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I am the Group Leader of Bio-inspired Materials Research at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland. Our research focuses on transforming agricultural waste into innovative solutions for tackling plastic and food waste issues. Our mission extends beyond research and into commercialisation. We are dedicated to fostering partnerships across industry, academia, and government, utilising waste as a valuable resource for advancements in the environment, food and health sectors. Our approach is clear: turning challenges into opportunities for a sustainable future.

I am a strong advocate for cultural diversity and equity, and support staff and students to grow as more effective leaders and create social good.

In recognition of my contribution to the field of nanomaterials engineering and research excellence, I have received several awards including; one of the winners of AgriFutures Australia and growAG.Catalyst Program(2024), one of the Queelsnand Tall Poppy Award winners(2024), The Eight Australian Women Who Are Shaking up the World Of Science (Marie Claire, 2020), one of Australia’s Top 5 Scientists (ABC/UNSW, 2018), Queensland Women in STEM Prize- judges choice award (2017), Women in Technology Life Sciences and/or Infotech Rising Star Award (2016), AIBN Research Excellence Award (2016), a Class of 2014 Future Leader award and Best poster prize at the Australian Nanotechnology Network ECR Entrepreneurship workshop(2015).

Dr. Pratheep Annamalai is a polymer and nanomaterials scientist with a keen interest in engineering materials for sustainable living. He is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences. He has extensive expertise in both translational and fundamental research using nanotechnological tools towards sustainability. Currently, he is interested in alternative proteins and valorisation of agricultural crops and food waste into reactive, building blocks for improving the performance and utility of bioproducts. Thematically, his research focuses on

• Food Processing (plant-based food products)
• Bioproducts (from agri-food waste)
• Sustainable building blocks (for advanced materials).

Before joining UQ, Pratheep studied Chemistry in University of Madras, received PhD in Chemistry from University of Pune (India), then went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher on hydrophobic membranes at the Université Montpellier II (France), and on ‘stimuli-responsive smart materials’ at the Adolphe Merkle Institute - Université de Fribourg (Switzerland).

Upon being instrumental in the discovery of ‘spinifex nanofibre nanotechnology’ and establishing Australia’s first nanocellulose pilot-plant, he has been awarded UQ Excellence awards for leadership and industry partnerships for 2019. Recognising his contribution to the nanomaterials, polymer nanocomposites, polymer degradation and stabilisation regionally and globally, he has been invited to serve as a committee member for ISO/TC229-WG2 for characterisation of nanomaterials (2016), a mentor in TAPPI mentoring program (2018), guest/academic editor for various journals (Fibres, Int. J Polymer Science, PLOS One). He has served as a member of the UQ-LNR ethics committee for reviewing the applications (2017-) and a member of the AIBN-ECR committee in 2014.

Experienced materials engineering researcher with proven experience in developing chemically tuned structures for commercial opportunities. My unique skill set spans interfacing technical analysis (morphology, composition, performance, and durability) of sustainable composite materials with economic feasibility and quality system requirements from research and industry associates. I am a team player, and the guiding principles by which I function in all facets of my life include ‘shared values’, ‘shared vision’, ‘complementary expertise’ and ‘diligence’.

Prof. Bhandari is associated with the University of Queensland since 1993. He obtained his PhD from ENSIA (France) in Food Process Engineering in 1992. Professor Bhandari is Academy Fellow of The International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST), Academy Fellow of Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences (QAAS), Fellow of Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) and Honorary Fellow of Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA).

Prof Bhandari has a major research focus on food materials science/engineering including microencapsulation of food ingredients, glass transition-related issues in food processing and product systems and 3D printing of food materials. Professor Bhandari’s current research area also includes relating the nanostructure of the food system to its bulk properties. Presently he is also exploring the application of nanobubbles in food processing. His past and current researches involve dairy, meat, rice, honey, probiotics, oils, fat etc. Professor Bhandari’s research is not commodity-focused only. His primary approach to research is applying fundamental science and engineering principles to developing a relationship between process, structure, property and performance of food materials systems. Professor Bhandari has extensively investigated various micro and nano-encapsulation processes such as spray drying, molecular encapsulation, co-crystallisation, precipitation and gel entrapment. Prof. Bhandari has developed a patented continuous method to produce microgel particles that can be used to encapsulate various functional ingredients and pharmaceutical drugs. The process has been commercialised to encapsulate probiotics. The probiotic enriched drinks (named Perkii) are available in the Australian market. The process has also been used by a major dairy company in Australia to encapsulate lactoferrin. Prof Bhandari has done a number of pioneering works on stickiness issues of food powders encountered during drying and handling. Recently Professor Bhandari has developed a patented technique to produce ethylene powder which can be used for fruit ripening and other plants physiological control. Professor Bhandari has also developed a stickiness testing device that enables the measurement of the stickiness and glass transition temperature of food material by just using texture measuring instruments.

