Bio Technology

Biomolecular and Cellular Microengineering
Tissue Engineering
Biomedical and Electronic Microwave Systems & Technology

Interim Research Leader: IRIS Director Prof. Milan Brandt Email: mbrandt@swin.edu.au BA Hons: Macquarie University, Australia PhD: Macquarie University, Australia

The Biomolecular and Cellular Microengineering Group focuses on the understanding, prediction and design of processes that depend upon the interaction of biological objects (biomolecules and/or cells) with micro- and nano-structured surfaces.
Research falls into the following categories:

• Control of protein molecular motor motion in manufactured electro-mechanical devices
  
• Micro/nano-profiled and electrically-active surfaces to probe the response of biomolecules for micro/nano-array applications
  
• Effective, non-denaturating technologies for immobilization of biomolecules in static (e.g. biosensors) and dynamic (e.g. microfluidics) biodevices
• Probing of microorganism responses to micro-structured and micro-confined environments

More Information

1. Biofunctional Imaging Lab
   Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope
   Cell Robotics laser scissors/tweezers workstation
   Low light/dynamic cellular/fluorescence microscopy workstation (Olympus IX71, Photonics Science CoolView FDI CCD camera, Image Pro software).
2. Surface Fabrication and Characterisation Lab
   Dip Pen Nanolithogrophy Instrumentation (NSCRIPTOR™ DPNWriter)
   Thermomicroscopes Atomic Force Microscope
   Spin coater
   FTIR spectrometer
   Quartz Crystal Microbalance
   Ellipsometer
   Contact Angle Goniometer
3. Wet Lab
   Used for biomolecular and microbiological preparation and characterisation

Book Chapters

Filipponi, L. Nicolau, D.V. Spatially addressable cellular engineering. In Wiley Encyclopaedia of Biomedical Engineering. Atkin, M. (Ed.), Wiley, 2006.

Hanson, K.L., Filipponi, L., Nicolau D. V. Substrates and surfaces for microarrays. In Microarray Technology: Fundamentals, Fabrication and Applications, Muller, U., Nicolau, D. V. (Eds.), Springer Verlag, 2004

Journal Publications

Nicolau, D.V., Sawant, P.D. Scanning probe microscopy studies of surface-immobilised DNA/oligonucleotide molecules. Topics in Current Chemistry, 260, 113-160, 2005.

Sawant, P.D., Nicolau, D.V. Line and two-dimensional fractal analysis of micrographs obtained by atomic force microscopy of surface-immobilized oligonucleotide nano-aggregates. Applied Physics Letters, 87 (22), 2005.

Nicolau, D.V., Pham, D.K., Ivanova, E.P., Wright, J.P., Lenigk, R., Smekal, T., Grodzinski, P. Tone Reversal of AFM Lateral Force Image Following Hybridisation of Oligonucleotides Immobilized on Polymers. Small, 1, 610-613, 2005.

Sawant, P.D., Watson, G.S., Myhra, S., Nicolau, D.V. Jr., Nicolau D.V. Hierarchy of DNA Immobilization and Hybridization on Poly-L-Lysine Using An Atomic Force Microscopy Study. Journal of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, 5, 951-957, 2005.

Blach JA, Watson GS, Brown CL, Pham DK, Wright J, Nicolau, D.V, Myhra S. A mechanistic approach to tip-induced nano-lithography of polymer surfaces. Thin Solid Films 459 (1-2): 95-99, 2004

Watson, G.S., Blach, J.A., Cahill, C., Nicolau, D.V., Pham, D.K. Wright, J.P., Myhra, S. Interactions of poly(amino acids) in aqueous solution with charged model surfaces - analysis by colloidal probe. Biosensors & Bioelectronics 19, 1355-1362, 2004.

Ivanova, E.P., Pham, D.K., Brack, N., Pigram, P., Nicolau, D.V. Poly(L-lysine)-mediated immobilisation of oligonucleotides on carboxy-rich polymer surfaces. Biosensors & Bioelectronics 19, 1363-1370, 2004.

