The development and study of chemopropelled cargo-carrying vehicles in fluids

The controlled transport of chemical species in fluidic systems is essential to the functioning of living systems. Emulating cellular transport processes in synthetic fluidic systems, so as to allow the controlled transport of reagents or products from one site to another, has the potential to add revolutionary capabilities to fluidic platforms. In this exciting chemistry and materials project, we will undertake the development and study of chemopropelled vesicles in fluids in order to explore the potential and limits of chemopropulsion and its use as a driving mechanism for cargo-carrying vehicles in fluids. The resulting fluidic transport systems could be used to transport medicine in the human body, act as chemical messengers for signal transduction in sensing or other systems or move cargo around microfluidic devices.

The project will be based at the University of Wollongong (Australia), with aspects of the research undertaken with Professor Keith Gordon at the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand) and Professor Dermot Diamond at Dublin City University (Dublin, Ireland).

The non-taxable PhD scholarship is A$25,400 per annum.

The selected candidate will be required to meet the entry requirements for the PhD program at the University of Wollongong including having a suitable Bachelors degree with First or Upper Second Class Honours, Masters or equivalent.

For further background information, see http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201403007/abstract.