Chemical biomolecular engineering
Last updated 27 February 2024.
List of available projects
Supervisors: Dr Aeryne Lee, Dr Jacopo Giaretta, and Dr Sina Naficy
Eligibility:
- Passionate about learning new skills and research
- Keen interest in developing biomedical solutions for real life problems
- Experience in laboratory work (preferred but not necessary)
- Studying biomedical engineering and/or robotics or mechanical/mechatronic engineering (preferred but not necessary). At the very least, in the penultimate year of their undergraduate degree
Project Description: Our research group aims to develop a polymeric heart valve replacement (HVR) that can improve performance compared with current available treatments and reduce the risk of failure for patients who suffer from cardiac diseases.
The main focus of this project will be on automating the fabrication process for creating HVR prototypes. This will be achieved by the aid of an advanced robotic arm. The candidate will use this robotic system to optimise the fabrication parameters in order to achieve reproducible and defect-less HVRs. The candidate will also design and 3D print various components needed for the better control of fabrication process, e.g., grippers, moulds, chambers.
The candidate will be joining a multidisciplinary team of experts comprised of engineers, scientists, computational modelling specialists, and clinicians. Upon the completion of this project, the candidate will have an opportunity to continue their research towards a PhD degree.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisor: Professor Tim Langrish
Eligibility: 2nd or 3rd year chemical, mechanical or civil engineering
Project Description: The Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 is an exciting and critical development in industrial and academic enterprises, and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is seeking to develop case studies for IoT-enabled laboratory equipment for leading the teaching and learning conversation with students, starting with the question “why” (does this work?). This development will therefore raise the level of student-teacher relationships and create clear communications and expectations for learning and teaching. Specific outcomes include embedded digital twins and virtual wrap-around experimental tools, through Vuforia Studio, for bubble columns, spray dryers, and in-vitroand in-vivo human digestion systems, and multi-process dynamics and control.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisor: Professor Tim Langrish
Eligibility: 2nd or 3rd year chemical, mechanical or civil engineering
Project Description: This project will improve a new spray dryer design using Computational Fluid Dynamics and experimental testing. The project will use our understanding of fluid and particle mechanics to continue developing the design of an already-existing pilot-scale spray dryer to minimize the deposition rate of particles on the walls of the spray dryer. Applications include the development of future food materials through advanced food engineering and the production of new particles of Metal Organic Frameworks for Direct Carbon Capture of carbon dioxide. An interest in fluid and particle mechanics and experimental testing would be very helpful for this project.
Requirement to be on campus:.Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisor: Professor Marjorie Valix
Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application.
Project Description: This research project aims to develop a classification system for electronic waste (e-waste) to enable systematic recycling processes of e-wastes for extracting critical metals. This project addresses the two major challenges to global sustainability imposed by i) increasing and dynamic variety and volume of e-waste being generated, and ii) diminishing availability of natural reserves for the critical metals despite their increasing demand. This project will involve identifying suitable criteria for classifying e-waste based on their characteristics (e.g., composition). The classification will be developed for recycling operators to: Firstly, enable rapid and systematic screening of e-wastes that are suitable for recycling from an economic point of view. Secondly, allow matching of suitable recycling processing steps for each type of waste from different classifications to maximise the recycling efficiency. This classification system will also improve the current economic viability of e-waste recycling businesses to promote widespread adoption of e-waste recycling.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisor: Professor Marjorie Valix
Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application.
Project Description: This research project aims to deliver a comprehensive review of the technologies available for recycling critical metals from E-wastes. The recycling of e-wastes is currently limited due to their heterogenous material nature, containing a mix of various metals and polymers, as well as the generation of secondary waste during recycling. The scope of this project will be on the technological availability of extracting critical metals from e-waste. E-wastes contain a variety of critical metals (e.g., gold). However, due to the technological limitations in recycling, often the e-wastes with such critical metals end up in landfills. This project will involve a state-of-the-art review of current and emerging technologies for critical metals extraction from e-wastes. The technologies will be evaluated based on criteria including technical viability, efficiency, scalability, environmental impact, and economics. The review will identify solutions that are technologically advanced with the potential for practical implementations to promote the recycling process.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisors: Dr Xinying Liu and Adj. Prof. David F Fletcher
Eligibility: Interest in simulation and modelling
Project Description: Our research group is committed to developing innovative heart valve replacement to provide treatment for children with congenital heart disease with the combined effort from cardiothoracic surgery, bioengineering, polymer chemistry and computational modelling experts.
The modelling team focuses on providing a comprehensive model that could mimic the hydrodynamic performance of the heart valve replacement and evaluate the effect of different valve design, material properties, and valve sizes. We use different approaches in the simulation workflow, including finite element analysis (FEA) and computation fluid dynamics (CFD).
As part of the simulation/modelling team, you will be investigating the effect of different valve properties and fluid flow, assisting in the development of models, and collaborating with the experimental team.
For more information about our project and the team
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisors: Dr Xinying Liu, Adj. Prof. David F Fletcher and Dr Sina Naficy
Eligibility: Interest in research and wiliness to learn new skills
Project Description: Our research group is committed to developing innovative heart valve replacement to provide treatment for children with congenital heart disease with the combined effort from cardiothoracic surgery, bioengineering, polymer chemistry and computational modelling experts.
