Project Library
Nano-engineered intelligent delivery systems
Romiza Mazid, a researcher from Monash University is working in collaboration with MCN Technology Fellows Assoc/Professor Wenlong Cheng and Dr Christina Cortez-Jugo from Monash University to develop a rational design of multi-materials composite particles for targeted, light-controllable drug delivery. The idea is to simulate an intelligent delivery system, whereby gold nanoparticles (AuNP) are incorporated with poly N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) to formulate an intelligent delivery vehicle to combat multidrug resistance.......(Read more)
Vertical arrays of gold nanorods on patterned substrates
Fabrication of novel self-assembly metallic nanostructures show great potential for applications in biosensing, optical analysis, computing and solar energy conversion.
Working collaboratively with Instrument Manager Matteo Altissimo, Thibaut Thai of Monash University has combined bottom-up self-assembly processes with top-down techniques to generate vertical arrays of gold nanorods on patterned substrates.......(Read more)
Microrobots to swim in human arteries
Microrobots are making minimally invasive vascular surgery (MIVS) less risky. Researchers at MCN have developed a tiny 240 µm-diameter ultrasonic micromotor capable of navigating through arteries deep inside the human body. The technology, developed by Professor James Friend of RMIT University, is designed to assist surgeons whilst performing minimally invasive vascular surgery (MIVS).......(Read more)
Characterisation of gold nanoparticle surface assemblies
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) can be described as the resonant, collective movement of electrons activated by incident light that travels in a direction parallel to a surface. When two nanoparticles are placed in close proximity, the electric field is greatly enhanced creating a “hot spot”. These hot spots are of particular interest to researcher Soon Ng, of Monash University......(Read more)
Industry looks to partner with MCN in R&D
MCN has become a regular feature of the Small Technologies Industry Uptake Program (STIUP), having been part of seven successful applications totaling a combined value of approximately $750,000.
The Victorian government funded STIUP initiative assists Victoria’s innovative small technology companies with the cost of access, consultation and R&D services provided by state-of-the-art facilities such as the MCN.......(Read more)
A novel reverse transfection cell microarray system utilising protein based DNA delivery vectors
Research areas that involve time consuming and repetitive processes may benefit by adopting new experimentation methods which involve efficient screening.
Incorporating nanosystems into experiments can also provide useful insight into the interaction of nanomaterials within the biological environment, gene expression, targeted cell delivery and encapsulation.........(Read more)
MCN hosts CSIRO's microfluidic enzyme research
Enzymes, organic catalysts capable of facilitating physicochemical and biological reactions, have captured the attention of industry and the scientific community alike. In nature, enzymes are used to catalyse and break down proteins. New methods of synthetic production have vastly broadened the applications of such enzymes to include ...........(Read more)
Combinatorial development of nanostructured metal oxide thin films for chemical sensing
Dr Sasi Kandasamy, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication collaborated with Dr Adrian Trinchi and Dr Tim Muster from the Centre for Materials Science and Engineering and CSIRO to develop a rapid, convenient, and effective solution for discovering multicompositional materials with the best performance from............(Read more)
Fabrication of sub 50nm biosensors
This project is being undertaken in collaboration with Dr Matteo Altissimo, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and Thanh Nguyen, a PhD student of Prof Stan Skafidas, from the University of Melbourne.
