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.
MCN is looking for interns
The MCN and ANFF Victoria are currently seeking interns to be partnered with industry clients to work on 2-6 month internship projects.
The Industry Engagement Program is aimed at Masters or PhD students that are interested in gaining invaluable experience working with ground-breaking businesses in sectors that rely on micro and nanofabrication.
This paid internship scheme will see successful candidates working predominantly within MCN to gain training and conduct research on behalf of their industry partner.
Successful interns will work closely with an employer to drive an industrially relevant project; receive training in a cleanroom facility from expert engineers; and interact with key personnel within the affiliated company in a research capacity – offering enormous potential for long-term job opportunities.
Click this link for more information.
MCN is seeking a new Process Engineer
We are currently seeking a new Process Engineer to join the MCN team!
The successful applicant will integrate highly technical laboratory skills with the ability to monitor, support, adapt and implement operational practices while providing support to strategic MCN projects through scientific design and the recommendation and implementation of best practice laboratory initiatives.
The new Process Engineer will be required to develop and implement a teaching and training program to support novice and advanced instrument users, as well as develop and implement laboratory workflows, procedures, technologies and practices for assigned instrumentation and associated working environments.
Proven expertise and applied experience in nanofabrication, micro/nano characterisation, and demonstrated experience and practical skills in plasma processing (reactive ion etching (RIE) / thin-film deposition will be instrumental to the success in this role. These technical skills coupled with your demonstrated knowledge of quality management and improvement systems such as LEAN operating principles or ISO9001 will equip you to succeed in this role.
View the role description here.
Vic Gov announces $50,000 vouchers
The Victorian State Government has launched an Advanced Manufacturing Voucher Stream that provides eligible applicants with an additional $50,000 to develop new products and add capabilities.
The vouchers are designed to help Victorian manufacturers innovate, build scale and grow export capability. Up to $50,000 is available to each applicant through the scheme on a dollar-for-dollar cost matching basis.
The eligible projects must be “growth-oriented” activities such as the development and commercialisation of new products and/or advanced manufacturing processes.
MCN was designed for these sorts of projects and has years of experience in assisting businesses with the development of new products and processes through its expert engineers and ground-breaking nanofabrication capabilities.
As all IP that results from work conducted at the ISO 9001 certified facility belongs with the user, it’s an ideal environment to carry out the development stage of innovative projects.
For more information on the Voucher Scheme please head to this website: http://www.business.vic.gov.au/support-for-your-business/grants-and-assistance/Boost-Your-Business/Advanced-Manufacturing-Voucher-Stream
If you would like to harness the Voucher Scheme using MCN capabilities please contact mcn-enquiries@nanomelbourne.com.
Grant Participation Policy announced
MCN has announced a new Grant Participation Policy that offers additional in-kind support for grants that propose the use of MCN infrastructure.
In-kind support is available in the form of top-ups to pre-paid project funds that are linked to activities from successful grants.
Eligible grants will contain proposed work that will at least in part be conducted at the MCN facility. The work should be feasible within the bounds of current capabilities, and the MCN itself should be listed, where possible, as an in-kind contributor on the grant.
The full details of the policy can be found in the MCN Research Grant Participation Policy. For questions about how you can leverage this new policy in your upcoming grants, please email Dr Hemayet Uddin.
Vote for the 2017 Image of the Year
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).
The ANFF-VIC Image of the Year shortlist has been decided and now it’s time for the winner to be selected.
Click the above images to see larger versions, and cast your votes by retweeting one of these tweets. The image with the most retweets by the deadline of 23 February will win the $200 cash prize.
Get voting!
2017 Image of the Year
MCN and ANFF VIC partner with APR.Intern
MCN and ANFF-VIC are teaming up with APR.Intern to connect industry with Postgraduate students and leading research capabilities through tightly focused research internships.
APR.Intern is a not-for-profit national research internship program building links between industry and universities. Through its many partnerships with research institutes, APR.Intern delivers a cost-effective solution for industry to tackle research challenges.
Through APR.Intern’s many partnerships with research institutes, eligible industry partners can also qualify for a number of rebates and vouchers which could drastically reduce the cost of the program by 50% (or more).
Gain access to one of the largest open-access cleanroom and characterisation environments in the Southern Hemisphere through one of the most trusted internship programs in the country.
View the program flyer by clicking here, or head to aprintern.org.au to find out more about the program, rebates, and vouchers on offer.
Contact internship@nanomelbourne.com with any questions or enquiries.
