Professor Vipul Bansal
Ian Potter NanoBioSensing Facility
NanoBiotechnology Research Laboratory
School of Sciences
RMIT University
Melbourne, Australia

Biomimetic Nanozyme Sensors: From Environmental to Clinical Diagnostics

Nanomaterials are well-known for their impressive catalytic activity. However, more recently, a number of nanomaterials are being discovered to behave similar to the traditional biomolecular enzymes such as peroxidase, oxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase. This biomimetic activity of nanomaterials is establishing ‘nanozymes’ as artificial inorganic enzymes and the research field have just begun to explore this unique property for a range of applications

Our group has established that by combining nanozyme activity of different nanomaterials (e.g. metals, metal oxides, 2-Dimensional dichalcogenides) with certain molecular recognition elements (MREs) such as aptamers, antibodies and lectins, the nanozyme activity can be actively modulated. This control over nanozyme activity of inorganic materials has allowed us to develop new ultrafast, highly sensitive and selective colorimetric nanobiosensors for the detection of a range of analyte molecules.

Our research shows that this generic biosensing approach can be applied for the detection of a range of targets relevant to environmental monitoring as well as biomedical and food industries. These include pesticides, antibiotics, pathogenic bacteria in wound fluids, complex diseases such as bacterial vaginosis, and highly sensitive detection of cancer cells. We will discuss some of the recent developments made by our group in this area.

Biography
Professor Vipul Bansal is an ARC Future Fellow and the Founding Director of Sir Ian Potter NanoBioSensing Facility at RMIT University Australia. He currently mentors a cross-disciplinary team of over 20 researchers and postgraduate students at RMIT NanoBiotechnology Research Laboratory (NBRL Group). Vipul was awarded his PhD in 2007 from National Chemical Laboratory India, followed by a short postdoctoral stint at the University of Melbourne. He then joined RMIT University in 2008 as an Australian Research Council Fellow to establish an independent group.

Vipul has cross-disciplinary expertise across agricultural & veterinary science (Honours degree), Biotechnology (Masters degree) and Nanotechnology (PhD). Vipul has contributed over 100 peer-reviewed publications; supervised 20 PhD theses, and secured over $12 Million in research funding from sources such as the ARC, the Gates Foundation, the Ian Potter Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and industry. Vipul’s team works on different aspects of materials science and nano-biotechnology, with a particular emphasis on synthesis of new nanomaterials for applications in diagnostics, biomedical imaging, wound and microbial management, catalysis and flexible electronics using organic semiconductors. Two products from his laboratory are currently under clinical trial, including a dual PET/MRI imaging agent, and a diagnostic device for monitoring vaginal health.

Host: Associate professor Alexander Zelikin, iNANO & Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University