Recent Events and News
Group Christmas party 18.12.2021
Velocity 100K challenge Grand Finals 20.10.2021
Congratulations to SuperCarbon team members Sara Beikzadeh, Alireza Akbarinejad and Jadranka Travas Sejdic for winning the prestigious Velocity 100k Challenge 2021 Academic category. SuperCarbon business proposal is based on Sara’s PhD thesis which is a ground-breaking technology with sustained antimicrobial and antiviral properties and multiple applications, including electroceutical wound dressings, antiviral and antibacterial face masks, anti-pathogen air filters, and anti-ageing beauty facial devices. Supercarbon’s lead product, the HealectricCarbon wound dressing, uses microcurrents to accelerate healing in chronic and acute wounds and prevent infection. It can significantly improve patient outcomes whilst markedly decreasing healthcare costs. Press releases:
Group lunch photo 25.6.2021
10.11.2020
Congratulations to professor Travas-Sejdic for being awarded a Marsden Fund grant to develop a novel approach to transient organic electronic materials using polymers.
Biodegradable polymer electronics: a new frontier
Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic, University of Auckland, will develop polymer based materials for use as transient electronics that breakdown into environmentally friendly by-products. These electronics have the potential to be used in temporary medical implants that don’t require removal. Continue reading below;
28.4.2020
Congratulations to Dr. Min Wang who successfully defended her PhD thesis “Photo-patternable Stretchable Electroactive Conjugated Polymers” on Tuesday, 28 April. Min Wan was supervised by Prof. Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and co-supervised by Prof. David Barker.
26.3.2020
Congratulations to Dr. Pekai Zhang on successfully defending his PhD thesis last Thursday! His PhD work, titled “Direct writing of 3D conducting polymer microarrays for biological sensing and cell stimulation”, was conducted under supervision of Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic, and co-supervised by Professor David Williams and Professor Maan Alkaisi (Canterbury). Peikai’s PhD was funded by MacDiarmid Institute. Peiaki’s PhD oral exam was the first School of Chemical Sciences PhD exam which was conducted fully through Video Conference and under the COVID-19 lockdown.
17.10.2019
Sincere congratulation to professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic FRSNZ for being awarded the Hector Medal by Royal Society Te Apārangi for her outstanding contribution to the field of advanced polymers and nanomaterials and their application in biosensors, biomedicine, and bioelectronics.
On receiving the Hector Medal, Jadranka said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this prestigious award. I would like to sincerely thank the Royal Society Te Apārangi. I would like to thank my past and current research group –talented and hard-working postgraduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and also my collaborators both in New Zealand and worldwide, and my colleagues at The University of Auckland and the MacDiarmid Institute who have also been my mentors and friends over the years. They all contributed to this award and without them, my achievements would not be possible and the journey wouldn’t be so enjoyable.”
09.10.2019
Dr. Mahsa Motshakeri, supervised by Prof. Paul Kilmartin and Jadranka Travas-Sejdic, has successfully defended her PhD thesis on 9 Oct 2019. Her thesis was based on Development of Poly(3,4-
26.09.2019
Congratulations to Dr. Guangyuan Xu on receiving his Ph.D. degree in the Spring graduation ceremony held on 24 September 2019″ Sincere congratulations again!
Dr. Roshan Khadka, supervised by Prof. Jadranka Travas-Sejdic, has successfully defended her PhD thesis on 26 Sep 2019, His thesis was based on Development of Olfactory Receptor-Based Biosensors. Very well done Roshan! Sincere Congratulations!
25.09.2019
16.08.2019
Group lunch photo (August 2019)
17.06.2019
Dr. Alissa J. Hackett, supervised by Prof. Jadranka Travas-Sejdic, has successfully defended her PhD thesis on 17 Jun 2019. Her thesis was based on Polymer-Grafted Conjugated Polymers as Functional Biointerfaces. Very well done Alissa! Sincere Congratulations!
11.03.2019
Dr. Guangyuan Xu, supervised by Prof. Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and Prof. Paul Kilmartin, has successfully defended his PhD thesis on 11 March 2019. His thesis was based on laser scribed graphene: fabrication and electrochemical biosensors for neurotransmitters. Both of the examiners recommended his thesis to be listed on the Faculty of Science Dean’s list, an accomplishment few PhD students achieve. Very well done Guangyuan! Sincere Congratulations!
25.02.2019
Congratulations to Dr. Paul Beak on his new position as Facilities Officer at the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
14.02.2019
Congratulations to Roshan Khadka (Supervisors Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and Andrew Kralicek) who was awarded the highly commended poster award in the 9th International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (AMN9).
14.02.2019
Members of the Travas-Sejdic Group participated in the 9th International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (AMN9), which was held at the National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, in Wellington from the 10th to the 14th of February 2019. Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and her students gave oral and poster presentations on their exciting research developments in a range of projects.
28.11.2018
Congratulations to professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic for being awarded the Shorland Medal by the New Zealand Association of Scientists!!!
