ACES Newsletter

Issue 4: February 2008

Message from the Director

Bring on 2008. During 2007 we have established a research team and facilities of world class standard – by any measure.

These along with the research environment and culture that pervades ACES provides an excellent opportunity for our younger researchers to create and sustain a research portfolio that will further enhance Australia’s scientific research credentials.

The domestic and international research network that has been established provides exciting opportunities to develop new linkages and utilise the expertise and insights of others to provide outputs amplified by synergies.

ACES will build substantial Education and Training Programs in 2008.

The workshop program is already mapped out for 2008. (see this Newsletter for details).

In addition, we will host two important Research Symposia.

1. Feb 2008, ACES Electromaterials Science Symposium, then
2. June 2008, ACES Asia- Pacific Nanobionics Symposium

The first is in a few weeks time so register NOW! Come along and mingle and interact with some of the most dynamic researchers in the world in the above areas.

I wish each of you a successful and exciting 2008.

Best Wishes,
Gordon

Fast Read

ARC Discovery Success for 2008

ACES Full Centre October 2007 meeting report

ACES-DSTO Roundtable November 2007 meeting report

Ethics and Regulation of Risk in Nanotechnology November 2007 meeting report

Project Spotlight

ACES Research Programme 5 : Ethics

During the past year the Centre’s Ethics program has delved into research that explores the social and ethical significance of regulation of nanotechnology and the personal and social impact of bionics. With the inclusion of Dr Renee Kyle as a Research Fellow on the Ethics team, the Ethics program made significant progress in this new area of applied ethics.

Nanotechnology has numerous potential applications across many fields, including health and medicine; energy; and materials. Critically examining these applications is an integral part of the research and development process. The focus of the ACES Ethics Program is to research the social and ethical implications of nanotechnology, and to develop and provide an ethics training program to those students and researchers working in the area.

The recent research of the Ethics team has three areas of focus. First, the team is exploring the importance of developing an ethics of 'risk' as it relates to nanotechnology. Although mush of the ethical concern raised about nanotechnology relates to worries about risk, there has been relatively careful work on what risk is (eg to what degree can risks be separated from contexts?), how responsibility for the effects of risks are distributed, and whether risks are inevitable. These issues have implications for what kinds of applications of nanotechnology may be socially accepted, but also how the industry as a whole is regulated. Work on this area has shown that the current emphasis within consequentialist ethics on decision-theoretic (Bayesian) calculus of risk inadequately captures the range of contextual variables affecting decision-making under circumstances of uncertainty, and that deontological approaches to the ethics of risk assign both too great or too little ethical to individuals for responsibility for risky decision-making. Therefore, there is good reason to conduct further research towards an adequate ethics of risk.

Second, the team is researching the ethical implications of nanotechnology as they relate to human health. Specifically, the team is focusing on the ethics of medical applications using nanotechnology, such as bionic devices and drug delivery systems. The research considers the role of bionic devices in shaping societal attitudes towards health, towards certain types of bodies, and towards disability generally. It also investigates the potential effects of implanted devices on the relationship between the body, self and identity. For example, what the implant does, where it is implanted, and how it communicates with the body may affect whether the device is considered by the individual to be part of their body, or as something foreign, which in turn may affect the individual's overall attitude towards the implant. Research in this area is extending existing research on the ethics of embodied subjectivity and disability ethics.

Finally, the team is researching the role of public education and engagement in the research and development process. The team is researching how information about nanotechnology is presented to the public in different countries; if, and how, potential users of applications are included in debate about the development and regulation of these applications; what kinds of engagement processes might be the most useful for public understanding of nanotechnology and for defensible governmental promotion and regulation of nanotechnologies and their application; and what benefits the scientific community can reap from public engagement. This work is on-going at the theoretical and applied levels with members of the Ethics program involved in preparing a submission to the current NSW nanotechnology inquiry.

Facilities Focus

Bio-AFM
The Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) recently acquired the latest, state-of-the-art Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) - the JPK Nanowizard®II BioAFM – which is specially designed for the life sciences and a first of its kind in Australia. A key aspect of its design is an optical path through the AFM that allows samples to be viewed simultaneously with a fully integrated commercial inverted optical microscope. This unique hybrid instrument combines high resolution AFM and optical information (e.g. fluorescence and confocal) for advanced characterisation of biological samples, including living cells. The AFM features many exciting applications, including nanometre lateral resolution imaging of living cells and single molecules, 3D force mapping of individual cell-surface receptors, characterisation of local materials properties and cell-adhesion measurements. AFM measurements can also be conducted in a temperature/gas controlled incubator for long term monitoring of living cells and materials.

The arrival of the JPK Nanowizard®II BioAFM also comes with the previous acquisition of an Asylum Research MFP-3D AFM. Both instruments will strengthen existing characterisation facilities and support fundamental research within the ACES program. Current AFM projects being undertaken include characterisation of graphene materials, dynamic properties of gel fibres, and force interactions between biomolecules/living cells and electrically stimulated organic conducting polymers.  For more information on the AFM facility, please contact Dr Michael Higgins (mhiggins@uow.edu.au, tel: +61 (02) 4221 4872).