International collaborations:

Professor Bhandari has developed strong national and international research collaborations. Professor Bhandari successfully completed a collaborative research project with Nong Lam University, in Vietnam on control of rice cracking in Mekong Delta. Professor Bhandari also completed a joint research project with the National University of Singapore on glass transition mechanisms in starch. In addition, Professor Bhandari has also been collaborating his research activities in USA, Ireland, Vietnam, India, China and France. Prof Bhandari was awarded the Australia-India Council Research grant by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) to develop research collaboration with National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India. Professor Bhandari was also a Visiting Professor of UCSI University, Malaysia and UPM, Malaysia.

Grants:

Professor Bhandari has been awarded several ARC-Discovery, ARC-Linkage over the years and ARC-Industrial Transformation Research Hub grant recently. He also won grants from Horticulture Australia, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Dairy Australia, Cooperation for Agriculture and Research Development (CARD funded by AusAID) Program, National Meat Industry Training Advisory Council Limited (MINTRAC), Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), Commercialization Australia and UNIQUEST. He has received more than $10M grant over the years.

Awards:

2023 Lifetime Achievement Award, International Association for Engineering and Food (IAEF)

2023 Minxin Award for Outstanding Contribution in Industrial Application and International Collaboration, International Conference on Food Processing and Preservation, Luoyang, China

2022 Envoy of People’s Friendship of Wuxi, Wuxi Municipal People’s Association, China

2022, 2021, 2020 Lead Researcher in Australia in Engineering category-Food Science and Technology discipline (listed by The Australian)

2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2015 Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% globally) in the field of Agricultural Science by Web of Science

2021 Jiangsu Province Award for International Cooperation in Food Science and Technology with Jiangnan University

2019 Distinguished Alumnus Award, Anand Agricultural University, India

2017 Outstanding Drying Research Award (Asia Pacific Drying Conference, 2017)

2015 Ho Chi Minh City Award for contributing to the promotion of friendship, collaborative relations with Nong Lam University, Vietnam

2015 Bruce Chandler Book Prize for 2015, for “Food Materials Science and Engineering”. Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST)

2013 Vice Chancellor’s Commendation Award for internationalisation, The University of Queensland

2012 Excellence in Drying Award (AFSIA award for transfer fundamentals into practice) (International Drying Symposium 2012)

2011 Q-index Award- Top 25. The University of Queensland

2005-2010 Excellence in Research – School of Land, Crop, and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland

Academy Fellow – The International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST)

Academy Fellow- Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences (QAAS)

Fellow – Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST)

Honorary Fellow – Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA)

Publications:

Prof Bhandari has authored more than 500 papers including 9 co-edited books and 40 book chapters. His co-edited book “Food Materials Science and Engineering” was published in 2012 and another co-edited book on “Handbook of Food Powders: Processes and Properties” was published in 2013. Another co-edited book "Non-Equilibrium States and Glass Transitions in Foods: Processing Effects and Product-Specific Implications" was published in Nov 2016. The new co-edited book "Handbook of Drying of Vegetables and Vegetable Products" has been published in 2017. In 2018 "Fundamentals of 3D Food Printing and Application" was published.

His publications are cited more than 46,000 times (Google Scholar H-index 110).

Editorial responsibility:

Prof. Bhandari is an Editor-in-Chief of Future Foods and Editor of Journal of Food Engineering, reputed international journals in the food science and engineering field. Professor Bhandari has also been in the editorial board of the International Journal of Food Engineering, International Journal of Food Properties, Food Biophysics, Nature-Scientific Reports, Food Science and Human Wellness, Drying Technology and Sustainable Food Technology.

Doctor James Falconer has been an academic at the School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland since June 2015. Dr Falconer was an assistant lecturer, then research & teaching fellow at the School of Pharmacy, the University of Auckland from 2011 – 2015.

