Professor Dave Dunstan

B.Sc.(Hons) Physical Chemistry, University of Melbourne, 1982
Ph. D., Physical Chemistry, University of Melbourne, 1987

Complex Fluids Group

Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering 
Room 3.24, Third Floor, Building 165
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010 Australia 

Email: davided@unimelb.edu.au
Tel: (03) 8344 8261
Fax: (03) 8344 4153

Parkville Campus Map

Current Research Activities

• Nano and Biomolecular Engineering
  • Nanostructured Materials - Light emitting polymers - Polymer dynamics
  • Microfluidics - Rheofluorescence
  • Biophysics - Drug delivery
  • Protein aggregation - Disease - Processing
  • Polymer Science
• Member of the Particulate Fluids Processing Centre

Current research activities are focused in two main areas relating to biophysics and soft condensed matter. The soft condensed matter work involves measurement of polymer dynamics and deformation in flow geometries and the production of devices from conducting polymers.Novel rheofluorescence methods have been developed to investigate polymer dynamics in flow. The biophysics is focused around the development and engineering of therapeutic proteins form various sources and the mechanisms of amyloid fibril formation. We have shown the effect of shear on amyloid formation to be significant. This has implications for a number of related human diseases.

We are currently using fluorescent conducting polymers in rheofluorescence measurements to characterize flow regimes in a number of synthetic polymer systems. Several other projects in soft condensed mater are related to the production of fluid gel systems and controlled drug delivery systems using biopolymers. This research is funded by Unilever Vlaadingen.

Other activities

• Assistant Dean-Academic, Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne

Professional Affiliations

• Australian Society of Rheology
• Australian Society of Biotechnology
• Member of the Executive Committee for the International Hydrocolloids Trust
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Chemical Society
• American Institute of Physics
• American Society of Rheology
• New York Academy of Sciences
• International Journal of Food Science and Technology

Honours/Awards

• Grimwade Prize for Industrial Chemistry

Professional Experience

Post doctoral experience at Uppsala University Sweden, University of California, Santa Barbara and Princeton University. Consultancies with a wide range of national and international companies in food, pharmaceutical and biotechnology. Reviewer of papers for 10 scientific publications. Reviewer of Australian Research Council's Grant Proposals.

Teaching Responsibilities

Link to Dave Dunstan's Teaching Responsibilities including

• Course Outlines
• What it is to be an Engineer
• Potential Careers for Engineers
• General Student information

Collaborative, Consulting & Industrial Interactions

• Full Collaborative Research Listing
• Full Consulting and Industrial Listing
• Facilities & Services Available
• Outline of capabilities in relation to Expert Consultancy

Selected Recent Publications

1. Dave E. Dunstan and Yalin Wei (2007) Compressive Elasticity in Polymer Couette Flow. Accepted in Eurpoean Physical Journal Applied Physics, Feb 6.
2. Benjamin Krebs, Geoffrey Howlett, Dianna G. Goodall, Elisabeth K. Hill and Dave E. Dunstan (2006) Shear flow induces amyloid formation by b-lactoglobulin. Biomacromolecules 7, 10-13.
3. Dave E. Dunstan, Elisabeth K. Hill and Yalin Wei (2004) Direct Measurement of Polydiacetylene 4-butoxycarbonylmethylurethane Segment Orientation and Distortion in hear: Semidilute Solutions. Macromolecules 37, 1633-1665.
4. Mathew P. Dixon, Richard N. Pau, Geoffrey J. Howlett, Dave E. Dunstan, William H. Sawyer and Barrie E. Davidson (2002) The Central Domain of Escherichia coli TyrR Is Responsible for Hexamerization Associated with Tyrosine-mediated Repression of Gene Expression. J. Biological Chemistry 277, 23186-23192.
5. Lisa Bijada, Trevor Smith and Dave E. Dunstan (2002) Fluorescene polarization measurements of the local viscosity of hydroxypropyl guar in solution. Macromolecules 35, 2736-2742.
6. Patrick Vermette, Sarah Taylor, Dave E. Dunstan and Laurence Meagher (2002) Control over PEGylated–Liposome Aggregation by Neutravidin-Biotin Interactions Investigated by hoton Correlation Spectroscopy. Langmuir 18, 505-511.
7. D. E. Dunstan and J. Stokes (2005) Diffusing Probe Measurements in Polyelectrolyte Solutions: Deviations from Stokes-Einstein Behaviour. Macromolecules 33, 193-199.
8. S. J. Gason, D. E. Dunstan, T. A. Smith, D. Y. C. Chan, L. R. White and D. V. Boger (1997) Rheo-optical Studies of Polydiacetylene Solutions. J. Phys. Chem. 101, 7732-7735.
9. D. E. Dunstan and D. A. Saville (1992) Electrophoretic Mobility of Colloidal Alkane Particles in Electrolyte Solutions J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Transactions 88, 2031-2033.
10. D. E. Dunstan and L. R. White. (1990) An Electrokinetic Study of Micellar Solutions. J.Colloid and Interface Science134, 147-151.

Copies of CV's