The aim is to develop a set of processes to fabricate a biological nano-sensor that is sensitive to a specific type of biological antigen............(Read more)
Measurement and prediction of vulnerable plaque formation and rupture
Ms Varsha Lal, Biology Lab Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and Professor Jay Chin-Dusting, Head of Vascular Pharmacology from the Baker Institute, worked together collaboratively on developing a technique to measure and predict vulnerable plaque formation and rupture...........(Read more)
Photonic circuitry from the noble metals: nanocrystal coupling
Dr Manoj Sridhar, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and Dr. Alison Funston from Monash University are collaborating together on this project to fabricate linear arrays of nanocrystals Using the FEI Helios NanoLab 600 Dual-Beam Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM)..........(Read more)
Protecting the nations' water supply
Microfluidic Sensing platforms capable of sorting and filtering nano-particles within Aquatic Sensor Systems may hold the key for future pathogen detection within community water supplies. Using a fluid separation element fabricated within MCN’s state-of-art photolithography and clean room facility, the device harnesses the process of Surface Acoustic Waves.......... (Read more)
Liquitab seeks the expertise of MCN Tech Fellow James Friend
The impedance analysis and clean room facility at the MCN has enabled the development of a unique technology capable of crushing and grinding commercially pressed-pill medications into a palatable liquid. The technology harnesses high frequency ultrasonic vibrations to grind pressed-pill medicines and is aimed at assisting those who have difficulty .......(Read more)
Silicon cantilever project
Doug Mair, Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, worked collaboratively with Dr Raymond Dagastine from the Particulate Fluids Processing Centre at Melbourne University to develop silicon cantilevers to continue the already extensive research performed by his group into the area of bubble and oil drop dynamics. The goal of the project was to design and manufacture silicon cantilevers with different spring constants and gold paddle sizes to assist with characterisation of deformable drops on Confocal and AFM systems............(Read more)
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3-Dimensional polymer structure for mussel farming
Ms Varsha Lal, Biology Lab Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, Dr Andrew Poole, CSIRO, Wealth from Oceans Flagship and Professor Rocky de Nys, James Cook University worked collaboratively together on 3-Dimensional Polymer Structure For Mussel Farming.
The main objective of the project was to fabricate surface textures that enhance the settlement of mussel larvae.......... (Read more)
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Cantilever based biosensor
Doug Mair, Instrument Manager from The Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication is working collaboratively with PhD student Yang Choon Lim from the Engineering department at Deakin University. Her project is to create a cantilever based biosensor to detect cancer biomarker antibodies. These cantilevers are to be made from a photoactive material called SU8......... (Read more)
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FIB cross-section & viewing of carbon nanotube yarns
Dr Manoj Sridhar, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, Dr Jackie Cai, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Materials Science & Engineering and Associate Professor Jie Min, visiting scholar at CSIRO from Donghua University, Shanghai, China through collaborating on this project have been able to delicately cross-section the yarns using the FEI Helios NanoLab 600 Dual-Beam Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM) at MCN .........(Read more)
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Focused ion beam milling of biological cells
Dr Manoj Sridhar, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and Dr Jing Fu, Lecturer, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Monash University are collaborating together on this project to find the optimum FIB milling conditions to mill away a very small, uniform thickness (~ 10 – 50 nm) of a single biological cell.........(Read more)
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Measuring surface charge of coated materials for anti-corrosion study
Ms Varsha Lal, Biology Lab Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and Dr Adrian Trinchifrom CSIRO worked together collaboratively on measuring surface charge of coated material for anti-corrosion. The High Throughput Inorganic Coatings (HTIC) research team has been developing novel two, three and four layered coatings of various metal oxide compounds. These oxide formulations have been deposited from positions to yield unique combinations of layered gradient coatings.......... (Read more)
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Rapid point of care sensor for infectious disease discrimination
Dr Sasi Kandasamy, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication is working collaboratively with Biodectors Pty Ltd, Small Technologies Uptake Program on the rapid point of care senor for infectious disease discrimination.Despite their popularity, microarrays (an ordered array of microscopic elements on a planar substrate) often suffer from slow reaction........(Read more)
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Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of carbon nanoTube (CNT) webs