In 2007 he was awarded with the Technology for Industry Fellowship (TIF) from the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science & Technology (FRST) from the NZ Government with joint funding from Pharmaceutical Compounding New Zealand (PCNZ) to complete a PhD under A/Professor Jingyuan Wen and Professor Raid Alany from the University of Auckland, New Zealand for development of a supercritical fluid platform and transdermal delivery of poorly aqueous soluble steriods. As a post-doctoral researcher under A/Professor Zimei Wu and collaboration with Argenta Global in Auckland he worked to help stabilise a veterinary pour-on which resulted in international patents and registered product for cattle. He was then appointed as a lecturer in pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical sciences at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Prior to his academic career, he received a BSc in Genetics 1999 and a Masters in Health Sciences (Bioethics) in 2003 under A/Professor Neil Pickering on the anatomy of the GMO debate from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. In 2005, he completed a BPharm (Hons) from the University of Auckland and undertook an internship at Middlemore Hospital in 2006, then was employed from 2007 as a ward pharmacist in general surgery and the hospital dispensary and as a community pharmacist - including the 'graveyard' shifts at day/night pharmacies.

Doctor Falconer has established research in supercritical fluid applications for selective extraction as well as in engineering advanced nanoparticulate dosage forms based on lipid and polymeric systems. A backbone to this work is the search for green/er technology to replace organic solvent driven material manufacturing processes and the repurposing of carbon dioxide for good.

Dr. Wenyi Gu’s early education was conducted in China which include his undergraduate and master’s degrees in veterinary medicine. In 1996, he migrated to Australia and pursued his PhD study in biochemistry & molecular biology at the Australian National University (ANU). After a short period of work at John Curtin Medical School ANU as a junior scientist, he moved to Brisbane in 2001 for his post-doc at the University of Queensland and currently a post-doctoral research fellow at AIBN. He held a Peter Doherty Fellowship (2006-2009) and was further supported by NHMRC to spend 7 months at Harvard University as a visiting fellow in 2008. Since his post-doctoral research he has been working in the area of using RNAi to treat viral diseases and cancers. He also has a strong background in immunology and vaccine development.

Dr. Xiao Guo is a spectroscopist with research interests in terahertz & mid-infrared near-field light-matter interactions in nanomaterials and nanostructures. He has in-depth theoretical and operational knowldge in scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM). He contributes to develop quantitative nanoprobe methods for scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) and to further study nanoscale heterogeneity in semiconductor nanodevices, prototypical quantum devices for superconducting quantum computing, and biological materials.

Since 2022, He has independently performed peer reviews for internationally recognised journals > 20 times including Nature Communications, ACS Photonics, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Optics Letters, Results in Physics, Spectrochimica Acta - Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, and Review of Scientific Instruments.

BIO:

Noun (n): I am a Professor in polymer processing in Chemical Engineering, a chief investigator in Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM) centre, a chief investigator/director of external links of the ARC industrial transformation training centre (ITTC) in bioplastics and biocomposites, a chief investigator in food and beverage accellerator (FaBA).and a chief investigator in the solving plastic waste cooperative research centre (spwCRC).

Verb (v): I work at the translational research interface between universities and industry. Specifically my research involves rheology, processing and product design of bio-based materials, polymers and nanocomposite materials. I lead translational research projects in biopolymers and biofluid platforms for agrifood, biomedical and high-value manufacturing sectors which attract government and industry funding; and produce patents, licences. industrial know-how as well as fundamental papers.

History (h): I have worked in industry (SRI international, Sola Optical, Moldflow), have worked in five cooperative research centres (CRCs -Food Packaging, Sugar Innovation, Polymers, Fighting Food Waste, Solving Plastic Waste), have acquired and managed continuous government and industry research projects since 1994, was heavily involved in the spinoff of Plantic Technologies from the CRC food packaging in 2002 (and ongoing research support with them until 2016), and was involved in the research that led to the TenasiTech (TPU nanocomposite) spinoff from UQ in 2007.I am a fellow of the institute of chemical engineers (IChemE) and a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). I am on the editorial board of the Plastics, Rubbers and Composites, Starch, the Journal of Renewable Materials, Green Materials and Functional Composite Materials-Springer-Nature. I have experience on the boards of the UQ Dow Centre, the UQ RTA Centre, and the UQ-HBIS Sustainable Steel Innovation Centre. I won IChemE Shedden Uhde Award and Prize for excellence in Chemical Engineering (2004), the CRC Sugar innovation award (2008), the CRCPolymers Chairman’s award for research and commercialisation (2011), and have received the CRC Association Technology Transfer Award, twice, in 2002 and 2015.

