ANFF-VIC Staff selected in veski program
Dr Karyn Jarvis, a Research Engineer at the ANFF Victoria Biointerface Engineering Hub, has been selected as a participant in the veski STEM sidebyside program.
The initiative, led by veski and Monash University with the support of the British Consulate General Melbourne, supports women in the STEM industries. Keep your eyes peeled for more information.
View the program description here.
Open-access XPS Database exceeds 1600 spectra
La Trobe University’s open-access XPS reference library, XPSSurfA, has now exceeded 1600 reference spectra within 120 datasets.
Unveiled by researchers at La Trobe University’s Centre for Materials and Surface Science (CMSS) less than a year ago, the open-access online database of XPS spectra, providing a global reference point of in-depth materials analysis to researchers from around the world.
The database holds XPS information on a range of materials from pure metals to polymers, to compounds and oxides to exotic materials. The database is ever growing and evolving being filled with new data straight from CMSS’s Kratos Analytical AXIS Nova instrument.
All XPSSurfA records and data files in the database are available via Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 International License. This means any data file in the database can be downloaded to view, reuse, compare and publish alongside the user’s own research with appropriate attribution.
The XPSSurfA database is an initiative led by CMSS with the support of the NCRIS-funded organisations, the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) and the Nectar Cloud.
Work with MCN via BioMedVic
Biomedical Research Victoria (BioMedVic) is currently seeking new projects for its Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) that introduces high achieving undergraduates to the world of research by providing hands-on experience of working in a lab.
Within the program, research organisations and industry partners engage with undergraduate students via BioMedVic to realise 6 or 12-month research projects. BioMedVic identifies and matches undergraduate applicants that best suit the supervisor’s requirements.
Supervisors are invited to submit applications to host students in their laboratories through the UROP scheme. UROP is a paid employment program and entry into the scheme by students is highly competitive.
Contact BioMedVic to find out more.
2018 Technology Ambassadors announced
The Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility has expanded its list of Technology Ambassadors (TAs), making 2018 the biggest year yet.
The scheme now features 11 leaders in their field, up from 9 in 2017 and 2016.
Since the TA scheme was initiated in 2011, Ambassadors have been selected from a broad range of disciplines, each with their own unique demands for micro/nanotechnology.
In addition to their core research activities, ANFF-VIC TAs use their considerable expertise to create new processes that benefit the ANFF-VIC user community and undergo in-kind cooperative activities reflecting the current and emerging needs of researchers in their respective fields.
New Technology Ambassadors:
Qialiang Bao
ARC for the Future Low-Energy Electronic Technologies (FLEET)
Anthony Chesman
CSIRO
Victor Busto Cadarso
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Monash University
Kenneth Crozier
Physics and Electronic Engineering
University of Melbourne
The year’s list of renewed TAs:
Alastair Stacey
School of Physics
University of Melbourne
Fiona Glenn
Manufacturing Business Unit
CSIRO
Saulius Juodkazis
Centre for Micro-Photonics
Swinburne University of Technology
Lingxue Kong
Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM)
Deakin University
Grant van Riessen
Institute for Molecular Science
La Trobe University
Udo Bach
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Monash University, Clayton
Wenlong Cheng
Department of Chemical Engineering
Monash University
Nanofabulous Winter Workshop 2018
Registration for the ANFF-VIC Nanofabulous Winter Workshop is now open for Industry!
Three full days of morning sessions and afternoon practicals lay in wait – view the event details and full schedule by clicking here.
Invited Keynotes include:
Andrew Wear – Dept of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, Director (MedTech and Pharma)
Ken Sloan – Monash University, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Enterprise)
Stephen Tomisich – Trajan Scientific and Medical, Chairman & Group CEO
Rosie Hicks – The Australian National Fabrication Facility, CEO
Pricing for the event, being held 23-25 July at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, is as follows:
Ticket purchase comes with an invite to a BBQ-style dinner at MCN on the evening of the 23 July.
Click here to view the event flyer and registration form.
Qiaoliang Bao named as a 2018 ANFF-VIC Technology Fellow
FLEET-nano collaboration recognised: Congratulations to Qiaoliang Bao, 2018 ANFF-VIC Technology Fellow
Qiaoliang Bao works at the nanoscale, trapping photons in atomically-thin, two-dimensional materials, where high binding energies create a quantum state known as a superfluid.
The aim is a new generation of superfluid transistors that will ‘switch’ using much less energy than conventional electronics.
Such work requires access to the best nanofabrication and characterisation facilities, and Qiaoliang’s team at Monash University’s Faculty of Engineering works closely with the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN), the flagship facility of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF).
Qiaoliang has been recently named as an ANFF-VIC Technology Fellow Ambassador. The program forges a strong Australian nanofabrication community, improves procedures, and creates ‘champions’ of ANFF facilities.
Read more on the FLEET website here…
Call for industry interest: Nanofabulous Winter Workshop 2018
The Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN) is holding an industry-focused technical workshop.
Pick and choose from three full days of seminars and practical sessions held at MCN, the headquarters of the Australian National Fabrication Facility’s Victorian Node (ANFF-Vic) and the largest open-access cleanroom facility in the Southern Hemisphere.
