Michele Zanoni, PhD student and ASG-CLARITY group member recently travelled to Australia, undertaking research with the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI), University of Wollongong, Australia.

From the 25th of January to the 19th of March, Michele visited IPRI at the University of Wollongong. During this research trip he had the chance to develop a new concept of photo-electroactive conducting polymers that are now under study as biomaterials for tissue and neural regeneration with the supervision of Prof Gordon G. Wallace and David L. Officer. This trip visit was funded by the MASK project, a special FP7 funding programme that allowed a good number of visits from DCU to various universities in Australia, including Monash University and University of Tasmania.

During this period Michele also attended the 8th Annual International Electomaterials Science Symposium organized by the ARC Centre for Electromaterials Science at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute. The conference was held from the 13th to the 15th of February 2013. Michele presented a talk and a poster entitled “Dual Control Molecular Switches: a Journey into the Nanoworld of Spropyran-Functionalized Terthiophene Polymers”.

The trip was a great success and led to the formation of collaborations which will forge research into the future.