The next major step of our project is to optimize our valve design as well as the material we use to fabricate the valve, with the use of an automated digital simulation tool called Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO). The optimization will be achieved by the combined approach of simulation, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques to maximise the hydrodynamic performance of the valve.
For more information about our project and the team.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisors: Dr. Jacopo Giaretta, Dr. Aeryne Lee, Dr Sina Naficy
Eligibility:
- Passionate about learning new skills and research
- Keen interest in developing biomedical solutions for real-life problems
- Previous experiences in laboratory settings (preferred). At the very least, in the penultimate year of their undergraduate degree
Project Description: Heart valve replacements (HVRs) are medical devices that substitute diseased heart valves and play a most vital role in controlling the flow of blood in or out of the heart chambers. Gradual loss of function in HVRs leads to significant complications over time if it goes undetected. Yet, HVRs are passive, meaning that after implantation their function cannot be continuously monitored.
In this project, we will develop a smart HVR with embedded sensors to monitor the integrity and function of the valves. Sensors will be developed by incorporating conductive patterns into the leaflets of the HVR. The patterns will be designed as an antenna to enable wireless communication with an external device. Any defect in the HVR will alter this communication, hence highlighting the early stages of HVR’s loss of function.
This project will provide the intern with hands-on experience on advanced manufacturing and medical device fabrication.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisor: Dr. Fengwang Li
Eligibility: Chemistry, chemical engineering, or materials science & engineering background.
Project Description: Hydrogenation is one of the most fundamental chemical processes in a variety of industries. Traditionally, hydrogenation has been conducted at high temperatures and pressures, requiring a great deal of energy and fossil fuels. Electrochemical hydrogenation proceeds under mild conditions but suffers from limited solvent selection, product separation and competing H2 evolution reactions. This project will exploit an electrochemical palladium membrane reactor (ePMR) as an alternative to hydrogenation. ePMR takes advantage of both thermocatalytic and electrocatalytic methods to overcome problems such as low Faradic efficiency (FE) and limitation of solvent, enabling hydrogenation of important chemical at room temperature and pressure.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisor: Dr. Fengwang Li
Eligibility: Chemistry, chemical engineering, or materials science & engineering background.
Project Description: This project seeks to explore technologies to focus on the capture process of removing carbon dioxide from oceanwater. Direct ocean capture (DOC) is one method of capturing dispersed CO2. DOC also has the potential for offshore deployment that offers a variety of useful potential benefits such as reducing competition for useful land, allowing access to oceanic CO2 storage sites currently only reachable by pipeline, and producing valuable CO2 streams offshore for a number of potential uses, including as a feedstock for fuel and chemical synthesis. Finally, DOC represents a direct reversal of ocean acidification caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This Project will focus on the development of robust, energy efficient, and low-cost strategies for direct removal of CO2 from oceanwater and other natural waters by addressing challenges and opportunities specifically found in operation in an oceanic environment.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisor: Sarina
Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application
Project Description: The photocatalytic selective hydrogenation of nitro compounds represents a promising approach for the synthesis of valuable organic molecules with high selectivity and efficiency, and also have great potential to treat explosive nitro compounds in a mild condition. This project aims to develop an innovative photocatalytic system for the selective reduction of nitro groups to amino groups using light as the energy source and a suitable catalyst. The proposed methodology will explore the use of plasmonic metal nanoparticles, coupled with hydrogenation catalysts to facilitate the transformation under mild reaction conditions. The project will investigate key parameters influencing the photocatalytic process, including catalyst design, reaction conditions, and light wavelength, to optimize the selectivity and yield of the desired product. Additionally, mechanistic studies will be conducted to elucidate the underlying reaction pathways and guide further optimization efforts. The successful implementation of this approach holds significant potential for the sustainable synthesis of important organic compounds, contributing to the advancement of green chemistry practices.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisors: A/Prof John Kavanagh
Eligibility: This project would suit a student with strong programming skills and some knowledge of multiphase flow.
Project Description: Bubble flows are central to many industrial processes. Image acquisition and analysis systems are improving dramatically. The current analysis methods do include fundamental knowledge about bubbly flow and as a result the analysis could be improved substantially.
The aim for this project is to combine knowledge from multiphase flow and fluid dynamics to improve the estimation of bubble size distributions and flow patterns in complex bubbly flows.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.. Would strongly prefer on campus for at least part of the week.
Supervisors: Dr David Wang; Shakila Akter; Dr Jing Yi Li
Eligibility: WAM 70 and a research interest in spectroscopy
Project Description: This research project is based on to development of a new Spectroscopic Technique for the CO2absorption capacity in Ionic Liquid absorbents. The primary objectives of the project are to assess the performance of the CO2 absorption capacity in ionic liquids and to quantitatively evaluate the feasibility of characterization techniques using Ultraviolet–Visible (UV–Vis) absorption spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and 1H and 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).
Room temperature Ionic Liquids (RTILs) show significant absorption in the entire ultraviolet (UV) region and long tail in the visible region due to extended hydrogen bonded. Because of this, UV-vis spectroscopy becomes a useful tool for the absorption study of ionic liquids.
