Kapsa, Robert M. I.

Research Areas

0299 - OTHER PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Research Overview

Professor Robert Kapsa is a molecular and cell biologist who has worked extensively on the development of autologous cell-based regenerative solutions for diseased and damaged nerve and muscle tissue. Evolving from these challenging interests, Prof. Kapsa has developed concurrent activities in Gene Therapy, Adult Stem Cell Biology and Biomaterials Development & Application, largely focused on repair of muscle in the mdx model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and other models of muscle deficiency, as well as on repair and regeneration of nerve tissues.

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Year	Title
2020	Free-form co-axial bioprinting of a gelatin methacryloyl bio-ink by direct in situ photo-crosslinking during extrusion Published In Bioprinting
2020	Lubricin (PRG4) reduces fouling susceptibility and improves sensitivity of carbon-based electrodes Published In Electrochimica Acta
2020	Tuning drug dosing through matching optically active polymer composition and NIR stimulation parameters Published In International Journal of Pharmaceutics
2019	A simple technique for development of fibres with programmable microsphere concentration gradients for local protein delivery Published In Journal of Materials Chemistry B
2019	Adhesion and self-assembly of lubricin (PRG4) brush layers on different substrate surfaces Published In Langmuir: the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
2019	Fabrication of a Biocompatible Liquid Crystal Graphene Oxide–Gold Nanorods Electro- and Photoactive Interface for Cell Stimulation Published In Advanced Healthcare Materials
2019	Lubricin on Platinum Electrodes: A Low-Impedance Protein-Resistant Surface Towards Biomedical Implantation Published In ChemElectroChem
2019	Optimising the biocompatibility of 3D printed photopolymer constructs in vitro and in vivo Published In Biomedical Materials
2019	Strategies for neural control of prosthetic limbs: From electrode interfacing to 3D printing Published In Materials
2018	Engineering skeletal muscle - from two to three dimensions Published In Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
2018	Tailoring the mechanical properties of gelatin methacryloyl hydrogels through manipulation of the photocrosslinking conditions Published In Soft Matter
2018	Three-dimensional neural cultures produce networks that mimic native brain activity Published In Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
2017	Electrical stimulation using conductive polymer polypyrrole counters reduced neurite outgrowth of primary prefrontal cortical neurons from NRG1-KO and DISC1-LI mice Published In Scientific Reports
2017	Handheld Co-Axial Bioprinting: Application to in situ surgical cartilage repair Published In Scientific Reports
2017	In vivo biocompatibility of porous and non-porous polypyrrole based trilayered actuators Published In Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine
2016	Cell compatible encapsulation of filaments into 3D hydrogels Published In Biofabrication
2016	Combination of agrin and laminin increase acetylcholine receptor clustering and enhance functional neuromuscular junction formation in vitro Published In Developmental Neurobiology
2016	Conductive composite fibres from reduced graphene oxide and polypyrrole nanoparticles Published In Journal of Materials Chemistry B
2016	Correlation of impedance and effective electrode area of dextran sulfate doped PEDOT modified electrodes Published In Journal of Electrochemical Society
2016	Development of the Biopen: a handheld device for surgical printing of adipose stem cells at a chondral wound site Published In Biofabrication
2016	Effective area and charge density of dextran sulphate doped PEDOT modified electrodes Published In Synthetic Metals
2016	Functional 3D neural mini-tissues from printed gel-based bioink and human neural stem cells Published In Advanced Healthcare Materials
2016	Preparation, characterization and in vitro evaluation of electrically conducting poly(ε-caprolactone)-based nanocomposite scaffolds using PC12 cells Published In Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A
2016	Use of conducting polymers to facilitate neurite branching in schizophrenia-related neuronal development Published In Biomaterials Science
2015	Can the wet - State conductivity of hydrogels be improved by incorporation of spherical conducting nanoparticles? Published In MRS Online Proceedings
2015	Correlation of the impedance and effective electrode area of doped PEDOT modified electrodes for brain-machine interfaces Published In The Analyst
