Polymer Science Podcast

Dr Maliha Syed studied at the University of Southern Mississippi and graduated with her PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering. She is a Principle Scientist for the company called Avlon which focuses on synergizing health, beauty, and polymer science to provide skincare solutions that enhance consumer wellness. Maliha talks to us about hair, nail and skin care and the development strategies behind...

Today's episode features Prof. James Rawlins from the University of Southern Mississippi where he focusses his research on structure properties and structure performance relationships of polymer coatings and early detection of corrosion. Coatings are predominant in our every day life and is used in corrosion control, as decorative covering or even for modifying surfaces to make it more hydrophobic...

Thomas Mortelmans is a PhD student with a passion for Polymers. He talks about how he combines various scientific fields and state-of-the-art nanofabrication techniques for bio-medically relevant applications. He is working on the development of a nanofluidic device, which would be capable of interpreting pathophysiological mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases. The project is a collaboration b...

Dr. Danielle Pretorius has earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Together with Dr. Jay Zhang, she is helping to fabricate cardiac tissue patches that is made from human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cells. The initial structures were made with fibrin but due to the dynamic nature of the cells, the extracellular matrix of these cells could be r...

In this Episode we speak to Prof Stachewicz from the AGH University of Science and Technology about two topics that revolve around Bioengineered Electrospun fibers. We first talk about a Water Harvesting system using Polystyrene-Cellulose electrospun fibers. She describes the specific electrospinning process required for the development of "gutter" shaped fibers for these water collection devices...

This episode is filled with information about the engineering and characterization of Exosome-Polymer hybrids. Dr. Upenyu Muza explains to us what exosomes are and how they can be modified and improved for the use in targeted drug delivery and for other medicinal applications by using polymers. He also gives us a detailed description of a very important separation technique called Field Flow Fract...

And we are back, kicking off the new year with a topic close to our hearts! Today my Co-host Jacob Schekman spoke to Prof. Michael Meier from the Laboratory of Applied Chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany. The topic of sustainable chemistry in the lab is a very interesting and necessary topic. Prof Meier discusses the importance of making scientific experiments more...

This year went by with a flash. Wow. It really tested our ability to work together as a society as well as forced us to re-evaluate what is essential and important to our health and well being. This is a special episode to wrap up this year and to give thanks to everyone who have supported The Polymer Science Podcast so far. We cannot thank you enough! One thing is certain, the year 2020 have show...

This episode contains a fascinating talk with Haydn Kriel, who obtained a MSc in Polymer Science at Stellenbosch University, South Africa and he now resides in Finland and works with the Nordic Biotech Group. We talked about the life of a Polymer Scientist and how to make the best decisions for your career. We also discussed their innovative and sustainable natural disinfectant called Nordshield....

Today we talked to Dr Nikoline Borgermann, founder of Ava Sustain. This is a consultancy that is dedicated to help labs around the world to reduce their environmental footprint by reducing single use plastic, energy and water waste.  She will be giving tips on how to take the first step toward a "greener" lab and how to overcome obstacles that may be making the change difficult. I hope you find it...

Today we discuss some more interesting details about the electrospinning instrument. I hope you, as a student, researcher or even as a person wondering more about this instrument, find it useful! Please email The Polymer Science team at polymersciencepodcast@gmail.com for any questions or comments! Hope you enjoy!

Today we are talking to Dr Lisa Fortuin, a postdoctoral researcher at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. She did her PhD at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, where she used biodegradable polymers to develop prodrugs for targeted drug delivery. She is currently developing part of the layered system that forms the degradable polymer based bone fracture adhesive, which surgeons will eventu...

The electrospinning instrument has grown in popularity over the many years and have been developed in such a way that it can be used for a multitude of applications. Whether it is in the pharmaceutical or biomedical fields or in packaging or food preservation, it is an extremely interesting and useful tool in Polymer Science! Hope you enjoy the short episode, there will be more to come where we wi...

I'm excited to introduce my new co-host, Jacob Schekman, a fellow scientist with a passion for Polymer Science research! Today's episode is with Dr Joshua Tropp from the University of Southern Mississippi. This talk brings us an interesting and informative conversation about conjugated polymers and the role that these materials play in the development of sensors and flexible electronics. You can c...

This is the last episode for the Electron Microscope series discussing software and EDX. If there are more questions and comments about this instrument, I will make a seperate questions and answers episode. Stay tuned for more educational episodes about other characterization and analytical instruments still to come! This podcast is now available on Podbean app as well! Leave a review and don't fo...

Today we are talking to Dr Pavani Cherukupally, whom I met in Mexico during the Polymer Processing Society conference in 2017. Her energy and passion for research in wastewater treatments and nanocomposite sponges are infectious. Clean and safe drinking water is crucial to our well being and researchers, like Dr Pavani, helps to create more cost effective ways of removing pollutants, such as crude...

I had the privilege of interviewing the talented Hamsa Ashraf from Cairo, who currently works at a Child Cancer Hospital in the field of Tissue Engineering. Her work focusses on restoring long bone defects using bioprinted scaffolds made from natural biopolymers. The long distance call had its challenges for the audio but I am certain that you will find this episode extremely interesting, nonethel...

This educational episode discusses the basics of sample preparation for Electron Microscopy. There are quite a number of ways to treat your sample depending on type of sample and the results you are looking for as well as the type of Electron Microscope you are using. I hope you find this episode useful, please feel free to comment and ask questions! You can go to the Central Analytical Facility E...

These episodes are for students and people that are interested in the instruments that are used to characterise and analyse samples in Material Science and Chemistry. The first episode will be an introduction to Electron Microscopes and for understanding the components and functions of these glorious instruments. Hope you find it useful!

This episode discusses paper-based devices for the use in waste water epidemiology and focuses on how these sensor devices can positively contribute to the current issues caused by the Covid19 pandemic. Many informal settlements in South Africa and other third world countries are exposed to waste water and this device may help to establish any contamination of their drinking water. These Paper-bas...