Professor Freddy Boey Yin Chiang
Chair-Materials Science & Engineering

Email:mycboey@ntu.edu.sg
Phone: (+65) 67905609
Office:  N4.1-02-05
Personal Website: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/mycboey

Current Research Interests

Biodegradable Implants: The main effort is directed by the recently awarded NRF CRP $10M grant to Prof Boey on "Fully Biodegradable Cardiovascular Implant", a huge collaboration that includes 3 senior postdocs, 8 postdocs and 12 PhDs. The effort is co-led with A/P Subbu Venkatraman and includes collaboration with Mayo Clinic (Prof Horng Chen), Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Subroto Chartteejee) , UCLA's CNSI ( Lenny Rome) and Rutger Unvieristy (Joachim Kohn), National Heart Center (Philip Wong), NUH Heat Institute. The three key areas are: Cellular - Biomaterials Interface and Interaction, Synthesis of Elastomeric Biodegradable Polymers and drug / peptide eluting implants for stents and "hole in the heart" PFO plugs. Another major effort , collaborating with the Singapore Eye Research Institute, develops drug eluting microspheres and film inserts for retina infections, macula degeration glaucoma. Prof Boey won $1.25M for this effort recently. 

Electroactive Materials: The group, co-led with A/P Ma Jan, has developed PZT pumps and a frictionless micro-pumps as micropumps for cooling / heat exchange, diabetes / pain management drug release etc. The group is presently studying the development of a fully flexible polymer-based impedance pump. The group has formed a start up company to exploit this technology commercially. The group has also initiated computational modeling to seek optimal material designs.

Nanomaterials for Detection, Identification and Remediation: Projects in this group involves developing functionalized nanoparticles for toxins, disease causing biological agents and forensic applicaitons, anisoptropic nanoparticles for color enhancement and light harvesting. This project involves the development of biocompatible multi-functional nano-probes, for bio-imaging and targeted cancer therapy. It is a joint-collaboration with the prestigious Mayo Clinic, USA. The group, together with Prof Ma Jan, Asst Prof Zhang Hua and Asst Prof Joachim Loo, has developed the capability of functionalizing nanoparticles for analytical detection of trace toxins and forensic residues, for which the group has won 2 large industrial research projects. Recently, the team collaborated as a team partner to help UCLA's CNSI win a US$26M NSF Research Center for Nanotoxicity grant. The group has also collaborated strongly with Prof Chad Mirkin of Northwestern University to develop anisotropic nanparticles (multi segmented nanorods / triangular nanoprisms) for color enhancement and light harvesting.

Biographical Information

Freddy Boey, Professor and Chair, School of Materials Science and Engineering, NTU
Freddy Boey graduated from Monash University, Australia as top graduate with 1st class hons. B. Materials Eng. 1980, worked as failure analyst before obtaining his Ph D (Chemistry/Engineering) in 1987 from NUS. He is presently Professor of Materials Science & Engineering and Chair, School of Materials Science & Engineering. He is also Chairman of Nanofrontier Pte Ltd, Amaranth Pte Ltd, and sits as board director in three of the start ups he has founded, Amaranth Medical Inc (USA), Electroactiv Inc (Singapore) and Adcomp Pte Ltd (Singapore). He is also Deputy President, Materials Research Society, Singapore and is currently Chairman for ASTAR’s Review Panel for Public Sector Funding . He is an invited panel member for the National Science & Technology Award, the EDB / SPRING PoC Funding Panel.

He has started up 3 companies in the Biomedical Device arena. He has patents licensed to Biomedical companies in USA/Singapore, and is technical consultant to several Biomedical & Advanced Materials companies. He has previously graduated more than 20 Ph Ds and presently supervises another 12 and 6 postdocs. His collaborators include Northwestern University's department of MSE and NNI, Mayo Medical Center at Rochester, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, CEA Saclay, UCLA’s California Nanosystem Inst. He has won > $22m research grants last 6 years, with the latest being a prestigious $10M individual National Research Foundation CRP Grant on Fully Biodegradable Cardiovascular Implants, a $1.25 M from the NFR Translational Flagship Project on Occular Devices and a $5M Defense Science Organization funding for a new Advanced Functional Materials Laboratory. 