Watson, G.S., Blach, J.A., Cahill, C, Nicolau, D.V., Pham, D.K., Wright, J., Myhra, S. Poly(amino acids) at Si-oxide interfaces—bio-colloidal interactions, adhesion and ‘conformation'. Colloid and Polymer Science 282 (1): 56-63, 2003.

Watson, G.S., Blach, J.A., Nicolau, D.V., Pham, D.K., Wright, J.P., Myhra, S. Surface topography and surface chemistry of radiation-patterned P(tBuMA) - analysis by atomic force microscopy. Polymer International, 52, 1408, 2003.

Wright, J.P., Ivanova, E., Pham, D.K., Filipponi, L., Viezolli, A., Suyama, K., Shirai, M., Tsunooka, M., Nicolau, D.V. Positive and Negative Tone Protein Patterning on a Photo-base Generating Polymer. Langmuir, 19(2); 446-452, 2003.

vanova, E., Wright, J.P., Pham, D.K., Filipponi, L., Viezolli, A., Nicolau, D.V. Polymer Micro-structures Fabricated via Laser Ablation for Multianalyte Microassays. Langmuir, 18, 9539-9546, 2002.

Ivanova, E. P., Pham, K.D., Wright, J., Nicolau, D.V. Detection of coccoid forms of Sulfitobacter mediterraneus using atomic force microscopy. FEMS Microbiology Letters 214 (2), 177-181, 2002.

Cao, J., Pham, D.K., Tonge, L., Nicolau, D.V. Predicting surface properties of proteins on the Connolly molecular surface. Smart Materials & Structures, 11 (5) 772-777, 2002.

Ivanova, E. P., Papiernik, M., Oliveira, A. M., Grodzinski, P., Nicolau D. V. Feasibility of polystyrene-derived polymeric surfaces for covalent attachment of the oligonucleotides. Smart Materials and Structures 11 (5) 783-791, 2002.

Cao, J., Pham, D. K., Tonge, L., Nicolau, D. V. Study of atomic force microscopy force-distance curves by simulation using the Connolly surface for proteins. Smart Materials & Structures, 11 (5) 767-771, 2002.

Tonge, L., Cao, J., Pham, D. K., Wright, J. P., Harvey, E. C., Nicolau, D. V. Effects of polymer properties on laser ablation behaviour. Smart Materials & Structures, 11 (5) 668-674, 2002.

Mahanivong, C., Wright, J. P., Kekic, M., Pham, D. K., dos Remedios, C., Nicolau, D.V. Manipulation of the Motility of Protein Molecular Motors on Microfabricated Substrates. Biomedical Microdevices 4(2): 111-116; 2002.

Wright, J.P., Pham, D.K., Mahanivong, C., Kekic, M., dos Remedios, C.G., Nicolau, D.V. Micropatterning of Myosin on O-Acryloyl Acetophenone Oxime (AAPO), Layered with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA). Biomedical Microdevices 4(3): 205-211; 2002.

Nicolau, Jr. D. V., Solana, G., Fulga, F., Nicolau, D. V. A ‘C’ library for simulating P-Systems. Fundamenta Informaticae, 49(1-3), 241-248, 2002.

Research Leader: Professor Yos Morsi Email: ymorsi@swin.edu.au BSc (Hons) Dip Edu Tech (Hudd) PhD (UK)

Recent work is concentrated on the use of rapid prototyping by fused deposition modelling of scaffold templates for tissue engineering. This work has led to the construction of the first Australian Tri-leaflet (aortic) heart valve scaffold (based on a CT scan of a sheep aortic valve) from a novel polyurethane. In 2002 Professor Morsi was granted strategic initiative funds from Swinburne University of Technology to establish the Tissue Engineering laboratories at the Industrial Research Institute Swinburne (IRIS). The haemodynamics laboratory uses laser diagnostic techniques for mapping various flow fields within structures such as heart valves, coronary arteries and blood vessels. The tissue laboratory is equipped for cell characterization and culture and for the histomorphometric analysis of cells and engineered cell/polymer constructs. For further informatioin please refer to http://www.tissueengineering.com.au

All refereed publications in the past 5 years (2001 onwards)- Morsi:

Books Review, and Chapter in Books

1. Morsi YS and Das Subrat, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Neural Network for Modelling and Simulations of Medical Devices in Neural Networks in Healthcare: Potential and Challenges, Begg R, Kamruzzaman J, Sarker R (eds), CRC Press, Idea Group Inc., Chapter 12, March 2006.
2. Computational Intelligence in Bioengineering a book proposed by Begg and M Palaniswami CRC Press 2004, Reviewed.

