Staff

Dr Bo Jin

Associate Professor, Director

Water Environment Biotechnology Laboratory

Ph: (08) 8303 7056
Fax: (08) 8303 6222
e-mail: bo.jin@adelaide.edu.au

Associate Professor Bo Jin is an well established engineering scientist in the areas of bioprocess and chemical engineering, biotransformation and bioconversion processes, environmental biotechnology, and biological/chemical and nano-technological processes for water/wastewater treatment and reuse. He has over 25 year professional experience employed as an engineer, scientist and academic across Australia, China and the Netherlands. Dr Jin is a national leader in developing an integrated biotechnological process for production of value-added biomaterials/bioenergy from waste streams. He has contributed substantial publications to international refereed journals in the fields of environmental biotechnology, chemical and bioprocess engineering, applied microbiology, material engineering and wastewater treatment. As the first or sole Chief Investigator, he has attracted over $2 millions research funding, including 5 Discovery and Linkage grants from Australian Research Council (ARC) since 2004. Currently, he leads all 15 on-going research projects in the WEBL.

Dr Jin was/is the funder and director the WEBL at University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide. Dr Jin has a joint position as the Leader of Wastewater Research Unit, Australian Water Quality Centre since 2004. Dr Jin a Visiting or Adjunct Professor in six institutions in China.

Professor Christopher Saint

Ph: 08 7424 2143
email: chris.saint@sawater.com.au

Professor Chris Saint has 27 years research experience in broad areas of environmental science including: biochemistry and genetics of pollutant biodegradation; cyanobacterial (blue-green algae), bacterial and protozoan detection methodologies; taste and odour issues; water treatment and wastewater microbiology and pathogens in catchments. For the last 10 years a key interest has been applying DNA based rapid methods to the detection of micro-organisms of concern to the water and wastewater industries. He has 10 years experience in a business management and strategic planning role and is currently Research, Development and Innovation Manager, SA Water. Chris has 20 years experience in the supervision of students, technical and research staff. He has published over 150 scientific papers and is an Editor of the Journal of Applied Microbiology and Letters in Applied Microbiology. He has been an invited keynote speaker at 8 international water related conferences. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Adelaide, University of South Australia and the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China.

Professor Mark J. Biggs

Ph: 8303 5447
email: mark.biggs@adelaide.edu.au

Prof Mark Biggs received his BEng in mechanical engineering (Honours 1) from University of New South Wales, Australia and PhD degree in chemical engineering from the University of Adelaide, Australia. His current research is focused on the elucidation of the fundamentals of interfacial systems across the lengthscales, and the application of this knowledge to problems of real practical importance. The interfacial systems he currently works on include (1) nanoporous carbons, (2) proteins at solid interfaces, and (3) multiphase fluids. His work is supported by a number of organizations including the EPSRC and the RAEng/Leverhulme Trust amongst others. This support has allowed him to build a compute cluster and maintain a group typically of 4 PhD students and 1-2 PDRAs.

Associate Professor Gregory Metha

Ph: 8303 5943
email: gregory.metha@adelaide.edu.au

Associate Professor Metha's research involves the investigation of the chemical and physical properties of nano and sub-nano metallic particles. Much research revolves around the use of laser ablation techniques to generate metal cluster molecules in gas and solution phases, and the application of various spectroscopic methods to elucidate their structures and properties, particularly chemical reactivity. He is also expert in the application of quantum computational methods to calculate structures and properties of nano-scale particles. He is a member of a European Cooperation of Scientific Research program (COST Action D41), to explore the catalytic activity of metal clusters deposited onto inorganic oxide surfaces.

Dr Sheng Dai

Senior Lecture

Ph: 83131015
email: s.dai@adelaide.edu.au

Dr. Sheng Dai received his Bachelor degree from Zhejiang University, M. Eng. and Ph. D. degrees from Nanyang Technological University. After working at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore-MIT Alliance, McMaster University, National Research Council Canada, and the University of Toronto, he joined the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Adelaide as a senior lecturer. His research interests include polymer synthesis/characterization/applications, colloid and interfacial science, surfactants and self-assembly, nanomaterials fabrication, microgels, composites, biomaterials and biomacromolecule applications, biosensing and bioimaging, drug-controlled delivery, surface enhanced Raman scattering, fluorescence, laser light scattering, rheology, etc. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Dr Hongjie An

Research Associate

Ph: (08) 8303 5690
email: hongjie.an@adelaide.edu.au

Dr Hohgjie An got his BSc in microbiology and food science in Henan, China. He completed his PhD study in nano-biotechnology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China in 2006. He worked as a research fellow at Tianjin University of Science and Technology in 2006-2008. His research has focused on single-molecule imaging and manipulating, nanoparticles for biological and medical use, and biophysical interactions between biological macromolecules. His research interests are in the fields of impact of nanocarbon on microbial activities, biosensors using quantum dots, and colloid and interface science. Research activities involved nanocarbon induction of thermal tolerance in microorganisms and DNA mutagenesis under local force modulation. Currently, he works on Carbon nano-particles induced thermal tolerant Zymomonas mobilis for ethanol production from waste biomass.

Dr Giuseppe Laera

Ph: (08) 8303 3169
e mail: laera.giuseppe@adelaide.edu.au

Dr Giuseppe Laera is a visiting scholar from the Water Research Institute of the Italian National Research Council. His training includes a M.Sc. degree in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the University of Bari (Italy).

He is interested in process development and treatment optimization for water and wastewater purification, with a focus on biomass characterization and waste minimization. His previous research include: development of an anaerobic biosensor, application of membrane technology for irrigational reuse of municipal wastewater, membrane bioreactors for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater, odour control, ozonation and advanced oxidation processes.

He works the research project “Improvement of wastewater reclamation and reuse through integrated innovative processes”. The research activities are focused on the integration of membrane bioreactors and solar photo-catalytic reactor for the treatment of municipal/industrial wastewater. The project is funded by the Government of South Australia through the SA-Apulia Agreement for research collaboration between SA and Apulia Region (Italy).