Selected Publications

Kong LB, Zhang TS, MA J, Boey F, Progress in Synthesis of ferroelectric ceramics materials, Progress in Materials Science 63 (2), 207-322, 2008 [IF 20.29]

S Venkatraman & F Boey, “ Implanted Cardiovascular Polymers: Natural, Synthetic and Bioinspired” Progress in Polymer Science, accepted 2008. [1F: 12]

Li Bing, Can Xue, Zhang Hua, F Y C Boey, Zhou X, Patterning Colloidal Metal Nanoparticles for Controlled Growth of Carbon Nanotubes, Advanced Materials, accepted , 2008. [IF : 8.1]

Y.Y. Tay, T.T. Tan, M.H. Liang, F. Boey, S. Li , Nature of Quasi-LO Phonon in ZnO, APL, 93, 111903, 2008 [IF 4.0]

L. T. Su,† A. I. Y. Tok,*,† Y. Zhao,*,† N. Ng,† F. Y. C. Boey,† J. L. Woodhead, C. J. Summers, Electron-Phonon Interactions in Ce3+-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Nanophosphors, J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 10830–10832 [IF=4.2]

Q Yan, H Chen, W Zhou, H H Hng, FYC Boey and J Ma, , A simple chemical approach for PbTe nanowires with enhanced thermoelectric properties", Chemistry of Materials, 2008, accepted. [IF=4.9]

J. Zhang, L. Wang, D. Pan, S. Song, F. Y. C. Boey, H. Zhang, C. H. Fan: “Visual Cocaine Detection with Gold Nanoparticles and Rationally Engineered Aptamer Structures”, Small, in press (2008). (IF = 6.024)

Zhang H, Zhao X, Chen Y, Ma J, Li B, Boey F, Controlled Growth of Peptide Nanoarrays on Si/SiOx Substrates, Small, Vol 04, 1324, 2008; [IF=6]

Natheniel Ng, F Boey, R Rajeev, Lateral Size and Thickness Dependence in Ferroelectric Nanostructures Formed by Localized Domain Switching, Acta Materialia, accepted 2008.

Y Zhen, A Tok, SP Jiang, F Boey, Fabrication and performance of Ga doped Ceria based Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells , J Power Sources, 178, 69-74, 2008. [IF 3.5]

Xiong SX, Jia PT, Mya KY, Boey, Star Like Polyaniline Prepared from Octa Silsesquioxane, Electrochimica Acta, 53(9), 3523-3530, 2008. [IF: 3.0]

S.Venkatraman, F.Boey, Release profiles in drug-eluting stents: issues and uncertainties, J Control Rel 2007, 120, 149-160. [IF 4.0]

T. Cahyad H. S. Tan, S. G. Mhaisalkar,b) P. S. Lee, and F. Boey, Electret mechanism, hysteresis, and ambient performance of sol-gel silica gate dielectrics in pentacene field-effect transistors, Applied Phy Letters Accepted, 2007. (IF 4.0)

T. Cahyadi, J. Tey, S. Mhaisalkar, F. Boey, V. Rao, R. Lal, Z. H. Huang, G. J. Qi, Z. -K. Chen, C. M. Ng, “Investigations of enhanced device characteristics in pentacene based FET ” Appl Phy Lett, 90:122112, 2007. (IF:4.0)

C Nguyen, P S Lee, K C Ng, H Su, S Mhaisalkar, J Ma and F Boey, Anomalous polarization switching in organic ferroelectric field effect transistors, Appl Phy Lett, 91, 042909 _2007_ (IF 4.3)

Y L Wu, C S Lim, S Fu, A I Y Tok, H M Lau, F Y C Boey, X T Zeng . Surface modifications of ZnO qd for bio-imaging, Nanotechnology, 18 [21], 2007

WS Wong, Y Xiong, S Venkatraman, F Boey, J. Biomater. Shape memory in un-cross-linked biodegradable polymers, J Biomat. Sci. Poly, Vol. 19(2), 175–191 (2008).

Y Zhao, J Loo, F Boey and J Ma, SAXRD Study of Sol Gel Induced Well Ordered Mesoporous Bioglass for Drug Delivery, J Biomedical Mater Res, Part A, 85A (4), 1032-1042 [IF 2.7]

Venkatraman S, Tan L P, Boey F, Wang X T, Biodegradable Stent with Elastic Memory, Biomaterials, Vol 27 (8), 1573 – 1578, 2006. (IF:5.2)

JSC Loo, CP Ooi, FYC Boey. Degradation of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and poly(L-lactide) by ebeam radiation. Biomaterials Vol. 26 (12): 1359-1367. (IF:5.2)

S C J Loo, C P Ooi, F Boey. Influence of e beam on hydrolytic degradation behaviour of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA). Biomaterials Vol. 26 (18): 3809-3817. (IF: 5.2)

S C J Loo, CP Ooi, S H Wee, Y C Boey. Effect of isothermal annealing on the hydrolytic degradation rate of PLGA. Biomaterials, 26 (16): 2827-2833. (IF:5.2)

