UCLA’s Distinguished Professor Ric Kaner visits IPRI

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University of California, Los Angeles’ Prof in Chemistry Ric Kaner visited the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) last week, spending two days at the UOW Innovation Campus as part of his visit.

During his visit, Prof Kaner toured the facilities at IPRI within the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM) as well as crossing the road from the campus to Montague Street to see the latest work and technologies at the Translational Research Initiative for Cellular Engineering and Printing (TRICEP).

As appointed IPRI Advisory Board Chair, Prof Kaner’s trip comes a few years after his last, due to the pandemic, allowing him to meet with some new and old faces in person to discuss research and potential further collaborations. Prof Kaner also presented a guest seminar during his visit on preventing bacterial adhesion on medical grade polymers using hydrophilic zwitterionic polymer coatings.

Prof Kaner relationship with the University of Wollongong (UOW) and IPRI goes back some way, particularly with the institute’s Director Prof Gordon Wallace, with them working together over many years to publish several highly cited papers.

“I came to Prof Wallace’s lab for a five month visit on a Fulbright Fellowship after meeting at a conference in America about 15 years ago.” said Prof Kaner.

“Our most highly cited joint paper, which was on graphene, will hit 10,000 citations next month, so I guess you could say Prof Wallace and I are attached whether we like it one not. It’s really great to be back.”

Read more about Prof Kaner’s work here.