Flinders Nanotechnology Essay

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Amandi Hiyare: Before forming my research question, I had a discussion with my research project coordinator “Lisa Pope” who told me that the Flinders nanotechnology research team has been developing microbial catheters. Then on Monday I had an interview with Professor Joe Shapter who told me that your team was leading this project. So I was wondering whether you would be able to provide me with some detailed information about this innovation? Prof. Amanda Ellis: The problem with catheters is the ability to get bacterial attachment to the surface of the polymer. There are two approaches to this problem using nanotechnology: coating or copolymerization. The approach of the coating works when an antimicrobial layer is placed on top of the lens. The antimicrobial the Flinders Research team has been using is an extract from cloves. Dentists have also been using this compound to stop oral infections. The other approach is when the antimicrobial agent is combined with the polymer and this is called ‘copolymerization’. The reason why copolymerization is more effective is the coating can be abraded off. However with the copolymerization the antimicrobial is part of the compound and forms covalent bonds (share of electrons). It is important that the bonds are strong as the material could come out of the polymer and cause even more damage. …show more content…

Amanda Ellis: I guess you would call it ‘Bio-mimicry’. As you are at a very small scale ‘nano-scale’ which is beyond white blood cells and red blood cells, nanotechnology fools the body that it is a normal material. A lot of studies go looking at biocompatible polymers, which are polymers that are bio compatible in the sense that the body does not find it toxic. There are a lot of people that are working with DNA nanotechnology. An example of Prof. Ellis’s research is delivering cancer drugs through a DNA strand with the use of a nano-scale box. Humans have DNA, which is about 50% different than a banana. As DNA is

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