S. Venkatraman, F. Boey, Release profiles in drug-eluting stents: Issues and uncertainties, J. Control. Release (2007), 2007, 120, 149-160. [IF 4.0]

X T Wang, S Venkatraman, F Y C Boey, J S C Loo, L P Tan, Controlled Resease of Sirolimus from PLGA Stent Matrix, Biomaterials, 27 , 2006, 5588-5595. (IF:5.2)

Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar
Associate Chair-Materials Science & Engineering (Academic)
Director, Advanced Materials Research Centre
Co-Director, Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N)

Email:subodh@ntu.edu.sg
Phone: (+65) 6790 4626
Office:  N4.1-01-21

Biographical Information
Subodh is a Professor in the School of Materials Science & Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. At NTU, he also holds the posts of Director, Advanced Materials Research Centre, Co-Director, Energy Research Institute @ NTU and Associate Chair-Materials Science & Engineering (Academic). Prior to joining NTU in 2001, Subodh has over 10 years of research and engineering experience in the Microelectronics industry where he held senior managerial positions in STATS Singapore, National Semiconductor, and SIMTech. Prof Subodh received his Bachelors’ degree from IIT-Bombay and his MS/Ph.D. degrees from The Ohio State University.

Subodh's areas of expertise include microelectronics materials & processes; and his main areas of research include printed electronics, sensors, organic photovoltaics, and printed charge storage solutions including supercapacitors and batteries. Common to all these projects are methods of solution processing of semiconductors (organic, carbon nanotubes, or inorganic nanowires), fundamental device physics studies, and device integration. Current research includes projects with Agency of Science Technology & Research Singapore, Defense Science Organization Singapore, and with leading technology-based multinational companies. Subodh has graduated 12 Masters and PHD students and is currently supervising a group of 11 PhD students and research fellows. Subodh has published more than 125 research papers and has active collaborations with UCLA, Northwestern University, CEA/CNRS France, IIT-Bombay, NUS, and local research institutes.  

Teaching

• MS9030 Nanoelectronics & Molecular Electronics                           

Selected Publications

T Cahyadi, J Kasim, HS Tan, SR Kulkarni, BS Ong, Y Wu, ZK Chen, CM Ng, ZX Shen, and SG Mhaisalkar, “Enhancement of Carrier Mobilities of Organic Semiconductors on Sol-Gel Dielectrics: Investigations of Molecular Organization and Interfacial Chemistry Effects,” Advanced Functional Materials, In Press, DOI: 10.1002/adfm.200800929, 2008.

B Kumar, HS Tan, N Ramalingam, and SG Mhaisalkar, “Integration of Ink Jet and Transfer Printing for Nanostructured Materials Micro-Array and Devices fabrication,” Carbon, 47: 313-317, 2008.

H. S. Tan, S. R. Kulkarni, T. Cahyadi, P.S. Lee, S. G. Mhaisalkar, J. Kasim, Z. X. Shen, F. R. Zhu, ” High Performance Flexible Organic Field Effect Transistors based on Solution Processed Inorganic Dielectrics,” Appl. Phys. Letters, 93 (18): 183503, 2008.

Keg Peisi, A. Lohani, D. Fichou, Y.M. Lam, Y. Wu, B.S. Ong, S.G. Mhaisalkar, “Direct observation of alkyl chain interdigitation in conjugated polyquarterthiophene self-organized on graphite surfaces,” Macromolecular Rapid Communication, 29: 1197-1202, 2008.

Wei Lin Leong, Pooi See Lee, Anup P.C. Lohani, Yeng Ming Lam, Tupei Chen, Sam Zhang, Ananth Dodabalapur, and Subodh Mhaisalkar, “Non-volatile Organic Memory Applications enabled by in-situ synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles in a Self-assembled Block Copolymer,” Advanced Materials, 20: 2325-2331, 2008.

Dong X, Lau CM, Lohani A, Mhaisalkar SG, Kasim J, Shen X, Ho X, Rogers JA, and Li LJ, “Electrical Detection of fM DNA via Au Nanoparticle Enhancement in CNT FET,” Advanced Materials, 20: 2389-2393, 2008.

N. Phonthammachai, J. Kah, J Guo, Colin Sheppard, Malini Olivo, SG Mhaisalkar, TJ White, "Synthesis of Contiguous Silica-Gold Core-Shell Structures: Critical Parameters and Processes," Langmuir, 24(9): 5109-5112, 2008.

T. Cahyadi, H. S. Tan, S. G. Mhaisalkar, P. S. Lee, and F. Boey, “Electret mechanism, hysteresis, and ambient performance of sol-gel silica gate dielectrics in pentacene field-effect transistors,” Applied Physics Letters, 91: 242107, 2007.