Research:

Current projects are focused on developing new sustainable and bio-based polymers and biochemicals from formulation through to degradation/disposal, understanding processing of nanostructured polymers, developing smarter biopolymers and materials for biomedical, drug delivery, food and high value applications, understanding rheology and processing of a range of polymer, foods and liquids and is involved in new initiatives in circular plastics.

Teaching and Learning:

My teaching has spanned Introduction to Engineering Design, Engineering Thermodynamics, Polymer Engineering, Process Economics, Research Thesis and Engineering Management. I am developing new courses in Sustainability and the Circular Economy. My overall teaching goal is to be a relevant, well organised, enthusiastic and empathetic enabler of learning using multiple teaching and learning modes, and be highly connected to current industrial practices and cutting edge research.

International links

I have been a visiting or invited professor at ENSICAEN-University, Caen, Normandy, University of Nottingham, Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Strasbourg and Institut national des sciences appliquées (INSA) de Lyon in France. I have strong international collaborations with the US Department of Agriculture, Albany, USA; Colorado School of Mines, USA; AnoxKaldnes, Sweden; University of Bradford, University of Warwick, University of Nottingham, University of Sheffield, UK, SCION, NZ; Michigan State University, USA, and many Australian universities.

I am a Research Fellow and Leader in Pain Relief Innovation at AIBN, UQ. My research interests sit at the interface of drug delivery and the pain field. My overarching research goal is to improve the quality of day to day life of patients suffering from chronic pain, by applying nanotechnology to the development of novel highly effective pain-killer products for improving chronic pain management. I am looking for highly motivated postgraduate students.

I also enjoy volunteering within the academic community, most notably as Head of the SBMS ECR Committee and Treasurer for The Queensland Chinese Association of Scientists and Engineers (QCASE). I am currently serving as guest editor of Pain Research and Management.and JoVE Methods Collection.

Research Interests

My research is focusing on nano-based drug formulation and development to improve chronic pain management. I have a broad and unique background in both pharmacology and drug delivery systems, with specific expertise in the development of novel drug products and testing their analgesic efficacy and safety including pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies. To date, I have established five different techniques to produce painkiller–loaded nanoparticles and nanofibers aimed at improving pain relief for patients where currently available pain-killers either lack efficacy or produce dose-limiting side-effects. For example, there is a small and very potent peptide that has been on the market as a chemical for over 10 years but which cannot be used as a therapeutic due to its short half-life and poor oral bioavailability. In the form of my nanoparticles, that peptide has the potential to become an oral treatment for improving pain management in patients whose pain is currently poorly alleviated by clinically used pain-killers. I have significant expertise in the use of rodent pain models to assess novel analgesics, and I have received excellent training in conducting research in accordance with the stringent requirements of the Quality Management System (quality accreditations (GLP and ISO17025) from NATA). Together, my knowledge, skills and experience will facilitate the efficient translation of my research from the bench to the clinic.

The current focus of the lab is on the development of drug-products to solve one of the largest unmet medical needs in the pain field through use of sustainable materials. 1) We are developing multifunctional sutures including biodegradable pain relief sutures. 2) We are developing my innovative novel nanoparticles, which deliver innate-immune targeting peptides for the treatment of cancer and cancer-related pain. We are establishing a platform for the development of safe, effective delivery for other small molecule peptide drugs in general to pave their way to clinical trials. 3) Our research also investigates the role of C5a and C3a, estrogen, etc. in the pathogenesis of chronic pain including neuropathic pain, cancer-related pain, low back pain and OA pain.

We work in collaboration with other leading Australian and international researchers to stay at the forefront of the drug delivery systems field and the pain field. We also provide preclinical evaluation of novel compounds and formulations.

Dr. Aleksandr Kakinen is NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, the University of Queensland, Australia. He obtained his Ph.D. degree (2014) at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow (2016–2020) at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia. His research interests range from nanomedicine and amyloids diseases to structural biology and nanotoxicology. Dr. Kakinen has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in high impact factor journals e.g. Chemical Society Reviews, Advanced Materials, Nature Communications, Nano Letters and ACS Nano. In addition to his scientific activities, Aleksandr is also passionate about scientific design and has founded a design studio that specialises in scientific illustrations and biomedical animations.

Dr Li Li is a Senior Research Fellow at Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. She received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from China University of Petroleum.

