Lisbeth Grondahl

Affiliated Society: Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
Country of Residence: Australia
Current Position: Associate Professor

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Biography:

Dr. Lisbeth Grondahl (Scopus Author ID: 6601986951) holds a position as Chemistry Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland, Australia and is an Affiliate Principal Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. She received an MSc degree from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and PhD jointly with the University of Copenhagen and the Research School of Chemistry of the Australian National University. After completing her PhD degree in 1995 she was an assistant lecturer for two years at the University of Roskilde, Denmark, after which she held various positions as Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. She was appointed to a lectureship at The University of Queensland in 2002, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2006 and to Associate Professor in 2012.  She was President for the Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (ASBTE) during 2012-2014 and Conference Chair for the 2015 meeting of the 5th International Symposium on Surfaces and Interfaces for Biomaterials held in conjunction with the 24th Annual Conference of the ASBTE. She has published ten book chapters, 85 research papers and presented at national and international surface science, biomaterials, and polymer science conferences. She has supervised and graduated 27 Honours, three Masters and 16 PhD students.

Areas of research interest:

Lisbeth Grondahl works in the interdisciplinary field of biomaterials science. Understanding the underpinning chemistry that enables the development of new materials which may be used in bone repair is an exciting and rapidly developing field to be part of. Lisbeth Gr’Ùndahl really enjoys the complexity and richness of the data that is generated with collaborators in engineering and biology and how this data assists in the development of new materials.

The properties of a biomaterial influence the initial biological response. Depending on the function of the biomaterial different properties are required. Specifically, Lisbeth Grondahl works on approaches to create functional polymeric biomaterials in the form of membranes, scaffolds and hydrogels with applications in mainly bone regeneration. Her work includes surface modification (chemistry, topography and wettability), incorporation of biological molecules (GAGs and BMP) and incorporation of nanoparticle fillers. Nano-sized hydroxyapatite, the mineral component of bone and teeth, has attracted much attention in biomaterials research in particular as the inorganic component in biocomposites and is also a focus of the research in Lisbeth Grondahl’s group. A major challenge is to ensure that the particles remain dispersed in the organic matrix and Lisbeth Grondahl investigates this using charge-charge and steric stabilization as well as matrix mediated growth. In addition, she investigates incorporation of therapeutic biological molecules onto chemically modified hydroxyapatite particles to control the rate of release.

Core research expertise includes surface modification of polymers and inorganic particles, controlled assembly of biopolymers and nanocomposites, as well as comprehensive characterization of surfaces, composites and biopolymer assemblies.

Research keywords:

Nanotechnology, Polymers, Protein and Cells at Interfaces, Surface Characterization and Modification, Drug Delivery

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