FTACV
A powerful electrochemical characterisation technique, Fourier Transformed large-amplitude AC Voltammetry, was established by Prof. Alan Bond's research group at Monash University, Clayton. The advantage of this new technique is that it is able to provide, in one experiment, the equivalent of running numerous experiments simultaneously. Additionally, the technique allows for the electrode kinetics to be easily determined.

In order to understand the electrochemical properties of novel nanomaterials created within ACES, IPRI PhD student, Suriya Ounnunkad, undertook an intensive one-week training course with Professor Alan M. Bond at Monash University, Melbourne in early October 2007. >>read about the visit.

ACES Centre Characterisation Equipment Brochure
The purpose of this booklet is to raise awareness in the scientific community of the materials characterisation facilities available through users via ACES. The booklet will be launched at the ACES Electromaterials Symposium in February 2008.

The equipment is located at:

• University of Wollongong (contact A/Prof Peter Innis)
• Monash (contact Dr Patrick Howlett)
• St Vincent’s Hospital (contact A/Prof Rob Kapsa)

For general enquiries please contact A/Prof Peter Innis (Coordinator Characterisation Facilities and Training @ ACES), innis@uow.edu.au, 02 4221 3600.

For specific enquiries regarding specialist equipment a direct contact person has been listed above.

ACES Workshops and Training Schedule for 2008

Personnel Profile

Welcome to Dr Damyanti Sharma and Elise Stewart who have recently joined the ACES team.

Global Activities

Dublin City University Symposium

The symposium ‘Polymers Down Under Makes Irish Sense’ presented complimentary research being carried out in The National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) of Ireland and the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) the lead partner of ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science. The focus was on the application of intelligent polymer materials as new sensing platforms. >>> read more

UOW-SJTU Joint Symposium

The first bilateral symposium on "The Application of Nano and Energy Materials" was held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, 1 November 2008. The purpose of this symposium is to enhance existing collaborative research and develop further projects between the two universities. The symposium’s main focus is on the Synthesis of NanoMaterials and their application in bioelectronic, bionic, and electrochemical devices. Prof. Lee Astheimer, ProVice-Chancellor (Research) and other leading professors from the science and engineering faculties presented their innovative research. >>>read more

Brianna Thompson wins HOPE award

Brianna Thompson (PhD student IPRI) has been nominated by the ARC Nanotechnology Network as one of five Australian graduate students to participate in the “HOPE Meeting” being organised by the Japan Society for The Promotion of Science to be held in Tsukuba 24-28 February 2008. The aim of the meeting is to give opportunities to graduate students from countries in the Asia-Pacific region to engage in interdisciplinary small group discussions with Nobel Laureates and other distinguished scientists as well as with research students from other countries.

Speakers and mentors at the meeting will include:

• Dr. Leo Esaki (1973 Nobel Laureate in Physics),
• Dr. Alan J. Heeger (2000 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry),
• Dr. Robert B. Laughlin (1998 Nobel Laureate in Physics),
• Dr. Heinrich Rohrer (1986 Nobel Laureate in Physics) and  
• Dr. Hideki Shirakawa (2000 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry).

Employment Opportunities

ACES often advertises vacancies for dynamic scientists to join our team. Please check the website for job updates.

Publications

Selected Publications for October 2007- January 2008 are listed below.

 Graphene

• Processable aqueous dispersions of graphene nanosheets
  Dan Li, Marc B. Müller, Scott Gilje, Richard B. Kaner & Gordon G. Wallace
  Nature Nanotechnology, 2008, 3.

 InkJet Printing

• Inkjet Printable Polyaniline Nanoformulations
  Ngamna, O., Morrin, A., Killard, A.J., Moulton, S.E., Smyth, M.R., Wallace, G.G.Langmuir 2007, 23 (16), 8569-8574.
• Inkjet deposition and characterisation of transparent conducting electroactive polyaniline composite films with high carbon nanotube loading fraction
  Small, W.R., Masdarolomoor, F., Wallace, G.G., in het Panhuis
  M.Journal of Materials Chemistry 2007, 17 (41), 4359-4361.

Novel Sensors

• Soft Mechanical Sensors Through Reverse Actuation in Polypyrrole
  Wu, Y., Alici, G., Madden, J.D.W., Spinks, G.M., Wallace, G.G.
  Advanced Functional Materials 2007, 17, 3216-3222.

 New Actuators

• Electrochemical actuation properties of a novel solution-processable polythiophene
  Wu, Y., Ballantyne, A.M., Wagner, P., Zhou, D., Spinks, G.M., Officer, D., Wallace, G.G. Electrochimica Acta 2007, 53, 1830-1836.

Monitoring Human Movement

• "Can fabric sensors monitor breast motion?"
  Campbell, T.E., Munro, B.J., Wallace, G.G., Steele, J.R.
  Journal of Biomechanics 2007, 40, 3056-3059.