Anthony S. Weiss
Affiliated Society: Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
Country of Residence: Australia
Current Position: McCaughey Chair
Biography:
Anthony Steven Weiss PhD AM FRSC FTSE FRSN FRACI, FTERM, FBSE is a university researcher, company founder and entrepreneur. He is the leading scientist in human tropoelastin research and synthetic human elastin. He holds the McCaughey Chair in Biochemistry, heads the Charles Perkins Centre Node in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, and is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Sydney. His discoveries are on human elastic materials that accelerate the healing and repair of arteries, skin and 3D human tissue components. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Weiss is on the editorial boards of the American Chemical Society Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Applied Materials Today (Elsevier), Biomaterials, Biomedical Materials, BioNanoScience (Springer) and Tissue Engineering (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.). He is a biotechnology company founder, promoter of national and international technology development, and has received national and international awards, including the Order of Australia.
His awards include the Eureka Prize for Innovation in Medical Research, Clunies Ross Award, NSW Premier’s Prize for Science & Engineering Leadership in Innovation, Innovator of Influence, Applied Research Medal given by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists & Molecular Biologists Entrepreneurship Award, Australasian Society for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering Research Excellence Award, and Fulbright Scholar. He was President of the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand, elected as Chair Asia-Pacific and the Governing Board of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society and then elected as global President of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society.
Areas of research interest:
Professor Weiss is the world leader in molecular studies of human tropoelastin and its assembly to make three dimensional elastin protein biomaterials. He constructed a synthetic gene that enables large scale synthesis of full-length pure recombinant human tropoelastin, quantified its physical properties, led the discovery of tropoelastin’s 3D solution structure, mapped multiple functional sites, demonstrated tropoelastin’s extraordinary elasticity from the molecular to macro scale, discovered direct tropoelastin:integrin interactions and has made a range of sophisticated tissue engineered materials based on these discoveries.
Research keywords:
Biomaterials and Medical Products Commercialization, Ophthalmic Biomaterials, Orthopaedic Biomaterials, Polymers, Protein and Cells at Interfaces, Stem Cells, Surface Characterization and Modification, Tissue Engineering, Cardiovascular Biomaterials, Cell/Organ Therapies, Dental/Craniofacial Materials