La Trobe University joins ASTech

The ARC Training Centre for Portable Analytical Separation Technologies (ASTech) has announced La Trobe University as the latest addition to its university nodes.

La Trobe hosts the Centre for Materials and Surface Science (CMSS) at its campus in Melbourne. CMSS has a comprehensive surface science capability, featuring a range of custom-built, ultrahigh-vacuum instrumentation, synchrotron end stations and modern surface analytical instrumentation. Contemporary surface analytical techniques allow the elemental composition, chemistry and molecular structure of the outermost layers of solid surfaces to be determined.

“I’m delighted that we have been able to expand ASTech into La Trobe University and bring on board the added expertise in areas of electrochemistry, photochemistry, chemical sensing and biosensing of Associate Professor Conor Hogan,” said Professor Brett Paull, centre director of ASTech.

Hogan obtained his qualifications in Ireland — a Bachelor of Science (Analytical Chemistry) from Cork Institute of Technology in 1995 and a PhD in Electrochemistry from Dublin City University in 2000 — and has since held various research, teaching and supervisory roles at Dublin City University, Monash University and La Trobe University. He is heavily involved in the chemistry community, including the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the International Society for Electrochemistry.

ASTech’s industry founder, Trajan Scientific and Medical, believes in collaboration to leverage academic and commercial strengths to improve human wellbeing through science.