Clive McFarland
  1. Current research activities

    2. Research activity focuses on the interactions of cells with substrates, both natural (eg extracellular matrix components), synthetic (eg biomaterials, polymeric scaffolds) and composites thereof. The role of adsorbed proteins in cell attachment is of particular interest, since this process can have a profound affect on a range of issues relevant to tissue engineering, such as cell isolation, expansion and growth in supporting matrices.

    Surfaces in contact with complex mixtures (such as the serum used in cell culture or the blood and extracellular fluid present in implant surgery) adsorb a proteinaceous film, the nature of which depends on both the composition of the mixture and the properties of the surface. We have shown that altering the surface chemistry of the substrate can exert a profound influence on protein adsorption and cell attachment and behaviour. Furthermore, generating surfaces with spatially defined surface chemistries enables, for example, the generation of patterned cell populations giving rise to defined archtectures. Current projects include the use of adult mesenchymal stem cells for tissue repair, the generation of bone/cartilage composite materials for repair of articular defects, and the development of vascularised constructs for tissue engineering applications.

  2. Keywords

    3. Tissue Engineering, cell engineering, cell-matrix interactions, protein adsorption, cell attachment, biomaterials, cell differentiation.

  3. End-user applications

    • Repair of articular defects
    • Generic tissue repair systems

  4. Key publications

    5. I. RA Brown, G Terenghi and CD McFarland. Contact guided angiogenesis and tissue engineering: guidance angiogenesis. T-P D Fan and EC Kohn (Eds) The New Angiotherapy, Human press Inc, Totowa, NJ, USA, pp295-313.
    II. JG Steele, C McFarland, BA Dalton, G Johnson, MDM Evans, CR Howlett, PA Underwood. Attachment of human bone cells to tissue culture polystrene and to unmodified polystyrene: the effect of surface chemistry upon initial cell attachment. J Biomater Sci (Polymer Edn) 1993, 5(3): 245-257.
    III. CD McFarland, C DeFilippis, M Jenkins, A Tunstell, NP Rhodes, DF Williams and JG Steele.. Albumin-Binding Surfaces: In Vitro Activity. J Biomater Sci Polym Ed, 1998, 9(11): 1227-1239
    IV. CD McFarland, CH Thomas, C DeFilippis, JG Steele, KE Healy. Protein Adsorption and Cell Attachment to Patterned Surfaces. J Biomed Mater Res 2000, 49(2):200-10.
    V. Tsai WB, Grunkemeier JM, McFarland CD, Horbett TA. Platelet adhesion to polystyrene-based surfaces preadsorbed with plasmas selectively depleted in fibrinogen, fibronectin, vitronectin, or von Willebrand's factor. J Biomed Mater Res. 2002 Jun 5;60(3):348-59

  5. Outreach activities

    6. Work formed part of two articles in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003.
    Interviews on ABC, commercial and community radio 2002 – 2003.
    Talk on Radio National’s ‘Ockham’s Razor’ series.
    Chapter in ABC book ‘All Us Apes’, 1997

  6. Key organisation membership

    7. Not as Yet.

  7. Early career researcher?

    8. No.

  8. Young investigator?

    9. Yes.

  9. Skills and expertise

    • All aspects of R&D management.
    • Scale-up and technology transfer(GLP/GMP) in the pharmaceutical industry.
    • Preparation of SOPs, reports, patent submissions and manuscripts for publication.
    • Presentations to scientific, commercial and lay audiences.
    • All aspects of mammalian tissue culture, including primary cell culture.
    • Light and confocal microscopy, image analysis systems.
    • Extensive range of laboratory techniques, principally protein and biochemical.
    • Wide experience on Mac and PC platforms including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook), image analysis systems, Navigator, Explorer, PhotoShop and Blender.
    • Basic programming skills in Perl, C++, Visual Basic, JavaScript and HTML.

  10. Specialist equipment and infrastructure

    • Cell culture facilities (human and non-human)
    • Operating theatres for small and large animal surgery.
    • GLP laboratories.
    • FACS machine
    • Micro CT
    • Mechanical testing devices (Instron etc)
    • Computer modeling labs and software.
    • Quartz Crystal microbalance.
    • Proteomics, protein analysis

  11. Contact Details:

    12. Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering
    University of New South Wales
    Sydney NSW 2052

© 2004

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