This medal is awarded “in recognition of major and continued contribution to basic or applied research that has added significantly to scientific understanding or resulted in significant benefits to society.” Her award was in recognition of her contributions to advanced polymeric and nanomaterials. Her award citation stated that her research was “highly multidisciplinary and collaborative, vibrant, creative and impactful, both nationally and internationally.”
17.11.2018
Members of the Travas-Sejdic Group participated in the 13th PERC Symposium & 4th Biocide ToolBox Symposium at the University of Auckland on 15-16 November 2018. Students and academics presented exciting research developments in a range of projects.
01.10.2018
Congratulations to Mahsa Motshakeri for winning the best poster prize for the Symposium on “Nanomaterials for Electroanalytical Chemistry and Electroanalytical Tools for Studying Nanomaterials” at the 69th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, held in Bologna, Italy, 2-7 September 2018. Mahsa’s poster
(M. Motshakeri, J. Travas-sejdic, A.R.J. Phillips and P.A. Kilmartin, “Electrochemical and HPLC analysis of milk uric acid with minimum interference from ascorbic acid”.)
was chosen from 68 posters presented in this Symposium.
Congratulations to Mahsa Motshakeri, supervised by J. Travas-sejdic, A.R.J. Phillips and P.A. Kilmartin, who received Metrohm New Zealand Young Chemist Award for developing a selective and sensitive electrochemical sensor for the analysis of uric acid and ascorbic acid in milk, 2018.
Congratulations to Roshan Khadka (Supervisors Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and Andrew Kralicek) who was awarded People’s choice award for most engaging poster talk in the Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Showcase.
02.07.2018 Congratulations!
Paul Baek, supervised under Prof Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and A. Prof. David Barker, has successfully defended his PhD thesis on Monday. His thesis was based on development of stretchable and self-healing conducting polymers for organic electronics. Paul and his supervisors have had recent successes in publishing their collaborative work in Accounts of Chemical Research and Chemistry of Materials.
Jamal Cheema, supervised under Prof Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and Dr Andrew Kralicek (Plant and Food Research), has been successful in receiving the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) postgraduate research award (PGRA). His PhD research is based on development of conducting polymer-based biosensors.
22.05.2018
Science trends has reported Guanyuan Xu’s recent work on “Selective, Sensitive Point-Of-Care Determination Of Dopamine With A Novel Disposable PEDOT/Laser Scribed Graphene Sensor”
https://sciencetrends.com/selective-sensitive-point-of-care-determination-of-dopamine-with-a-novel-disposable-pedot-laser-scribed-graphene-sensor/
04.05.2018
Congratulations to Roshan Khadka from Auckland Uni for winning the MESA 2018 International Travel Grant!!! He will be giving an oral talk at Biosensors 2018: 28th Anniversary World Congress on Biosensors.
02.03.2018
Welcome to Heidi and Annika! They will work in our group for one month on 3D conducting polymer arrays for stimulation of stem cells.
03.Nov.2017
Congratulations to Paul Baek for one of his publications: “Molecularly Engineered Intrinsically Healable and Stretchable Conducting Polymers” published on “Chemistry of Materials” have a top download for the month of October, 2017.
27.Sep.2017
Congratulations to the graduation of Bicheng Zhu, Thomas Kerr-Phillips, Eddie Chan and Mona Damavanti !
15.Sep.2017
Congratulations to Paul Baek for winning the second place in the invited PhD oral presentations and Min Wang for winning the first place in the first year PhD oral presentations.
16.Feb.2017
Members of the Polymer Electronics Research Centre (PERC) participated in the 8th International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology in Queenstown 12-16 February 2017.
Congratulation to Peikai Zhang for the poster prize.
1.Congratulations to Nihan Aydemir, Eddie Chan, Jennifer Barnes, David Barker, David Williams and Jadranka Travas Sejdic for winning the prestigious Velocity 100k Challenge 2016. Their business proposal (SpotCheck) based on Nihan`s and Eddie’s PhD thesis got distinguished from more than 300 attendees and 17 highly competitive finalists. They proposed a novel platform technology for very rapid identification and diagnostics of infectious and non-communicable diseases, where a characteristic DNA signature is present. They provide a rapid, portable, sensitive and cost effective solution for molecular diagnostics. Press releases:
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/article/bdabc614/diagnostic-tool-for-infectious-and-chronic-disease-detection-wins-velocity-challenge.html
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1610/S00653/diagnostic-tool-wins-velocity-challenge.htm
http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/5/266121
http://www.velocity.auckland.ac.nz/velocitynewsroom/id/119/velocity-100k-challenge-winners-revealed
2. Jadranka`s success at highly prestigious Marsden funding has been featured by RSC, NZ Herald and University of Auckland
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/2015/11/05/stretchy-sticky-self-healing-electronics/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11540434
http://www.science.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news/news-2015/11/marsden-grants.html
Past Events
Members of the Travas-Sejdic Group participated in the 9th PERC Symposium at the University of Auckland on 13-14 November 2014. Students and academics presented exciting research developments in a range of projects in areas such as biomaterials and drug delivery, polymer-based sensors, microfabrication, and polymer brushes for functional surfaces.
