Bilateral researcher exchange forges ahead

Left to right: Prof Neil Furlong, Dr Ming Ma, Prof Suresh Bhargava, Mr Jos Campbell and Dr Vipul Bansal

Whilst enthusiasm for building Sino-Australian research partnerships has been high in all members of the NanoNetwork, some of our Chinese members in particular have been very enthusiastic and active in their efforts to build strong partnerships. Southeast University has continued its strong commitment to the NanoNetwork with recent visits to Australia designed to strengthen both joint research activity, as well as bilateral teaching and exchange of PhD students.

Dr Ming Ma, from the State key Laboratory of BioElectronics at Southeast University, visited RMIT University in early May to work with researchers from the Advanced Functional Nanomaterials Group on the development of joint research proposals in the field of Nano-biotechnology, a priority research area for both Australia and China.

The primary area of collaboration between RMIT and Southeast is focused on the synthesis of hybrid metal-iron oxide nanoparticles, and the ways they might be used in cancer imaging and treatment via MRI and hyperthermia applications – ‘frying’ the cancer tissue. Southeast University has hyperthermia instrument facilities available that are not available Australia-wide, greatly expanding RMIT’s ability to contribute to research in this field.

Creating opportunities for NanoNetwork PhD students, an Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowship Application is currently being prepared to allow RMIT student Jos Campbell to work with the Nano-biomedical Research Group at Southeast University for 6 months on this research, benefiting from access to such state-of-the-art international facilities. A similar Endeavour Research Award Application is also in progress to allow a Southeast PhD student to likewise visit RMIT University for 6 months.

Concurrent to that visit, Ms Tingting Bai, PhD student at Southeast University, spent two weeks working at Curtin University’s Nanochemistry Research Institute in its Scanning Probe Microscopy Facility. Expanding on work she had already undertaken in China, Ms Bai performed preparations and measurements on various samples of nanoparticles using an Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) system, learning to use the system for more advanced applications than she had previously done.

Ms Bai will continue her work on imaging of cellular interactions with nano and biomaterials via her involvement in the NanoNetwork joint PhD supervision program.