4th GCI Symposium
Program
booklet Download
4th GU_Cross-Institute_Symposium program (pdf)
DownloadPLENARY SPEAKER: PROF Nam-Trung Nguyen
Nam-Trung Nguyen is a professor and an ARC Laureate Fellow at the Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre (QMNC), Griffith University, Australia. He received his Dip-Ing (M. Eng.), Dr Ing (Ph. D.) and Dr Ing Habil (professorial qualification) degrees from Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany. During his career, he was a postdoctoral research engineer at the University of California at Berkeley, USA in 1998, a faculty member at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore from 1999 to 2013 and a Professor and Director of Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre at Griffith University from 2013 to 2023. Starting in 2024, Prof Nguyen is an ARC Laureate Fellow at the Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre (QMNC), Griffith University.
Prof Nguyen’s research focuses on microfluidics, nanofluidics, micro/nanomachining technologies, micro/nanoscale science, and instrumentation for biomedical applications. He has published over 500 journal papers and filed 8 patents, of which 3 were granted. Prof. Nguyen was named as one of the top 17 Australian researchers in Chemical & Material Sciences by the Research Special Report of The Australian in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and continuously listed in the Stanford top 2% most influential scientists globally since 2021. In 2023, he was granted an ARC Laureate Fellowship, which is the ultimate research fellowship in Australia,to propel his exciting field of research of micro and elastofluidics.
Handicraft, Art, Languages - A Geek’s Journey in Science and Technology
In this talk, I will share my personal journey of competitive research in science and technology. I will present how hands-on skills, curiosity and appreciation of art and languages affect my thought process, leading to innovation and discovery. I will present how my research interest evolves over time, addressing and providing solutions to the latest technological challenges. The talk will conclude with examples of my team’s on-going research in micro elastofluidics.
PLENARY SPEAKER: DR FRANK SAINSBURY
Dr Frank Sainsbury is a research leader in physical virology at the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University. His research group is primarily interested in virus capsids, pushing the boundaries of how they assemble and what can be learned from using them as biochemical reaction vessels and delivery vehicles. Dr Sainsbury trained as a plant virologist at the John Innes Centre in the UK. His work there included the invention of protein expression systems in plants that have supported Phase III clinical trials of influenza vaccine candidates and led to a major UK innovation award. Since returning to Australia to take up an ARC DECRA Fellowship at UQ in 2014, he has developed an innovative program of research into the assembly, engineering, and uses of virus-like particles. He was since awarded a CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform Fellowship to explore the directed assembly of virus coat proteins into protein cages with non-natural geometries. In 2023, he was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship to use a synthetic virology approach to evolving virus capsids for applied uses in agriculture and health.
Engineered virus capsids as nanoscale containers and compartments
Virus-like particles (VLPs) assembled from the coat proteins of virus capsids have emerged as useful nanoscale structures for applications in biotechnology and nanotechnology. From well-known applications like vaccines and gene delivery vectors, their potential for encapsulation also enables biocatalytic nanoreactors, drug delivery, and templating inorganic materials. As a platform for industrial applications, VLPs offer a unique combination of high fidelity self-assembly, amenability to engineering with molecular precision, and production that is biocompatible and scalable. My research group aims to understand capsid assembly in order to apply rational engineering principles to VLP assembly in vivo and in vitro, biomolecular cargo encapsulation, and biohybrid materials. We use a diverse range of cross-disciplinary techniques, which are supported by key collaborations. I will present recent work on improving the programmable self-sorting of biomolecular cargos in vivo, re-directing capsid assembly using DNA scaffolds, and interfacing VLPs with peptide-stabilised emulsions. The key message of these exciting outcomes is that the most productive and impactful research synergy can be found where it is least expected.
Thank You
The organising committee of the 4th Griffith University ECR Cross Institute Symposium would like to thank our generous industry sponsors. Without their support, the symposium couldn't happen. Please check them out further, or contact their representative for more information about their products and services.
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