2015	Electrical stimulation using conductive polymer polypyrrole promotes differentiation of human neural stem cells: a biocompatible platform for translational neural tissue engineering Published In Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods
2015	From nanoparticles to fibres: effect of dispersion composition on fibre properties Published In Journal of Nanoparticle Research
2015	Influence of biopolymer loading on the physiochemical and electrochemical properties of inherently conducting polymer biomaterials Published In Synthetic Metals
2015	Is a ‘last chance’ treatment possible after an irreversible brain intervention? Published In AJOB Neuroscience
2014	Automated quantification of neurite outgrowth orientation distributions on patterned surfaces Published In Journal of Neural Engineering
2014	Controlling brain cells with light: ethical considerations for optogenetic clinical trials Published In American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience
2014	Influence of biodopants on PEDOT biomaterial polymers: using QCM-D to characterize polymer interactions with proteins and living cells Published In Advanced Materials Interfaces
2014	Optical and electrochemical methods for determining the effective area and charge density of conducting polymer modified electrodes for neural stimulation Published In Analytical Chemistry
2014	Recent advances in nerve tissue engineering Published In International Journal of Artificial Organs
2013	Bio-ink properties and printability for extrusion printing living cells Published In Journal of Biomaterials Science: Polymer Edition
2013	Bionic materials for neuromuscular restoration and maintenance Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2013	Conducting polymer coated neural recording electrodes Published In Journal of Neural Engineering
2013	Engineering a multimodal nerve conduit for repair of injured peripheral nerve Published In Journal of Neural Engineering
2013	In vitro growth and differentiation of primary myoblasts on thiophene based conducting polymers Published In Biomaterials Science
2013	Peptide nucleic acids for selective inhibition of cells containing the Mdx dystrophin locus Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2012	Efficacy testing as a primary purpose of phase 1 clinical trials: is it applicable to first-in-human bionics and optogenetics trials? Published In American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience
2012	Electrical stimulation of myoblast proliferation and differentiation on aligned nanostructured conductive polymer platforms Published In Advanced Healthcare Materials
2012	Fibronectin and bovine serum albumin adsorption and conformational dynamics on inherently conducting polymers: A QCM-D study Published In Langmuir: the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
2012	Inhibition of smooth muscle cell adhesion and proliferation on heparin-doped polypyrrole Published In Acta Biomaterialia
2012	Organic bionics: a new dimension in neural communications Published In Advanced Functional Materials
2011	Microstructured hybrid conducting polymer platforms for skeletal muscle Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2011	Molecular systems for improving gene mutation correction in muscle disease Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2011	Nanostructured conducting polymer scaffolds for skeletal muscle growth Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2010	Creating Conductive Structures for Cell Growth: Growth and alignment of Myogenic cell types on polythiophenes. Published In Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A
2009	A conducting-polymer platform with biodegradable fibers for stimulation and guidance of axonal growth Published In Advanced Materials
2009	Development of hybrid systems for cell-mediated muscle regeneration: advanced electromaterials and wet-spun biodegradable fibers Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2009	Sca-1 and c-kit and muscle remodelling by non-hemopoietic cone marrow cells Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2009	Skeletal muscle cell proliferation and differentiation on polypyrrole substrates doped with extracellular matrix components Published In Biomaterials
2009	Targeted corrective gene conversion (TCGC): Molecular systems for improved correction of gene mutations in muscle Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2009	Wet-spun biodegradable fibers on conducting platforms: novel architectures for muscle regeneration Published In Advanced Functional Materials
2007	The effect of polypyrrole with incorporated neurotrophin-3 on the promotion of neurite outgrowth from auditory neurons Published In Biomaterials