This project was undertaken in collaboration with Dr Matteo Altissimo, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication for Ms Karolina Petkovic Duran, CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering. The work performed at MCN consisted in a set of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of Carbon NanoTube (CNT) webs deposited on a thermoplastic polymer and hot-embossed to form microfluidic channels. The aim of the work at the MCN was to establish whether the CNT webs layer would conform to the embossed structure without loosing the film continuity and the alignment........... (Read more)
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Scanning electron microscope images of nanostructures fabricated with high accuracy
This project is being undertaken in collaboration with Dr Matteo Altissimo, Senior Instrument Manager from the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and Dr Tim Davis from CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering. The idea is to develop a set of processes to fabricate nano-scale metal structures in order to study their interaction with visible light, and test the experimental findings against theoretical models developed by Dr Tim Davis. The ultimate goal is to incorporate these structures into all-optical signal-processing devices........(Read more)
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Acoustic nanofluidics
Simulated molecular dynamics at the nano scale show tremendous potential for improved manipulation of particles and molucules in fluids. In his fellowship project, Professor James Friend is examining the phenomena of rapid fluid flow in nanochannels induced by surface acoustic waves. Very high frequency sound waves (10–1000 MHz) applied in microchannels enables pumping, mixing, particle separation and other phenomena useful for medical diagnostics and chemical detection devices...(Read more)
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Controlling collisions between drops and bubbles using nanofabrication methods
An MCN technology fellowship was awarded to Raymond Dagastine. We are fabricating nano- and micro-sized devices to integrate with atomic force microscopy to develop new tools to study the real world complexity of interfaces in soft materials.........(Read more)
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Controlled plasmonic 3D nano-architechtures
In sensing applications, where the light scattering from patterns of nanoparticles is the working principle, it is necessary to create strong light field enhancement – the “hot spots”- on a nanoscale at the locations where analyte molecules are present. The challenge is to increase the light field enhancement, which is limited by the “sharpness” of the edges and corners of nanoparticles and is linked to fabrication resolution. However, by making chiral nanoparticles (having a property of handedness) it is..........(Read More)
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Nanoplasmonic optical circuits – building blocks for optical metamaterials
An MCN Technology Fellowship was awarded to Tim Davis from CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering. We are trying to develop new ways of detecting chemicals and biological contaminants, for applications in environmental monitoring and in biomedicince. Because different chemicals interact with light in different ways, we are investigating methods of using light to detect and identify the different chemicals and biological.........(Read more)
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Nanoparticle delivery into cells using engineered pore forming proteins
An MCN technology fellowship was awarded to Dr. Christina Cortez-Jugo from Monash University. The ability to efficiently deliver large therapeutic molecules into cancer cells, without harming healthy cells remains a largely unsolved technological challenge. Our project at MCN aims to address this problem by developing sophisticated, nanoscale therapeutic carriers, with improved efficacy and specificity.........(Read more)
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DNA - Plasmonics, materials and devices
An MCN technology fellowship was awarded to Wenlong Cheng from Monash University. The problem that we are aiming to solve is to develop intelligent, thinnest possible nanobio membranes for applications in environmental monitoring.Our project at MCN aims to address this problem by.........(Read more)
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Nanofabricating nano-particulate building blocks
An MCN technology fellowship was awarded to A/Prof Udo Bach from Monash University. The problem that we are aiming to solve is the lack of suitable bottom-up fabrication methods that allow for the assembly of custom-defined nanostructures. This impedes the integration of a plethora of new nanoparticulate building blocks into everyday devices in applications such as electronics, optoelectronics, sensing and photovoltaics. These nanoparticles have properties that.........(Read more)
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Evolving enzymes on a microchip
An MCN Technology Fellowship was awarded to Dr Yonggang Zhu from CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering. This Fellowship project aims to develop an integrated microfluidic chip that can perform in vitro enzyme synthesis and evolution. This technology could potentially revolutionize nano- and bio-technology development. The current protein evolution protocol requires screening of ‘libraries’ of massive numbers (~106-1012) of candidate gene/enzyme variants. With the current screening method, this could cost millions to billions and take several years to complete. We propose to use microfluidic water-in-oil droplets to compartmentalise these libraries........(Read more)
