BCMaterials invited talks: Professor Gordon G. Wallace

New Biocommunication systems enabled by advances in materials and 3D biofabrication

Professor Gordon G. Wallace ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, AIIM Facility, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

The quest to understand and control this biological system we live in is insatiable. The recent discovery of materials that allow high fidelity communications between the worlds of biology and electronics has provided some amazing new insights. The recent development of 3D biofabrication strategies means these new materials are readily integrated into practically useful structures. This convergence has also revealed a number of other shorter term opportunities that impact on human health. Here we will explore this journey and the side roads we have travelled down in partnership with our clinical collaborators.

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Gordon G. Wallace                   ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, AIIM Facility, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia Email: gwallace@uow.edu.au

Professor Gordon Wallace is involved in the design and discovery of new materials for use in Energy and Health. In the Health area this involves using new materials to develop biocommunications from the molecular to skeletal domains in order to improve human performance. In the Energy area this involves use of new materials to transform and to store energy, including novel wearable and implantable energy systems for the use in Medical technologies. In order to facilitate the creation of functional devices from fundamental discoveries he has pioneered the development of 3D additive fabrication (including 3D printing) using advanced materials.

He is committed to fundamental research and the translation of fundamental discoveries into practical applications. He is a passionate communicator, dedicated to explaining scientific advances to all in the community from the lay person to the specialist.

He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia 26 January 2017.

He received Wollongong’s award for Innovation in 2017 and served as Wollongong’s Australia Day Ambassador.

Gordon was named NSW Scientist of the Year 2017.

He received the Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science and Innovation in 2016.

He was appointed to the Prime Ministers Knowledge Nation 100 in 2015.

Gordon is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), Institute of Physics, Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and the Royal Society of NSW. He is a corresponding member of the Academy of Science in Bologna.

He has published in excess of 1,000 refereed publications that have attracted some 40,000 citations; a monograph (3rd Edition published in 2009) on Conductive Electroactive Polymers: Intelligent Polymer Systems and co-authored a monograph on Organic Bionics (published 2012). He has recently co-authored an eBook on 3D BioPrinting He led the presentation of a MOOC on 3D Bioprinting on the FutureLearn platform. This has attracted in excess of 20,000 participants from around the globe including UK, USA, India, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Brazil. He was instrumental in the development of an on-line Graduate Certificate course in Biofabrication available through UOW.

Gordon has supervised more than 100 PhD students to completion and has mentored more than 50 research fellows.

He completed his undergraduate (1979) and PhD (1983) degrees at Deakin University and was awarded a DSc from Deakin University in 2000. He was appointed as a Professor at the University of Wollongong in 1990. He was awarded an ARC Professorial Fellowship in 2002; an ARC Federation Fellowship in 2006 and ARC Laureate Fellowship in 2011.

His other passions include Soccer, Australian Football League (Geelong Football Club) and Music.