Clearly communicating how he modelled the electrospinning process, so it can be used to make stronger and more versatile products, such as heart valves, has won Jonathan Stanger a national science award.

Mr Stanger is the MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year in the ‘Future science - making cool stuff’ section.

“The Award recognises the tremendous potential that this project offers,” says Mr Stanger. “I find it exciting to be part of such a ground-breaking project that is going ahead in leaps and bounds.”

For the award, Mr Stanger had to design a poster for secondary school students and to write a research summary for academics.

A Technology in Industry Fellow, Mr Stanger is working with Dr Nick Tucker at Crop & Food Research. The electrospinning project doubles as his Physics Masterate study at the University of Canterbury.

Electrospinning stretches out a fibre so that it becomes more ordered and closer to its ultimate strength.

“Having one coherent model will eliminate the current hit-and-miss approach to electrospinning, provide control of the process through greater understanding, and give the opportunity to scale-up production,” says Mr Stanger.

“The potential applications are very diverse. For example, living cells could be placed on to spun gelatine, eliminating the time needed to grow them, or ceramic fibres could be spun in composites resistant to high temperatures. And there are almost certainly more applications beyond those I’ve thought of to date.”

Crop & Food Research
Tel: +64 3 325 6400

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