant for vaccine delivery 3. Surface modified nanomaterials (Silica, Polymer, Liposomes) 4. Programmable nanoparticales for oral drug delivery and targeting 5. Translocation of nanoparticles after oral drug delivery (In-vitro and In-vivo)

Qualifications

• Master of Pharmaceutical Science, Gujarat University
• Bachelor of Pharmacy, Gujarat University

Dr Narottam Saha is specialized in the area of environmental analytical chemistry and geochemistry, with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Applied Chemistry and Chemical Technology, a second Masters Degree (Distinction) in Environmental Sciences ( University of East Anglia, UEA, UK), and PhD in geochemistry (The University of Queensland). In his Masters study, Saha received a commonwealth scholarship, one of the most prestigious international scholarship schemes, for Master Degree in Environmental Sciences, with special emphasis on Clumped Isotope geochemistry and climate science. In 2014, Saha received Australia’s federal government scholarship (IPRS) for undertaking his PhD degree. Saha’s research achievements were well recognised with awards of Stanley Gray Fellowship from Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST, UK) for coral reef research and National Science and Information & Communication Technology (NSICT) Fellowship (2010) from Government of Bangladesh for heavy metal pollution research.

His multidisciplinary research experiences include biogeochemistry of heavy metals, assessment of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks for the population exposed to heavy metals, clumped isotopes geochemistry in recovering palaeo-climate history and developing trace element proxies in coral carbonate skeleton to trace historical gradients of inshore coastal water quality. His PhD research highlights the potential of self-referencing rare earth elements over traditional trace elemental proxies for reconstructing marine water quality, degradation of which is considered as one of the major threats in declining the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) coral community. He has been the first to have discovered a noble V/Ca proxy, which is decoupled from other commonly used runoff proxies, for monitoring historical catchment clearing and firing in coastal areas. His discovery has direct relevance to environmental protection for reefs in the GBR through promoting better land management with improved water quality.

I obtained a Diploma in Chemistry from the University of Bern in Switzerland in 1992. Upon receiving the award of an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) I joined The University of Queensland (UQ) in 1993 to carry out research towards a PhD in Biochemistry(supervisors: Assoc. Profs. Peter Nixon and Ron Duggleby). I graduated in 1997 and continued postdoctoral research at UQ under the guidance of Profs John de Jersey, Susan Hamilton and Graeme Hanson. During this period, I was awarded Fellowships from both the Wellcome Trust and UQ. In 2000 I spent several months in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, collaborating with Prof. Geoff Sykes, and later that year I commenced a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Chemistry Department at Stanford University (advisor: Prof. Edward Solomon). In 2003 I was appointed to a Lectureship in (Bio)Physical Chemistry at UQ. In 2006 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer. Following the award of a UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award (in 2007) I was promoted to Associate Professor (in 2008), and between 2011 and 2013 I was also on a fractional professorial appointment (50%) at Maynooth University, Ireland. From 2013 to 2017 I held a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council, and during this period I was promoted to Full Professor at UQ (2015). I also hold affiliate professorships in the Sustainable Minerals Institute and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, both located at UQ.

I have successfully focused my research on the investigation of enzyme-catalysed reactions, their optimisation for applications in biotechnology and the synthesis of small molecules that mimic their structure and catalytic function (i.e. biomimetics). I advanced understanding of the contribution of metals to enzyme-catalysed reactions and employed state-of-the-art technologies (e.g. cryo-EM, ancestral gene reconstruction) to develop enzyme inhibitors as leads for novel biocides (herbicides, fungicides, antibacterial compounds) and engineer enzymes with enhanced catalytic properties for industrial applications in the advanced manufacturing sector (i.e. cell-free enzyme cascades, next-gen fertilisers). My work into enzyme mechanisms, regulation and engineering received international acclaim evidenced by invitations to provide plenary and keynote lectures and review articles in prestigious journals. I have published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, including over 40 papers in the ACS staple (J. Am. Chem. Soc, ACS Catalysis, ACS Sus. Chem. Eng., Inorg. Chem, Chem. Rev., Acc. Chem. Rev.) as well as landmark studies in Nature, Nature Catalysis, Nature Communications and Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA). For my leadership in enzymology I was awarded a Future Fellowship by the Australian Research Council, a Foundation Research Excellence Award by UQ and, most recently, the prestigious role as Ambassador for the Technical University of Munich (TUM), an honour bestowed upon me also for my leading role in building an extensive network of collaborations between UQ and TUM in the areas of bioengineering and bioeconomy. The network has since evolved into the Global Bioeconomy Alliance.

My research interests are in the field of Chemistry education, particularly how students learn in the chemistry laboratory.

I teach biological inorganic chemistry at a second and Masters level, as well as a broad range of topics in first year chemistry. I also teach the ethics of chemistry in second year.

Dr. Ryan Turner is currently the Interim Deputy Director of the Reef Catchments Science Partnership at the University of Queensland (a partnership with the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation). Ryan was previously the Principal Scientist for Water Quality and Investigations in the Department of Environment and Science, and held an Adjunct Associate Professor role at Queensland University of Technology in the Managing for Resilient Landscapes, Institute for Future Environments. For 14 years Ryan managed multimillion dollar water quality monitoring programs assessing the impacts of sediment, nutrient and pesticides loads in numerous catchments along the Queensland coast discharging to the Great Barrier Reef and Moreton Bay. Ryan has been on several steering committees and technical advisory panels, such as the Great Barrier Reef Foundations Technical Advisory Panel. He has published extensively (>60 papers and reports) and led several Queensland Government – Academic collaborative research projects. Ryan previously supervised analytical chemistry (water and soil) and microbiology laboratories in the private and public sector. Ryan has developed numerous methodology and standard operating procedures for analytical and monitoring techniques (water quality, sediments and soils). Ryan’s passion for the future of water security is what keeps him going.

I have a multidisciplinary background in chemical and civil engineering, chemistry and materials science. Currently, I am the UQ leader of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life, based at USC. I apply my expertise to understand the effects of fungal decay and moisture intrusion in timber connections, as well as the improvement of the fire performance of timber. I supervise 6 PhD students.

I obtained my BSc.(Hons) from the University of New South Wales in Australia, then went on to pursue a PhD at the Australian National University’s Research School of Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Anthony Hill. After stints at the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh as a research fellow in groups of Andrew Weller and Polly Arnold respectively, I began my independent career at the National University of Singapore in 2014. Since then I have focused on methodology development using pincer complexes and frustrated Lewis pairs to address challenges in small molecule activation, in particular the selective activation of carbon-halide and carbon-chalcogen bonds. My achievements have been recognized with research awards including Asian Chemistry Prizes from Japan and China (2018) and the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award in 2019. In 2022 I was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship, which I assumed at the University of Queensland in mid-2023. The theme of the research for this fellowship is the recycling and repurposing of fluorocarbons through selective activation using organometallic techniques.