Dr Olga Shimoni doing nanopatricle research
in the lab. Photo taken by Sarah Carlisle.
Dr Olga Shimoni joins UTS in 2014 as a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow working within the UTS School of Physics and Advanced Materials. Her research, runs in collaboration with the UTS research strength, Materials and Technology for Energy Efficiency, where she sets out to develop novel multifunctional nanoparticles for application in biomedicine.
Dr Shimoni completed both her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and masters degree in materials engineering at Israel’s Institute of Technology, Technion. She then moved to start her PhD at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her PhD focused on the assembly of polymer hydrogel capsules for use in biomedicine. After her PhD her focus shifted to the development of diamond thin films and diamond nanoparticles.
Currently at UTS, Dr Shimoni’s research looks to develop multifunctional hybrid nanoparticles for bioapplications.
“I aim to engineer a combination of two types of nanoparticles, metal and diamond, to create one multifunctional unit that will enable simultaneous drug delivery, labeling, sensing and treatment,” said Dr Shimoni.
Her supervisor, Professor Milos Toth said that her work is helping to expand UTS research into the field of biophysics.
“Olga's work on multi-functional nanoparticles significantly expands our ability to develop sensor technologies,” he said.
“Postdoctoral researchers play a key leadership role in research groups by independently driving their strand of research, and by assisting with the mentoring of PhD, Maters and Honours students.”
Dr Shimoni hopes that this research will pave the way for the use of nanoparticles to investigate cell behaviour, particle distribution and treat disease.
“The development of multifunctional nanoparticles is a kind of prototype to create nanorobots in biomedicine so it will have a great benefit to use those nanoparticles for drug delivery,” she said.
Dr Shimoni looks forward to the future, where she hopes to continue her research.
“UTS provides a unique opportunity to boost my career and to boost my own research and in future to start my own group.”