Start
Feb 09, 2015 - 17:00
End
Feb 09, 2015 - 18:00
Venue
Room 240 Computer Lab Chemical Engineering
Event Type
Speaker
Dr.Raju Adhikari Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Australia.
Title
CSIRO Manufacturing Flagship: Polymer Research Perspective from Biomaterials to Agricultural Applications
Abstract: CSIRO the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is Australia's national science agency. It is one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world and plays a key role in Australia’s National Innovation System. To address these challenges CSIRO has created a new portfolio of 9 Flagships with a greater focus on national priorities to boost Australia’s competitiveness and productivity. CSIRO’s Manufacturing Flagship has an excellent track record of innovation and success in the design of novel materials for a broad range of commercial application. This talk besides providing an overview of the CSIRO and its Manufacturing Flagship it will highlighttwo areas of polymer research in biomedical applications and agriculture. In biomedical applications it will overview its research in biostable and biodegradable polymers together with their impact as commercial products Elast-Eon™ and NovoSorb™. Here it will discuss briefly their chemistry and properties as both classes of polymers are now approved by FDA and used in medical devices. The second part of the talk will provide an overview of our recent research work on biodegradable polymers for application in agriculture. We are developing a sprayable water dispersible polymer membrane technology for use as a membrane on soil to reduce water losses due to evaporation. The polymer hasbeen evaluated in preliminary field trials in irrigated crop production where its use suggested a water saving of ~15-30% compared to a control for the same crop yield.Brief Bio: Dr Raju Adhikari has been working in CSIRO for past 20 years and played key role in developing technology platforms with a suite of novel polymers for medical implant advanced tissue engineering organic light emitting diodes (OLED) food and for agricultural application. He is a principal research scientist at CSIRO Manufacturing Flagship and hold an adjunct Associate professor position at RMIT University.He had done his PhD from University of Delhi in 1986 and later post-doctoral studies at CSIRO Molecular Science Australia and Universitat of Hohenheim in Germany from 1991-1993. He has published 4 book chapters over 54 papers and own 20 patents including provisional He has received CSIRO medal and was runner up Australian Eureka prize awarded for commercialisation of polymer technology for biomedical application. He is the co-inventor of the Elast-Eon™ and NovoSorb™ platform technology. Both class of polymers are approved by FDA and are used in medical devices currently. He is also in the editorial board of Frontiers | Bioengineering and Biotechnology and Journal of Medical Engineering The Scientific World JOURNAL.