Journal Articles

1. Tolouee, C M , Morsi, Y S Yang, W “Experimental study of Zeotropic refrigerant mixture HFC-407C as a replacement for HCFC-22 in the chiller systems” To appear in EcoLibrium, the official journal of AIRAH. www.airah.org.au/ecolibrium- May 2006.
2. * Morsi YS and Birchall IE. Tissue Engineering a Functional Aortic Heart Valve: An Appraisal. Future Cardiol, 1(3), 405-411, 2005. (Invited Review)
3. * Masood SH, Singh JP and Morsi YS. Design and Manufacturing of Porous Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Using Rapid Prototyping. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, UK, published online January 2005.
4. Yeoh, G.H. Morsi, Y.S and Yang, W. A Study of Particle Rebounding Characteristics in a Gas-Particulate Flow over a Curved Wall Surface. Aerosol Science & Technology Journal, 38 (7), 739-755, 2004.
5. Morsi, YS., Tu, J Y Yeoh G.H and. Yang W, Principal Characteristics of Turbulent Gas-Particulate Flow in the Vicinity of Single Tube and Tube Bundle Structure. Chemical Engineering and Science Journal, 59, 3141-3157, 2004.
6. * Morsi YS, Birchall IE and Rosenfeldt FL. Artificial Aortic Valves: An Overview. International Journal of Artificial Organs 27(6), 445-451, 2004.
7. * Lin Q, Morsi YS, Smith B and Yang W. Numerical Simulation and structure verifications of Jellyfish heart valve. Int. J of Computer applications in Tech. Invited paper for a special issue in Biomedical Eng & Comp, 21 (1-2), 2-7, 2004.
8. El-katetney I, Morsi YS, Subrat D, Blicblau A and Doyle DA. Computational Evaluation of the Air Flow inside Vacuum Heat Treatment Furnaces. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 42(4), 417 – 423, 2003.
9. * Saha AK, Mazumber JN and Morsi YS. Effect of Environmental Fluctuations on the dynamic Composition of Engineered Cartilage: A Deterministic Model of Stochastic Environment. IEEE Transactions on nanoscience, 2(3), 158-162, 2003.
10. Das S and Morsi YS. Natural Convection in Heat Generating Oval Porous Enclosure: A Non-Darcian Model. Canadian Chemical Journal, 81, 289-296, 2003.
11. Das, S, and Morsi, YS. Numerical Investigation of Natural Convection in Complex Enclosures. Journal of Heat Transfer Engineering, 24(20), 1-12, 2003.
12. Das S and Morsi Y S. Natural Convection in Domed Porous Enclosures: Non-Darcian Flow. Journal of Porous Media, 6 (3), 1-17, 2003.
13. Das S, and Morsi YS. Natural Convection in Domed Enclosures. Int. Journal of Numerical Methods of Heat and Fluid flow, 12, 126-141, 2002.
14. Aroussi A, Hassan A and Morsi YS. Numerical simulation of the air flow over and heat transfer through a vehicle windshield defrosting and demisting system. Heat and Mass Transfer, 39, 401-405, 2002.
15. * Morsi YS, Ahmad A, Hassan A. Numerical simulation of the turbulent flow fields distal to an aortic heart valve. Frontiers Med Biol Eng 11(1), 1 – 11, 2001.
16. Morsi YS, Yang W, Witt PJ, Ahmed AM, Umezu M. Numerical analysis of the flow characteristics of rotary blood pump. Journal of Artificial Organs, 4 (1), 54-60, 2001.
17. Tu JY, Fletcher CAJ, Zhou Y and Morsi YS, Computational Analysis of Turbulent Gas-Particle Flow in Tube Banks using a Two-Way Coupling Model, International Journal of Chemical Engineering Communication, 188, 207 – 229, 2001.

