Assoc Prof Robert Kapsa

Assoc Prof Rob Kapsa is Principal Fellow (Bionics) at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, University of Wollongong and Associate Professor and Head of Research, Centre for Neuroscience and Neurology Research, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne have seen him head a neuromuscular regeneration activity developing Bioactive polymer technologies for muscle and nerve repair. A/Pr Kapsa’s involvement as co-Head of the Bionics program (with Pr Graeme Clark) in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), and concurrent joint position as Principal Fellow (Bionics) at SVHM and IPRI provide a unique position from which to generate exciting scientific outcomes in the next 5-10 years. 

Recent prizes and awards:

2008 Lions International Spinal Cord Fellowship: Melbourne Australia                               ($19,500)
2003. Research Development Award, Neuroscience Victoria, Melbourne, Australia           ($80,000)
2001: Medical Research Award, St Vincent's Hospital, Melb: Melbourne, Australia                ($500)
2000 Medical Research Award, St Vincent's Hospital, Melb: Melbourne, Australia              ($300)
2000 Elsevier Science Award, World Muscle Society: White River, South Africa                ($1,000)

5 Key Publications:

1. Quigley, A.F., Razal, J.M., Thompson, B.C., Moulton, S.E., Kita, M., Kennedy, E.L., Clark, G.M., Wallace, G.G., Kapsa R.M.I., (2009); A Conducting-Polymer Platform with Biodegradable Fibers for Stimulation and Guidance of Axonal Growth, Advanced Materials, 21, 4393-4397. (IF= 8.2)
2. Razal, J.M., Kita, M., Quigley, A.F., Kennedy, E., Moulton, S.E., Kapsa, R.M.I., Clark, G.M., and Wallace, G.G., (2009); Wet-Spun Biodegradable Fibers on Conducting Platforms: Novel Architectures for Muscle Regeneration, Adv. Funct. Mater., 19, 1-8, 2009. (IF=6.9)
3. Gilmore, K.J., Kita, M., Han, Y., Higgins, M.J., Moulton, S.E., Clark, G.M., Kapsa, R.M.I., and Wallace, G.G., (2009); Skeletal muscle cell proliferation and differentiation on polypyrrole substrates doped with extracellular matrix components. Biomaterials, 30(29):5292-5304. (IF=6.7)
4. Breukers, R.D., Gilmore, K.J., Kita, M. Wagner, K.K., Higgins, M.J., Moulton, S.E., Clark, G.M., Officer, D.L., Kapsa, R.M., and Wallace, G.G.,(2010); Creating conductive structures for cell growth: Growth and alignment of myogenic cell types on polythiophenes. J. Biomed. Mater. Res. A 95(1):256-68.
5. Quigley, A.F, Kyratzis I.L, Bullus, K., Gilmore, K.J, Kennedy, E.L., O’Shea, M.^, Truong, Y., Campbell, T., Edwards, S., Razal, J., Herwig, P., Staynes L., Lowes, K.N., Sharma, D., Peeters, G., Abbott A., Murphy, M., Cook, M.J., Clarke, G.M., Wallace, G.G., and Kapsa, R.M.I. (2010); Engineered Multimodal Nerve Conduits for Repair of Injured Peripheral Nerve. J. Neural Eng., (Accepted Dec, 2010; IF=3.4)