David McKenzie
  1. Current research activities

    2. Plasmas are being used to modify surfaces chemically and physically. The modifications enable control to be gained over the interaction of the surface with macromolecules through the attachment of linking groups and changes in the hydrophobicity. The effects of temperature stress on protein dynamics and entire cell membranes especially the unfolding dynamics are being studied experimentally and through molecular simulations. This work has recently been extended to the study of the mediation of molecule-surface interactions by means of electric fields.

  2. Keywords

    3. protein dynamics, surface modification,interfaces.

  3. End-user applications

    • None as Yet

  4. Key publications

    5. I. Steel, B.C.; Bilek, M.M.; McKenzie, D.R.; et al.
    A technique for microsecond heating and cooling of a thin (submicron) biological sample European Biophysics Journal vol.31, no.5 : 378-82, Sept. 2002
    II. Oates, T.W.H.; McKenzie, D.R.; Bilek, M.M.M.
    Plasma immersion ion implantation using polymeric substrates with a sacrificial conductive surface layer Surface & Coatings Technology vol.156, no.1-3 : 332-7, 1 July 2002
    III. Gerstner, E.G.; McCulloch, D.G.; McKenzie, D.R.; et al.
    Structural effects in ion-beam-modified polymers
    Philosophical Magazine A (Physics of Condensed Matter: Structure, Defects and Mechanical Properties) vol.79, no.2 : 391-402, Feb. 199
    IV. Laurence JA. French PW. Lindner RA. McKenzie DR. Biological effects of electromagnetic fields--mechanisms for the effects of pulsed microwave radiation on protein conformation. [Journal Article] Journal of Theoretical Biology. 206(2):291-8, 2000 Sep 21.
    UI: 10966765
    V. Laurence JA. McKenzie DR. Foster KR. Application of the heat equation to the calculation of temperature rises from pulsed microwave exposure. [Letter] Journal of Theoretical Biology. 222(3):403-5, 2003 Jun 7

  5. Outreach activities

    6. Biofutures 2001, Biofutures 2002 – week-long forums introducing secondary school students to biomedical engineering and medical biotechnology

  6. Key organisation membership

    7. None as Yet

  7. Early career researcher?

    8. No.

  8. Young investigator?

    9. No.

  9. Skills and expertise

    • thin film deposition and plasma processing
    • electron based microanalysis
    • diffraction physics
    • materials physics

  10. Specialist equipment and infrastructure

    • UV_VIS_NIR spectrophotometry
    • Infrared spectrophotometry including ATR and grazing angle
    • Electron microscopy and microanalysis
    • Ellipsometer (Woollam)
    • Film deposition and plasma processing facilities
    • Optical microscopy and microspectrophotometry
    • Semiconductor parameter naalyser and probe station
    • Secondary neutral mass spectrometer
    • Biacore plasmon resonance spectrometer
    • Tencor surface profilier
    • Mask aligner

© 2004

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