Conference presentations

1. *Morsi YS, Wong CS, Guo Q and Taube A., Development of synthetic and biosynthetic materials for heart valve leaflets. Australian Society for Biomaterials 16th Annual Conference, New Zealand, Feb 2006.
2. *Wong CS, Birchall IE and Morsi Y., Comparison of polyurethane-coated pericardium, bovine pericardium and polyurethane as substrates for smooth muscle cells seeding. The 12th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Singapore, Dec 2005.
3. Morsi YS, Subrat D and El-Katatny I, "Rapid Development Of Biocompatible Stent Grafts For Aortic Aneurysms: Numerical analysis and experimental validations" ICCB2005 international conference Portugal 2005
4. Morsi YS and Masood SH. Design and manufacture of scaffolds for tissue engineering trileaflet heart valves using fused deposition modeling. Australian Society for Biomaterials 15th Annual Conference, 2005, Victor Harbor, South Australia.
5. * Birchall IE, Smardencas A, Wong C and Morsi Y. Rapid Endothelialisation of Glutaraldehyde Treated Bovine Pericardium. Australian Society for Biomaterials 15th Annual Conference, 2005, Victor Harbor, South Australia.
6. * Birchall IE and Morsi YS. Fused Deposition Modelling for Tissue Engineering heart valves: Current Limitations. Australian Society for Biomaterials 15th Annual Conference, 2005, Victor Harbor, South Australia.
7. Birchall IE, Smardencas A and Morsi Y. Botanical Matrices as Cell Substrates for Tissue Engineering. Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Meeting, 2004. Perth, Australia.
8. Smardencas A and Birchall IE. Intimal Morphology and Endothelial Cell Seeding of Cold Stored Ovine Carotid Arteries. Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Meeting, 2004. Perth, Australia.
9. * Morsi Y, Das S, Birchall IE and Rosenfeldt F. Transient Fluid-Structure Coupling for Simulation of Tri-Leaflet Heart Valves using Weak Coupling. Advances in Tissue Engineering and Biology of Heart Valves, 2004. Florence, Italy.
10. Damen B, Morsi Y, Yang W and Birchall IE. A multifunctional bioreactor for in vitro conditioning of cellularized scaffold templates. Advances in Tissue Engineering and Biology of Heart Valves, 2004, Florence, Italy.
11. Tu JY, Yeoh GH, Morsi YS and Yang W. Numerical and Experimental Study of Particle Rebounding Flow Characteristics in a Gas-Particulate Flow over Curved Bodies. in the Proceedings of 4th ASME-JSME Joint Fluids Engineering Conference ASME, 2003. Paper No. FEDSM2003-45741, p 1-6
12. Moore T, Vasilevski O, Barton PA and Morsi YS. Polycaprolactone as a scaffold material for vascular tissue engineering: optimisation of cell seeding conditions. World Congress on Medical physics and Biomedical Engineering 2003.
13. Masood SH, Morsi YS and Singh JP. Development of 3D Porous Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Using Fused Deposition Modelling. Euro-u Rapid 2002 Conference, Frankfurt Germany,2-3 (Non-Refereed Conf)
14. Morsi. YS. Modelling and Process Simulation in Biomechanics. Invited key note-presentation in the Proceedings of the Forth International Conference on Modelling and Simulation, 2002, Melbourne, Australia, 11-13.
15. Morsi YS, Blicblau AA and Doyle DA. Numerical and Experimental Validation of High Pressure Gas Quenching. International Conference on advances in Materials and Processing Technology 18-20 June 2001. In Leganes, Madrid Spain.
16. Morsi YS, Yang W, Achim D and Acquadro A. Numerical and experimental investigation of top submergence gas injection system. In the proceeding of the fifth international Conference on Computational Methods in Contact Mechanics Seville, Spain, 18-20 June 2001.
17. Morsi YS, Das S, Petkova SB. Analysis of flow field in a T-bifurcation method. In the proceeding of the first Asian-Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics, Sydney, 20-23 November, 2001.
18. Morsi YS, Damen BS, Bos S, Palombo, E Narasimhan V and Tavrou S. Preliminary study on multifunctional bioreactor for in vitro tissue engineering. In the proceeding of the first Asian-Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics, Sydney, 20-23 November, 2001.
19. Morsi Y S, Yang W and Chan S. In vitro analysis of the flow fields of a rotary blood pump. In the proceeding of first Asian-Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics, Sydney, 20-23 November 2001.
20. Morsi YS, Owida A A and Sakhaeimanesh A. In vitro flow analysis of artificial heart valve. In the proceeding of first Asian-Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics, Sydney, p 20-23 November, 2001.
21. Das S, Stephen C, and Morsi, Y, Effect of Curved Isothermal wall on Natural Convection: A Finite Element Method Using Frontal Technique. The Worley, Australasian Finite Element Conference, Melbourne, Australia, p22-23, 2001

