Professor Vipul Bansal

Core interests

• Lead, develop and support a multidisciplinary research team that collaboratively works across the interface of chemistry, biology, physics and engineering to provide nanotechnology solutions for health, environment and energy problems
• Provide teaching & learning leadership in interdisciplinary areas of nanoscience and nanobiotechnology
• Achieve real-world translation of nanotechnologies for societal, biomedical and industrial impact

Professional affiliations

• Group Leader, RMIT NanoBiotechnology Research Laboratory (NBRL)
• Director, Ian Potter NanoBioSensing Facility
• Professor, Materials Chemistry and Nanobiotechnology at the , RMIT University, Australia
• Core member, RMIT (PTRI)
• Core member, RMIT (HIRI)
• Steering Committee Member, Nanotechnology Research Advisory Group of the Australian Technology Network (ATN) / International Strategic Technology Alliance (ISTA) i.e. ATN NanoNetwork

Honours and awards

• RMIT Media Star of the Year Research Award, 2014
• Australian Academy of Sciences “Science Star of Tomorrow” Public Speaker, 2014
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) HOPE Fellow, 2013
• Australian Academy of Sciences (AAS) Travel Award, 2013
• International Association for Colloid and Interface Science (IACIS) Young Investigator Award, 2012
• Scopus Young Researcher of the Year Physical Sciences Finalist, 2011
• John A Brodie Medal for Best Paper Award in Chemeca, 2010

Patents

• S. K. Bhargava, V. Bansal, A. E. Kandjani, Y. M. Sabri. System for detection and removal of mercury. Australian Provisional Patent No. AU2013903747 (Priority Date – 27/09/2013)
• V. Bansal, A. E. Kandjani, M. Griffin, R. Ramanathan. A background correction method for a spectrum of a target sample. Australia Patent No. AU2012905622, International Patent No. WO2014094039 A1 (Priority Date – 19/12/2012).
• V. Bansal, F. Caruso, Y. Wang, A. N. Zelikin. Porous silica shell-mediated assembly of macromolecular capsules for drug delivery. PCT International Patent No. WO2009079688 A1 (Priority Date – 21/12/2007).

Media contributions

Professor Bansal has contributed to over 100 media interviews to radio, newspapers and other professional bodies nationally and internationally. He has provided expert commentary on role of nanotechnology in developing new strategic international partnerships for Australia, and the importance of sustained research funding by the Australian Government to harvest the full potential of nanotechnology. He also regularly comments on upcoming applications of nanotechnology, such as those in smart electronics, flexible semiconducting devices, malaria detection in resource-poor settings, and nano-textiles for infection control and fast healing of chronic wounds. He is providing leadership in developing a nano-diagnostic hub in Australia that will play a critical role in early diagnosis of a variety of diseases including cancer, cardio-vascular disorders and nasty infectious agents.

Research activities

• Biological and biomimetic synthesis of nanomaterials
• Chemical synthesis of functional colloids, biomaterials and nanostructured surfaces 
• Structure-function relationship of nanomaterials
• Application of nanotechnology in optically-tunable theranostics, diagnostics, biological imaging, tissue-targeted therapy, wound healing, antimicrobials, catalysis, sensing and flexible electronics
• Real-world translation of nanotechnologies for biomedical and industrial applications

Teaching commitments

• Course Co-ordinator, Biological Chemistry (BIOL 2260)
• Course Co-ordinator, Biological Chemistry, Open University Australia (SCB210)
• Lecturer, Research Methods (ONPS 2412)
• Lecturer, Nanotechnology Practice (ONPS 2156)
• Lecturer, Nanotechnology Methodology (ONPS 2155)
• Guest Lecturer (Nanobiotechnology) for a variety of courses including, Protein Technologies (ONPS 1052), Gene Technologies (BIOL 2226), and Introduction to Nanotechnology (ONPS 2149)

Postgraduate supervision

PhD, Masters by Research and Honours candidates in cross-disciplinary areas relevant to materials chemistry, biotechnology and nanobiotechnology. All of our research students hold competitive scholarships, such as Endeavour Scholarships, Victoria-India Doctoral Scholarships, Vice Chancellor PhD Scholarship, Australian Postgraduate Award and RMIT Scholarships.

Editorial and peer-assessment roles

• Section Editor, PLoS ONE
• Associate Editor, Frontiers in Cancer Imaging and Diagnosis
• Editorial Board Member, Recent Patents on Nanomedicine
• Editorial Board Member, Dataset Papers in Materials Science
• Editorial Board Members, Biomimetics
• Editorial Board Member, SOP Transactions on Analytical Chemistry
• Editorial Board Member, SOP Transactions on Physical Chemistry
• Editorial Board Member, SOP Transactions on Nano-technology
• Reviewer of leading international journals from ACS, RSC, Wiley-VCH, Elsevier, Nature and other publishing groups
• Grant assessor for ARC and NHMRC Australia, NSF USA, BBSRC UK, NSERC Canada, A*STAR Singapore, UEFISCDI Romania, ACS Petroleum Fund, etc.
• PhD thesis assessor for Australian and International Universities

• 2007: Ph.D. in Nano-biotechnology, National Chemical Laboratory, India
• 2003: M.Sc. Res., Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India
• 2001: B.Sc. Hons., Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Allahabad Agricultural Institute, India

Managerial experience

• 2015–: Director, Ian Potter NanoBioSensing Facility, RMIT University, Australia
• 2008–: Group Leader, NanoBiotechnology Research Laboratory, RMIT University, Australia (30+ members)

Academic experience

• 2015–: Professor, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Australia
• 2013–14: Associate Professor, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Australia
• 2010–12: Senior Lecture, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Australia
• 2008–10: Lecturer, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Australia
• 2007: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The University of Melbourne, Australia
• 2006–07: ARC International Linkage Visiting Research Fellow, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Australia

Research fellowships

• 2014-18: Future Fellowship by the Australian Research Council
• 2009–12: Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Australian Research Council
• 2003–06: Research Fellowship by the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (Ph.D.)
• 2001–03: Research Fellowship by the Indian Government Department of Biotechnology (M.Sc. Res.)
• 1997–01: Sahu Jain Trust Merit Fellowship (B.Sc. Hons.)