Dr Phong Tran – Fellow of Engineers Australia, Advance Queensland Research Fellow (mid-career) – is well recognized as one of the world’s pioneers in investigating the antimicrobial properties of selenium nanoparticles. His most significant works also include (i) in situ synthesis and stabilization of nanoparticles in polymeric matrices to create new composite materials with multi-functionalities and (ii) recent development of a new type of 3D printed scaffolds having dual macro-micro porosity.

Dr Tran is an emerging mid-career scientist with more than 50 publications, 1 granted patent, more than 1200 citations and an h-index of 15 (Google scholar). As a Chief Investigator, he has been awarded research grants totalled more than $4.5M from funding bodies such as Australian Research Council (ARC), Queensland Government, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and Defence Health Foundation. He is serving on the Editorial Board of the Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine, frequent reviewers for leading biomedical/biomaterial research journals and as a detailed assessor for ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP).

Dr Tran has deep interest and rich experience in industry-linked biomaterials research and technology commercialization stemming from his PhD studies at Brown University (Rhode Island, USA) and his fellowship in the Department of Orthopaedic Research at Rhode Island Hospital (2005-2011). He was a co-founder of Nanoseleno – a spinoff company from Brown University to commercialize selenium nanoparticle based antimicrobial formulations and a scientific board member of Axena Technologies (RI, USA) – a start-up focusing on antimicrobial coatings of catheters.

Dr Tran moved to the University of Melbourne in late 2011 to accept the McKenzie Fellowship and formed a team of experts in polymer chemistry, microbiology and reconstructive surgery to develop antimicrobial nanocomposite materials. In 2015, he was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellowship and moved to Queensland University of Technology where he formed and is currently leading the Interface Science and Materials Engineering group to research into the design, development and translation of biomaterials. In 2017 he was awarded the mid-career Advance Queensland Research Fellowship to work with a Queensland-based medical device company to translate his antimicrobial surface treatment and biomaterials research toward commercialization.

Dr Tran is also passionate about teaching. He has been lecturing in Biomaterials, Biophysics, Biocellular Systems and Electrodynamics. Dr Tran’s on-class demonstrations and real-life examples are highly rated by his students. Dr Tran is also a strong advocate of public outreach in science, he was featured on several media channels including ABC news https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-24/christmas-prawn-shells-used-to-fight-superbugs-qut/10612634.; https://www.qut.edu.au/institute-of-health-and-biomedical-innovation/about/news/news?news-id=135714.