Selected Grants: (Tissue Engineering related projects).

• C00106982 ARC Linkage 2001 – 2003. Hydrodynamic performance of graft artery junctions. Numerical simulation and CAD development.
• A00105645 ARC Discovery 2002 – 2004. Fluid dynamics and mechanical stresses of artificial heart valves.
• LP0227129 ARC Linkage (APAI) 2002 - 2004. Particle deposition in the human lung.
• DP0343652 ARC Discovery 2003 – 2005. Tissue engineering of human heart valves grown in vitro.
• LP0347957 ARC Linkage (APAI) 2003 – 2005. In vitro study of haemodynamic stresses and endothelialization of artificial coronary arteries.
• LP0348818 ARC Linkage (Project) 2003 – 2005. Rapid development of biocompatible stent grafts for aortic aneurysms.
• Swinburne University of Technology 2003-2005. Tissue engineering strategic initiative.
• RN0460133. The ARC research network for tissue engineering.
• RN0459505. Australian research network for smart medical devices.
• Dpo557135. An intelligent manufacturing environment for fabrication of scaffold templates for tissue engineering of patient specific implants.
  

Research Leader: Prof. Alex Taube Email: atatube@swin.edu.au Grad. Dip. Ed. : Victoria University of Technology, Australia PhD: ORION Scientific Research Institute, Ukraine MSc: National Technical University of Ukraine "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" B. Eng: Institute of Radio Engineering Electronics and Automation, Russia

Research, design, development and manufacture of RF & Microwave active- passive devices and systems up to 150 GHz related to all branches of industrial electronic.
Developing non-traditional manufacturing processes for industrial applications that demand competitive productivity rates and quality standards. R&D in the field of application microwaves in medicine: Microwave Thermography and Microwave Thermotherapy, Microwave Resonance Therapy.

Dr Alexander Taube and his family came to Australia from Russia in 1992. Arriving with little more than suitcases and a wealth of ideas and experience, he has made a major impact in the microwave engineering profession, demonstrating a strong background in industry-related research and development.

Dr Alexander Taube has over 20 years of experience in the field of industrial microwave electronics and their applications. During this time in Russia and the Ukraine he held senior positions in academia, research organisations and industry. He was involved in designing, manufacturing and evaluating microwave devises and systems for the Russian military and industry alike. He is especially versed in millimetre wave devices for satellite and missile radars, where Russia and in particular the Ukraine, has extensive manufacturing experience.

Dr Taube was a pioneer in engineering research in the application of microwaves in medicine where he is a holder of many worldwide patents. During many years he was involved in research in the field of fundamental and applied aspects of usage of microwave electromagnetic radiation in biology and medicine. His early work on Microwave Resonance Therapy, Microwave Hyperthermia and Microwave Radio - Thermometry is widely recognised. Primary scientific interests are in microwave field interaction with biological systems: electrical properties and biophysical mechanisms.

Dr Taube has now brought this Russian approach to microwaves simplicity and robustness, extensive experience and a solid background in microwave development to Australian industry. Dr Taube work as a whole makes an extensive and original contribution to the field of microwave research and its industrial and medical applications. All research carried out relates to, and is in accord with Australia’s future in the industrial and medical application and innovation of high technology.

