Join with us as we welcome AIBN's Director Professor Alan Rowan and AIBN's Research Fellow Dr Amanda Kijas who will present 'Tuneable Biomaterials, the key to cellular control' on Tuesday 6 September 2022. 

Speakers

Prof Alan Rowan
Director, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, UQ

Prof Alan Rowan is the Director of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia and establish a new group of Biomaterials. He has performed his research at the interface of chemistry and biology with seminal and pioneering work on processive catalysis and functional self-assembly. In recognition of the quality and originality of Professor Rowan’s research, he was awarded the RSC Soft Matter and Biophysics Prize in 2014 and in April 2020 he became a Fellow of the Australian Academic. In 2017 he was awarded an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, in the area of mechano-transduction and its influence on cell behavior, combining the fields of soft matter and responsive materials.

Dr Amanda Kijas
Research Fellow, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, UQ

Dr Kijas is a passionate research scientist who joined Professor Alan Rowans group in 2017 to develop novel wound management agents and investigate the interface between material science and cellular responses. Dr Kijas and her team are exploring both types in isolation and as composite and hybrid materials to tailor the biophysical aspects to the specific applications. By combining these matrices with bioactive components we are empowering the materials to bring about the biochemical responses in defined ways, enabling the investigation of both fundamental biological processes as well as development of clinically relevant agents.