XC Dong, Dongliang Fu, Lain-Jong Li, Moawia O. Ahmed, Yumeng Shi, S. G. Mhaisalkar, Xinning Ho, John A. Rogers, and Shabbir Moochhala, “Heme-Enabled Electrical Detection of Carbon Monoxide at Room Temperature Using Networked Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors,” Chemistry of Materials 25(19):6059-6061, 2007.

YuanYuan Zhang, Yumeng Shi, Fuming Chen, S. G. Mhaisalkar, Lain-Jong Li, Beng S. Ong, and Yiliang Wu, “Poly(3,3′″-didodecylquarterthiophene) field effect transistors with single-walled carbon nanotube based source and drain electrodes,” Applied Physics Letters, 91: 223512, 2007.

Ee Ling Gui, Lain-Jong Li, Keke Zhang, Yangping Xu, Xinning Ho, Pooi See Lee, Johnson Kasim, Z. X. Shen, John. A. Rogers, and S.G. Mhaisalkar, “DNA Sensing Mechanism in Networked Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors,” Journal Of The American Chemical Society, 129 (46): 14427-14432, 2007.

N. Mathews, D. Fichou, E. Menard, V. Podzorov, S. G. Mhaisalkar, “Steady-state and transient photocurrents in rubrene single crystal free-space dielectric transistors,” Applied Physics Letters, 91: 223512, 2007.

Professor Subbu S. Venkatraman
Associate Chair-Materials Science & Engineering (Research)
Director, Graduate & Research Programmes
Deputy Director, Biomedical Engineering Research Centre
Joint Appointment with Division of Bioengineering

Email: assubbu@ntu.edu.sg
Phone: (+65) 67904259
Office:  N4.1-02-06
Related Links: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/assubbu       
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/bmerc/home.htm

Current Research Interests
His group is interested in designing and modifying polymers for biomedical applications. In this work, they are closely associated with local hospitals and researchers, including the National Heart Centre, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National Cancer Centre.  Current interests include the following:

1. Localized drug/gene delivery using stents
2. Biodegradable polymers
3. Injectable implants and nanoparticles
4. Hemocompatibilization of polymers  

Biographical Information
MSc (Chemistry) from IIT Madras; PhD (Chemistry) from Carnegie-Mellon University, USA; PDF at Universities of Tennessee and Knoxville; R&D experience at Raychem Corporation, Cygnus Therapeutics and ALZA Corporation, California.  

Teaching

• MS473 (Biomaterials)
• FE1004 (Biology for Engineers, a section)
• MS476 (Advanced Biomaterials)
• ME6502 (Biomedical Polymers): post-graduate                             

Selected Publications

1. Frank Alexis, Subbu S. Venkatraman, Santosh Kumar Rath and Freddy Boey "In vitro study of release mechanisms of paclitaxel and rapamycin from drug-incorporated biodegradable stent matrices",  Journal of Controlled Release Volume 98, Issue 1, Pages 67-74 (2004)

2. Liwei Wang, Subbu Venkatraman and Lothar Kleiner. "Drug release from injectable depots: two different in vitro mechanisms", Journal of Controlled Release,  Vol 99/2 pp 207-216 (2004)

3. L.P. Tan, S.S. Venkatraman, P.F. Sung and X.T. Wang, "Effect of plasticization on heparin release from biodegradable matrices", Int. J. Pharmaceutics, Volume 283, Issues 1-2 , Pages 89-96 (2004).

4. S.Venkatraman*, L.P.Tan, T.Vinalia, K.H.Mak, F.Boey: "Collapse Pressures of Biodegradable Stents", Biomaterials, 24, pp.2105-2111 (2003).

5. A.Frank, S.Rath, F.Boey and S.Venkatraman*: "Study of the inital stages of drug release from a degradable matrix of poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide)", Biomaterials, 25/5 pp. 813-821 (2004).

6. Liwei Wang, Lothar Kleiner and Subbu Venkatraman*: "Structure formation in injectable poly (lactide-co-gylcolide) depots", J. Controlled Release, 90/3, pp. 345-354 (2003)

Patents:

1. S.Venkatraman and F.Boey: Polymeric Stent and Method of Manufacture, US and PCT Application, PCT/SG2004/000180, June 2004.

2. S.Venkatraman, J.Stepic, S.Li, W. van Osdol:  Transdermal Administration of Fentanyl and Analogs Thereof, US 20030026829.

3. S.Venkatraman, T.Stein, J.Snider and R.Hamlin: Transdermal Drug Delivery Devices Comprising a Polyurethane Drug Reservoir, WO 00/59483 (Oct. 2000).