Materials Science & Nanobiotechnology

Biography

Dr. Vi Khanh Truong is an RMIT Vice Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Researcher Fellow and Fulbright Scholar. He obtained his PhD in Nanobiotechnology in 2012 from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. He began his postdoctoral fellowship in CRC for Polymers in the project “Development of biopolymers for sustainable agriculture” in January 2013. His postdoctoral research focused on investigating the bacterial behaviours and diversity in soils treated with designed biopolymers. In 2015, Dr. Truong was offered a position as the research fellow in ARC Steel Research Hub to investigate fungal infestation on steel products and design the innovative antifungal coating applications. In the current position, his interest was to understand the molecular interactions between microbial cellular structures and nanomaterials to investigate “antimicrobial resistance” and “next-generations of antimicrobial agents”.

 

Abstract

Microbial biofilm has become a significant problems in biomedical applications, leading to the significant loss in human health and economy. In particular, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in microbial biofilm is the rigid protective layers for microbial persistence and resistance against the antimicrobial treatment. This problem sometimes causes the complete removal of infection sites or organs. In the recent development of nanotechnology, stimuli-activated nanotechnology-based treatments can be used to treat the microbial biofilm infections. In this study, biocompatible liquid metals (LM) such as Galinstan (GaInSn) functionalised with magnetic iron particles are investigated as a new class of stimuli activated biofilm treatment. Particularly, Galinstan nanoparticles magnetically functionalised with low-weight ratio magnetic iron (Fe) inclusions are exploited as magnetic responsive materials. When exposed to a rotating magnetic field these particles move at high speeds and undergo a shape transformation from spheres to high aspect ratios rods, irregular spheroids, and “nano-stars” which can physically rupture and remove pathogenic bacteria from a model surface. The magneto-physical antibacterial activity of these LM particles is tested against a range of single and co-colonised infectious biofilms of common pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli). Furthermore, the concentration of the magnetic Fe inclusion was varied in an effort to optimise the rate of antibacterial efficacy. This approach has paved the innovative way to treat the biofilm-related infections for the future applications.