More Information

1. MM Wave radiometers complex. Conference Digest. 16th International on IR and MM Waves. Lausanne, Switzerland, 1991, 626-627.
2. Devices for Microwave Resonance Therapy. Proc. of Fifth Australian Symposium on Millimetre And Submillimetre Waves. Adelaide, Australia. 1992.
3. High Power IMPATT Noise Sources for the Active-Passive RADAR. Proc. of Fifth Australian Symposium on Millimetre and Submillimetre Waves. Adelaide, Australia. 1992. pp. 96-97
4. Principles of Applied Biomedical Microwave Instrumentation. Proc. of 23 European Microwave Conference. Madrid, Spain. 1993.
5. Low-level Millimetre Bioelectromagnetic Instrumentation. Proc. of 4th International Symposium on Recent Advance in microwaves Technology. New Delhi, Agfa, India. 1993.
6. Devices for Microwave Resonance Therapy. Proc. of 23 EuMC -93, Madrid, Spain, Sept. 6-9, 1993, 52-57.
7. Devices for Biomedical Non-Thermal Millimetre Wave Radiation. Proc. of 1994 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference - ARMC’ 94. Tokyo, Japan. 1994.
8. Devices for Microwave Power Engineering. Proc. of Microwave’ 94, New Zealand’s First Microwave Symposium, Auckland, NZ. 1994.
9. IMPATT Oscillators with Varactor Tuning for Short Millimetre-Wave Band. Proc. of ICEMI’ 95. International Conference on Electronic Measurement. Shanghai, China
10. Frequency Filtering in the Short MM Wave Bands. International J. of IR and MM Waves, vol 16, N 2, 1995, 78-83.
11. Extremely High Frequency (EHF) Therapy. Complementary Medicine International, 1996, 3 (1): 29.35.
12. Tunable Oscillator and it's Tuning Method. USSR Patent No. 4768590/09/ 89.
13. Millimetre wave VCO. USSR Patent No. 3990567/95
14. Method of non-contact influence on objects' zone and points of minimum resistance and device for its implementation. Republic of Armenia Patent No GP-987.
15. Microwave Resonance Therapy device. USSR Patent 4739197/14.1997
16. Microwave Hot Water System. Petty patent.1998
    

• Microwave Arcjet Thruster
  Objective: To design microwave acrjet thruster ruses microwave energy to create a free-floating plasma discharge within microwave resonance cavity.
• Microwave drying ceramic isolators, plaster board and paper web
  Objective: To develop appropriate technology based on application of microwaves in manufacturing processes.
  
• Industrial and Domestic Hot Water system
  Objective: To develop an alternative microwave hot water system to help in the process of reducing operating cost, saving energy and providing a better environment. The system is capable of producing hot water instantaneously and at a preselected temperature up to boiling point.
• Microwave Heating and Processing Dielectric Fluids
  Objective: To investigate the thermal runaway phenomena of grease constituents in isolation and in combination and subsequently develop appropriate applicators for batch production operations.
• Diamond coating using Microwave Vacuum Deposition Techniques.
  Objective: To assess the deposition of diamond coatings on metallic tool surfaces.
• Investigation of the application of Microwave Technology to Malting
  Objective: To develop a microwave technology for heating water in boiler circuit, steep water heating, drying the green malt in the conveying system, alternative technology to conventional kilning.
• Rapid Curing of Adhesive Bonds in low Dielectric Polymer Sheets using Microwaves
  Objective: To assess the potential of using microwave coupling agents and adhesives for heterogeneous sound bonding of low dielectric polymers.
• Development of a Passive Microwave Radiometer for non-contact medical and industrial thermography applications and Microwave Medical Radiometry for Breast Cancer Detection
  Objective: To design and develop a Microwave Radiometer System to measure non-invasively the electromagnetic radiation or emission from an object.
• Development of a Microwave Hyperthermia Apparatus for Skin Cancer Treatment.
  Objective: To desing a newer form of treatment that involves the use of heating effects of applied microwave energy, by bringing cancerous cells to a critical temperature, at which they can be destroyed without causing harm to the healthy cells.