In 2007, she joined the University of Queensland (UQ) as a postdoctoral research fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials, working on nanoparticles and nanomaterials for renewable energy production and storage, environment technology and catalysis including hydrogen production and storage, environmental protection, and gas adsorption. In 2011, she was awarded UQ Postdoctoral Fellowship under the supervision of Prof. Zhi Ping (Gordon) Xu, working on engineered nanomaterials in healthcare and environment control. After Postdoctoral Fellowship, she was awarded Advance Queensland Research Fellow in 2016. Her research focuses on design and engineering functional nanomaterials for drug/gene delivery, sustainable release and oral vaccine delivery for human health and animal health management. Since 2011, she has attracted 22+ research funding including Advance Queensland Fellowship (Mid), Queensland smart future fund, UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, 3 UQ grants and 2 international collaboration projects. Moreover, she has a strong linkage with industry partners on the development of functional targeted nano-delivery systems to enhance the health of farm animals.

Dr. Mingyuan Lu was awarded her PhD from The University of Queensland in Febuary 2014. She has previously completed a Masters of Engineering (June 2009, Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, China), and a Bachelor of Engineering (June 2007, Materials Science and Engineering, Central south University, China).

Mingyuan has more than 10 years’ experience in research, and during this period she has gained extensive experience with material synthesis, mechanical mechanics, and material characterization including nanoindentation, nanoscratching, atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, and focused ion beam milling (FIB); additionally,she has experience with structural and compositional analysis techniques (Raman, XRD, EDS, DTA, DSC etc.).

Mingyuan's contributions to the field of mechanical and materials engineering are listed below:

Materials mechanics

• (2015-2016) developed a new and successful FIB-machined micro-cantilever bending technique to study the fracture and interfacial properties of the protective intermetallic coatings on magnesium alloys: this technique can be applied to a wide range of materials, sub-surface structures and multilayered structures. Based on this methodology, they later developed a micro-bridge four-point bending technique. This approach can generate a “stable” interfacial delamination, and thus enables quantitative analysis of interfacial toughness.
• (2011-2014) developed an indentation-based methodology for assessing the interfacial adhesion of bilayer structures, in a joint project that was funded by WIN Semiconductor Co., Taiwan: the methodology developed has been used to test the reliability of SiN-passivated GaAs semiconductor wafer products.

Materials synthesis and processing

• (2015-current) developing a selective laser sintering process for the additive manufacturing of porous and biodegradable scaffolds, made from a biopolymer, for bone tissue engineering: this innovative process can produce scaffolds without the use of an artificial 3D model, and the scaffold has a unique interconnected pore architecture and large surface area making it suitable for bone tissue regeneration applications. The promising outcomes of the preliminary study have elicited strong support from UQ; it has received two generous internal grants (a philanthropic grant for an ECR in the field of engineering, and SEED funding) to enable further study in this field. The scaffolds will shortly be tested in a pre-clinical mouse model (funded by SEEM grant) to study biocompatibility and osteoconductivity.
• (2007-2009) developed high-performance refractory metallic materials using powder metallurgy processes: in this project, they discovered the effect of trace TiC, ZrC Carbide nanoparticles on the mechanical properties, sintering behaviour and microstructure of molybdenum alloys.

A/Professor Bin Luo is currently an ARC Future Fellow and Group Leader in Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland (UQ). He received his doctoral degree in Physical Chemistry from National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) in July 2013. In August 2014, Dr Luo joined UQ as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in AIBN. He then secured highly competitive UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2015-2018), ARC DECRA Fellowship (2018-2021), and ARC Future Fellowship (2021-2025).

Research interests in Luo group mainly include

• Design of functional materials for next generation energy storage applications, including multivalent metal batteries, redox flow batteries and solid state batteries.
• Exploring new conceptual energy conversion or storage systems (e.g. flexible/micro-batteries, solar rechargeable battery).
• Revealing the structure-performance relationship of functional materials via in/ex situ investigations.
• Interaction of biomaterials and energy storage.

Dr Moni holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence & Data Science in 2014 from the University of Cambridge, UK followed by postdoctoral training at the University of New South Wales, University of Sydney Vice-chancellor fellowship, and Senior Data Scientist at the University of Oxford. Dr Moni then joined UQ in 2021. He also worked as an assistant professor and lecturer in two universities (PUST and JKKNIU) from 2007 to 2011. He is an Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision & Machine learning, Digital Health Data Science, Health Informatics and Bioinformatics researcher developing interpretable and clinical applicable machine learning and deep learning models to increase the performance and transparency of AI-based automated decision-making systems.

