[nanoPost] Culturing and manipulating magnetotactic bacteria that produce magnetic particles of

University UK

(a) Culturing and manipulating magnetotactic bacteria that produce magnetic particles of a very well defined size and shape; also learning lessons from nature about the mechanisms of the growth and attempting to reproduce some of the conditions artificially to mimic the natural process in vitro.
(b) Microwave synthesis of a range of materials in nanoparticulate form by rapid hydrothermal reaction
(c) Exploration of properties of new nano- and mesostructured metal oxides derived by hard and soft templates, including the first examples of fully crystalline mesostructured forms of simple transition metal oxides.

 (a) Use of genetically modified bacteria to produce nanoparticulate materials with very well defined sizes and shapes (key is to combine genetic material that programmes production of nanostructured particles, with genetic material that favours certain elements – e.g. cobalt resistance, which is rare.). Output could include magnetic nanoparticles for drug delivery;
(b) Crystalline mesostructured composites with two intertwined phases that combine two functionalities and thus produce novel bulk functionality – potential use in electronics industry.