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra of some ionic liquids reveal information on the interaction between ionic liquid cations with different inorganic anions. Ionic Liquids show different absorption in IR spectra due to the relative position of the anion with the ionic liquid cation.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a well-suited technique for in situ structure investigation of ionic liquids. In the present project work, 1H and 13C NMR will be used as a complementary technique to provide dynamics characterization and structural elucidation of Ionic Liquids.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisors: Dr. Syamak Farajikhah, Prof. Fariba Dehghani, A/Prof. Omid Kavehei
Eligibility: Previous laboratory experience is advantageous.
Project Description: This project aims to develop simple and flexible devices that can be easily incorporated in food packaging for detecting life threatening contamination in food products to reduce the risk of food outbreaks that each year threaten health of millions of people worldwide. It can also be used for rapid and non-invasive diagnosis of some health issues such as kidney diseases. Candidates will join our highly supportive and multidisciplinary team with various expertise in engineering, science and clinicians who are working towards solving real-world issues. We are seeking to hire highly motivated and creative researchers with the background in engineering, medical science, or chemistry with the desire to join our team to develop such devices that tackle grand challenges in early detection of a disease or monitoring food quality and safety to promote human wellbeing. The candidate will acquire skills in additive manufacturing, electrochemistry and several different analytical techniques.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.
Supervisors: Dr. Syamak Farajikhah, Dr. Sepehr Talebian, Prof. Fariba Dehghani, Dr Jacopo Giaretta
Eligibility: Previous laboratory experience is advantageous
Project Description: This project aims to develop a robust biosensor for rapid diagnosis of life-threatening diseases such as cardiac arrest and cancer.
Cardiovascular and cancer diseases are leading causes of death globally. These diseases also have a massive socioeconomic impact on societies. Early diagnosis is a key factor for better treatment plan, increasing the survival rate and reducing the risk of disability. The candidate will join a highly active and supportive multidisciplinary team of entrepreneurs and experts in engineering, science and clinician working towards solving real-world issues.
We are seeking to hire highly motivated, creative, and passionate researchers with a background in medical science, materials engineering, or chemistry ready to join our team to tackle the grand challenges for developing these diagnostic devices to promote human wellbeing. The candidate will acquire various skills in electrochemistry, engineering, additive manufacturing, wireless system design and various analytical techniques.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice..
Supervisors: Dr. Li Wei
Eligibility: Year 3/4 chemical engineering/chemistry students with basic knowledge in electrochemistry.
Project Description: This project focuses on developing efficient electrocatalysts to produce propylene oxide (PO), an essential chemical for the polymer and solvent industry, by direct electrochemical epoxidation (DEEP). PO is produced at a scale of over 12 million tons per year, but its production requires corrosive chlorine or explosive peroxides. DEEP can realise sustainable PO production with minimised waste generation. Heterogenous molecular catalysts (HMCs), which are composed of structure-defined organometallic compounds deposited on carbon substrates, will be innovated in this project to achieve efficient PO formation with high activity and selectivity. In this six-week project, under senior HDR guidance, you will:
- Receive complimentary lab safety and research training;
- Synthesis structure controlled HMCs by using different compounds and substrates;
- Assessing the DEEP performance using readily available facilities.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice..
Supervisors: Zengxia Pei
Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application.
Project Description: This project aims to develop efficient functional hydrogel electrolytes for aqueous batteries (e.g., Zn batteries). Successful applicants of this program will have plenty of opportunities to be exposed to and master a broad spectrum of fundamental and technical knowledge in hydrogel electrolytes' synthesis, characterization, and their applications in aqueous batteries. Successful outcomes of the program may lead to possible author contribution in high-quality publications.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice..
CBE2024/18 Biofuels and biochemicals from biomass: advancing net-zero chemicals and fuels production
Supervisor: A/Prof Alejandro Montoya
Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application.
Project Description: The student will work on a sustainable and eco-friendly process for producing platform chemicals from biomass for the production of bioplastics, using state of the art new plug flow micro-reactors and electrolyses.
Students will support the work of one postdoctoral fellow, and two PhD students, gaining invaluable opportunities for skill development in chemical engineering processes.
Furthermore, it offers students an opportunity to expose themselves to cutting-edge research technologies, allowing them to get a better understanding of current trend and innovations in their field.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice..
Supervisors: Dr Aoni Xu, Dr Kaye Minkyung kang
Eligibility: WAM>75 and Undergraduate candidates must have already completed at least 96 credit points towards their undergraduate degree at the time of application.
Project Description: Green Hydrogen is essential to decarbonise our economy, contributing to phasing-out fossil fuels and a net-zero CO2 future. The core of current technology for hydrogen generation is high-performing catalyst in water electrolysis.
In this project, you will learn how to translate your fundamental knowledge of catalysis, free energies, kinetics into green hydrogen industry. Additionally, you will achieve a theory-based digitalization of hydrogen production activity on various catalysts, and convert the simulated results into experiments.
Requirement to be on campus: Yes *dependent on government’s health advice.