Help to make this workshop exactly what you want.
Please click this link and complete the survey before April 30.
Meet ANFF VIC at the Biomelbourne Network breakfast
BioMelbourne Network is hosting a breakfast event on 12 April at CSIRO’s Biomedical Materials Translational Facility (BMTF). There will be three talks given – two senior members of the ANFF VIC team will be speaking, followed by a tour of the BMTF.
ANFF VIC Director Professor Nico Voelcker will discuss his group’s work on silicon nanowires for drug delivery.
Professor Sally McArthur, a member of the ANFF VIC collaboration committee, will present her latest research on 4D cell culture systems for evaluating biomaterials.
Professor Susie Nilsson, a CSIRO Research+ leader will also be speaking, taking a look at the use of small molecules to rapidly mobilise marrow stem cells.
There will also be a number of MCN/ANFF VIC staff present at the meeting, come and find us!
The Image of the Year winner is…
Twitter has had its say – almost 100 people voted through @Nanomelb to choose the ANFF VIC Image of the Year.
Congratulations to Sara Ghavamian who won over voters to bring home the $200 prize with her image “Keeper”, taken using MCN’s Scanning Electron Microscope.
Sara is a Monash University researcher working with Dr Victor Cadarso and Dr Iain Hay. The image comes from research into whether topographic nanostructures can be used to help create an environmentally-friendly antibacterial layer which could then be used in hospitals, or as an antifouling surface on ships.
Explaining the choice of name, Sara said: “The small round object trapped in between the spikes of the features resembles a goalkeeper holding a ball under their arm.”
The image was taken during an assisted session with MCN Process Engineer Dr Guangyuan Si who helped to image the surface.
View the full shortlist below.
Stella Aslanoglou and Qianqian Shi
The gold nanocube plasmene sits on top of Si nanowires. This is an image that combines a "soft" plasmene and "hard" Si nanowires. When they meet with each other, both of them maintained their own characteristics: the Si nanowires provide supporting while the ultra-thin plasmene keeps flat on the tips without any structure collapse and shows a semi-transparent feature.
This image was taken using MCN's FIB-SEM.
Kate Fox and Alastair Stacey
Diamond coated 3D printed titanium cubes, coated using the MCN PCD diamond CVD equipment (credit K Fox and A Stacey). These cubes are part of a submitted article entitled "Polycrystalline Diamond Coating of Additively Manufactured Titanium for Biomedical Applications".
Bowen Zhu
Gold nanowires synthesized on silicon substrates via solution approach at room temperature. They formed a structure resemble a piece of broccoli.
Image taken using MCN's FEI Helios NanoLab 600 Dual Beam.
Sara Ghavamian (Gholam Nejad)
The small round object trapped in between the spikes of the feature resembles a goalkeeper holding a ball under their arm. My surfaces are designed to investigate the antibacterial properties of patterned substrates and are imaged at MCN using NOVA FEG-SEM tool. The original mould was fabricated using photolithography but the visualized surfaces are PDMS (half-way replicated) or OrmoComp (fully replicated).
ANFF VIC Publication of the Year announced
Research carried out by Dr Daniel Langley and colleagues based at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences (LIMS) has been selected as the 2017 ANFF VIC Publication of the Year.
The research team’s paper Optical Chemical Barcoding Based on Polarization Controlled Plasmonic Nanopixels was chosen as the winner by ANFF VIC’s selection panel due to its impact, pioneering nature and level of engagement with MCN.
Daniel Peter Langley, Eugeniu Balaur, Yongsop Hwang, Catherine Sadatnajafi, and Brian Abbey are all mentioned as authors, and the group will be awarded a $200 cash prize.
The team was investigating the combination of microfluidics with plasmonic devices to create a chemical sensor by monitoring changes in refractive index. The optical sensors are tunable, and can therefore cover a broad range of indices, whilst maintaining a high sensitivity within the visible spectrum.
Different chemicals and compounds have different refractive indices so – once a library of “chemical barcodes” is assembled – the devices can be used to detect different chemicals in a sample quickly and in a non-destructive fashion by comparing the new data from the unidentified chemical with the signatures of known substances.
The team used MCN’s E-beam deposition equipment to deposit chrome and silver on quartz wafers, FIB-SEM to pattern nanoscale apertures in metal films and a Microspectroscope to analyse the spectral output of devices at different polarisations of light.
View the original publication here.
ANFF VIC publications in 2017
All papers that were published in 2017 that correctly acknowledged MCN/ANFF VIC were eligible for selection in this year’s Publication of the Year competition. The near 150 papers were whittled down to a shortlist, where Daniel and the team’s paper crept ahead of an incredibly strong field.
In addition to qualifying for the ANFF VIC publication competition, papers that correctly acknowledge MCN are entitled to a $200 user credit that is added to future project funds at the Centre. Authors of papers that are used on the cover of peer-reviewed journals can claim an additional $500 user credit. Click here for more information.
In total, the incentive scheme has handed out $18,000 in user credits to be used at MCN. In 2017 alone, $8,500 was claimed by just 18 MCN/ANFF VIC users.