Book

Year	Title
2012	Organic Bionics Publisher Germany

Conference Paper

Year	Title
2013	Incorporating biodopants into PEDOT conducting polymers: impact of biodopant on polymer properties and biocompatibility Published In MRS Proceedings, 1569
2013	Living fibres: 3D hydrogel fibres for tissue engineering Published In Fiber Society Spring Technical Conference
2013	Precision wet-spinning of cell-impregnated alginate fibres for tissue engineering Published In Fiber Society Spring Technical Conference
2011	Cellsnake: A new active contour technique for cell/fibre segmentation Published In 2011 18th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, ICIP 2011
2011	Nanostructured conducting polymer-carbon nanotube scaffolds for skeletal muscle engineering Published In 24th European Conference on Biomaterials - Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials

Investigator On

Year	Title
2014 - 2020	ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Centres of Excellence
2018	Electrophysiology Facility for Cell Phenotyping and Drug Discovery Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Linkage Infrastructure Equipment & Facilities (LIEF)
2014 - 2017	Application of intelligent conducting polymers for treating schizophrenia and allied disorders focusing on neuronal outgrowth, myelination and synaptogenesis Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2010	Advanced Materials for Stents Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Linkage Projects
2010	Advanced polymer systems for the delivery of anti-epileptic drugs to the CNS Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2010	Multimodal Woven BioPolymer Fibre Conduits for Remodelling Damaged Peripheral Nerve Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2010	Three dimensional polymer structures for bionic applications Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Super Science Fellowship
2009	Polymers for skeletal muscle Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2008	Functionalised nanostructured polythiophenes: novel platforms for bionics Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects
	Biopolymer Conduit for Peripheral Nerve Repair Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
	Ultra-low fouling electrodes Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Degree	Research Title	Advisee
Doctor of Philosophy	Design of an Integrated Multi-Well Cell Culture System for Functional Tissue Constructs.	Shekibi, Bijan
Doctor of Philosophy	Electrode Systems for Controlled-Phenotype Cell Propagation	Dennaoui, Jessair

Education And Training

B.Sc., Monash University, Hons, First Class
Ph.D. in Medicine, University of Melbourne

Research Areas

0299 - OTHER PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Research Overview

Professor Robert Kapsa is a molecular and cell biologist who has worked extensively on the development of autologous cell-based regenerative solutions for diseased and damaged nerve and muscle tissue. Evolving from these challenging interests, Prof. Kapsa has developed concurrent activities in Gene Therapy, Adult Stem Cell Biology and Biomaterials Development & Application, largely focused on repair of muscle in the mdx model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and other models of muscle deficiency, as well as on repair and regeneration of nerve tissues.