His research interests include quantifying and extracting actionable knowledge from data to solve real-world problems and giving humans explainable AI models through feature visualisation and attribution methods. He has applied these techniques to various multi-disciplinary applications such as medical imaging including stroke MRI/fMRI imaging, real-time cancer imaging. He led and managed significant research programs in developing machine-learning, deep-learning and translational data science models, and software tools to aid the diagnosis and prediction of disease outcomes, particularly for hard-to-manage complex and chronic diseases. His research interest also includes developing Data Science, machine learning and deep learning algorithms, models and software tools utilising different types of data, especially medical images, neuroimaging (MRI, fMRI, Ultrasound, X-Ray), EEG, ECG, Bioinformatics, and secondary usage of routinely collected data.

• I am currently recruiting graduate students. Check out Available Projects for details. Open to both Domestic and International students.

Dr Ngoc N. Nguyen is an associate lecturer and an ARC DECRA Fellow at School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. He was awarded an Australia Award Scholarship by the Australian Government for studying at UQ and attained a PhD in Chemical Engineering at UQ in 2018. After completing his PhD, he was awarded a renowned Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Fellowship by the AvH Foundation (the German Government) and worked as an AvH fellow at the Department of Physics at Interfaces, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Germany) for three years (2019-2021). Dr Nguyen used to work as a visiting scholar to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in USA and a lecturer at Hanoi University of Science and Technology in Vietnam. He recently secured a prestigious ARC DECRA (Discovery Early-Career Researcher Award) granted by the Australian Research Council (ARC). He is also an associate investigator within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Eco-enabling Beneficiation of Minerals. His research interest lies in the surface and interfacial science and allied fields such as minerals processing, energy and resources engineering.

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

Aleksandar D. Rakić leads the Photonics and Microwave Engineering group at The University of Queensland focusing on the development of technologies for sensing and imaging across the electromagnetic spectrum including microwave, terahertz wave and optical systems.

Professor Rakić’s research focuses on the principles of laser feedback interferometry with semiconductor lasers, and on the application of these principles to imaging and sensing. Rakić group pioneered the development of several world’s first laser-feedback interferometric sensors including systems based on monolithic Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser arrays (VCSELs), blue-green lasers, terahertz quantum cascade lasers and mid-infrared interband cascade lasers.

His current focus is on the development of sensing and imaging systems exploiting the THz spectrum for applications from security and defence to in vivo biomedical imaging. His other principal contributions relate to the design and characterization of surface-emitting optoelectronic devices (VCSELs and light emitting diodes) and modelling of optical materials.

Dr Ekaterina Strounina is a Solid State NMR facility manager in the Centre for Advanced Imaging. She has been working in UQ since 2002, specializing in high-field MRI applications and solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Dr Ummul Sultana is a Industry Research Fellow in the Hydrometallurgy Research Group within the School of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Queensland. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, followed by Master’s degree in Hydrometallurgy and PhD in Materials Engineering from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. After finishing her PhD, she started her research career as a Postdoctoral Researcher at UQ in the School of Chemical Engineering in 2019. She has gained experiences in the field of hydrogen energy, nanomaterials-based electrocatalysts development, thermodynamic phase equilibria & database development as well as advanced materials’ characterization techniques. She was invited to the Ohio State University in United States of America to participate in a short course on advanced materials’ characterization techniques. She has been largely contributing to the research area of treating industrial tailings & critical metal recovery techniques. She has also been engaged in teaching, staff & laboratory management as well as managing the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines in UQ laboratories. Due to her research excellence, she has received the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award for the class of 2019 and High Achiever Award in 2018 from QUT. She has several publications in well reputed journals and two of her journal articles have been featured in the front covers of “Advanced Functional Materials” (IF 20) and “ChemElectroCehm” (IF 5). In 2021, she was awarded the Research Fellowship Grant from the UQ Research and Innovation Centre. Ummul is currently focusing on Extracting Queensland’s Rare Earth Elements Sustainably project supported by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. She is also an Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), member of Royal Society of Chemistry and Engineers Australia professional societies.

Teaching and Learning:

• Metal Production and Recycling [METL2201]
• Hydrometallurgy and Electrometallurgy [METL6204]
• Pyrometallurgy [MINE3212]