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Year	Title
2020	Free-form co-axial bioprinting of a gelatin methacryloyl bio-ink by direct in situ photo-crosslinking during extrusion Published In Bioprinting
2020	Lubricin (PRG4) reduces fouling susceptibility and improves sensitivity of carbon-based electrodes Published In Electrochimica Acta
2020	Tuning drug dosing through matching optically active polymer composition and NIR stimulation parameters Published In International Journal of Pharmaceutics
2019	A simple technique for development of fibres with programmable microsphere concentration gradients for local protein delivery Published In Journal of Materials Chemistry B
2019	Adhesion and self-assembly of lubricin (PRG4) brush layers on different substrate surfaces Published In Langmuir: the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
2019	Fabrication of a Biocompatible Liquid Crystal Graphene Oxide–Gold Nanorods Electro- and Photoactive Interface for Cell Stimulation Published In Advanced Healthcare Materials
2019	Lubricin on Platinum Electrodes: A Low-Impedance Protein-Resistant Surface Towards Biomedical Implantation Published In ChemElectroChem
2019	Optimising the biocompatibility of 3D printed photopolymer constructs in vitro and in vivo Published In Biomedical Materials
2019	Strategies for neural control of prosthetic limbs: From electrode interfacing to 3D printing Published In Materials
2018	Engineering skeletal muscle - from two to three dimensions Published In Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
2018	Tailoring the mechanical properties of gelatin methacryloyl hydrogels through manipulation of the photocrosslinking conditions Published In Soft Matter
2018	Three-dimensional neural cultures produce networks that mimic native brain activity Published In Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
2017	Electrical stimulation using conductive polymer polypyrrole counters reduced neurite outgrowth of primary prefrontal cortical neurons from NRG1-KO and DISC1-LI mice Published In Scientific Reports
2017	Handheld Co-Axial Bioprinting: Application to in situ surgical cartilage repair Published In Scientific Reports
2017	In vivo biocompatibility of porous and non-porous polypyrrole based trilayered actuators Published In Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine
2016	Cell compatible encapsulation of filaments into 3D hydrogels Published In Biofabrication
2016	Combination of agrin and laminin increase acetylcholine receptor clustering and enhance functional neuromuscular junction formation in vitro Published In Developmental Neurobiology
2016	Conductive composite fibres from reduced graphene oxide and polypyrrole nanoparticles Published In Journal of Materials Chemistry B
2016	Correlation of impedance and effective electrode area of dextran sulfate doped PEDOT modified electrodes Published In Journal of Electrochemical Society
2016	Development of the Biopen: a handheld device for surgical printing of adipose stem cells at a chondral wound site Published In Biofabrication
2016	Effective area and charge density of dextran sulphate doped PEDOT modified electrodes Published In Synthetic Metals
2016	Functional 3D neural mini-tissues from printed gel-based bioink and human neural stem cells Published In Advanced Healthcare Materials
2016	Preparation, characterization and in vitro evaluation of electrically conducting poly(ε-caprolactone)-based nanocomposite scaffolds using PC12 cells Published In Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A
2016	Use of conducting polymers to facilitate neurite branching in schizophrenia-related neuronal development Published In Biomaterials Science
2015	Can the wet - State conductivity of hydrogels be improved by incorporation of spherical conducting nanoparticles? Published In MRS Online Proceedings
2015	Correlation of the impedance and effective electrode area of doped PEDOT modified electrodes for brain-machine interfaces Published In The Analyst
2015	Electrical stimulation using conductive polymer polypyrrole promotes differentiation of human neural stem cells: a biocompatible platform for translational neural tissue engineering Published In Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods
2015	From nanoparticles to fibres: effect of dispersion composition on fibre properties Published In Journal of Nanoparticle Research
2015	Influence of biopolymer loading on the physiochemical and electrochemical properties of inherently conducting polymer biomaterials Published In Synthetic Metals
2015	Is a ‘last chance’ treatment possible after an irreversible brain intervention? Published In AJOB Neuroscience
2014	Automated quantification of neurite outgrowth orientation distributions on patterned surfaces Published In Journal of Neural Engineering
2014	Controlling brain cells with light: ethical considerations for optogenetic clinical trials Published In American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience
2014	Influence of biodopants on PEDOT biomaterial polymers: using QCM-D to characterize polymer interactions with proteins and living cells Published In Advanced Materials Interfaces
2014	Optical and electrochemical methods for determining the effective area and charge density of conducting polymer modified electrodes for neural stimulation Published In Analytical Chemistry
2014	Recent advances in nerve tissue engineering Published In International Journal of Artificial Organs
2013	Bio-ink properties and printability for extrusion printing living cells Published In Journal of Biomaterials Science: Polymer Edition
2013	Bionic materials for neuromuscular restoration and maintenance Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2013	Conducting polymer coated neural recording electrodes Published In Journal of Neural Engineering
2013	Engineering a multimodal nerve conduit for repair of injured peripheral nerve Published In Journal of Neural Engineering
2013	In vitro growth and differentiation of primary myoblasts on thiophene based conducting polymers Published In Biomaterials Science
2013	Peptide nucleic acids for selective inhibition of cells containing the Mdx dystrophin locus Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2012	Efficacy testing as a primary purpose of phase 1 clinical trials: is it applicable to first-in-human bionics and optogenetics trials? Published In American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience
2012	Electrical stimulation of myoblast proliferation and differentiation on aligned nanostructured conductive polymer platforms Published In Advanced Healthcare Materials
2012	Fibronectin and bovine serum albumin adsorption and conformational dynamics on inherently conducting polymers: A QCM-D study Published In Langmuir: the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
2012	Inhibition of smooth muscle cell adhesion and proliferation on heparin-doped polypyrrole Published In Acta Biomaterialia
2012	Organic bionics: a new dimension in neural communications Published In Advanced Functional Materials
2011	Microstructured hybrid conducting polymer platforms for skeletal muscle Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2011	Molecular systems for improving gene mutation correction in muscle disease Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2011	Nanostructured conducting polymer scaffolds for skeletal muscle growth Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2010	Creating Conductive Structures for Cell Growth: Growth and alignment of Myogenic cell types on polythiophenes. Published In Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A
2009	A conducting-polymer platform with biodegradable fibers for stimulation and guidance of axonal growth Published In Advanced Materials
2009	Development of hybrid systems for cell-mediated muscle regeneration: advanced electromaterials and wet-spun biodegradable fibers Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2009	Sca-1 and c-kit and muscle remodelling by non-hemopoietic cone marrow cells Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2009	Skeletal muscle cell proliferation and differentiation on polypyrrole substrates doped with extracellular matrix components Published In Biomaterials
2009	Targeted corrective gene conversion (TCGC): Molecular systems for improved correction of gene mutations in muscle Published In Journal of Gene Medicine
2009	Wet-spun biodegradable fibers on conducting platforms: novel architectures for muscle regeneration Published In Advanced Functional Materials
2007	The effect of polypyrrole with incorporated neurotrophin-3 on the promotion of neurite outgrowth from auditory neurons Published In Biomaterials

Book

Year	Title
2012	Organic Bionics Publisher Germany

Conference Paper

Year	Title
2013	Incorporating biodopants into PEDOT conducting polymers: impact of biodopant on polymer properties and biocompatibility Published In MRS Proceedings, 1569
2013	Living fibres: 3D hydrogel fibres for tissue engineering Published In Fiber Society Spring Technical Conference
2013	Precision wet-spinning of cell-impregnated alginate fibres for tissue engineering Published In Fiber Society Spring Technical Conference
2011	Cellsnake: A new active contour technique for cell/fibre segmentation Published In 2011 18th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, ICIP 2011
2011	Nanostructured conducting polymer-carbon nanotube scaffolds for skeletal muscle engineering Published In 24th European Conference on Biomaterials - Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials

Investigator On

Year	Title
2014 - 2020	ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Centres of Excellence
2018	Electrophysiology Facility for Cell Phenotyping and Drug Discovery Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Linkage Infrastructure Equipment & Facilities (LIEF)
2014 - 2017	Application of intelligent conducting polymers for treating schizophrenia and allied disorders focusing on neuronal outgrowth, myelination and synaptogenesis Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2010	Advanced Materials for Stents Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Linkage Projects
2010	Advanced polymer systems for the delivery of anti-epileptic drugs to the CNS Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2010	Multimodal Woven BioPolymer Fibre Conduits for Remodelling Damaged Peripheral Nerve Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2010	Three dimensional polymer structures for bionic applications Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Super Science Fellowship
2009	Polymers for skeletal muscle Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
2008	Functionalised nanostructured polythiophenes: novel platforms for bionics Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects
	Biopolymer Conduit for Peripheral Nerve Repair Awarded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Funding Scheme: Project Grant
	Ultra-low fouling electrodes Awarded by: Australian Research Council (ARC) Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Degree	Research Title	Advisee
Doctor of Philosophy	Design of an Integrated Multi-Well Cell Culture System for Functional Tissue Constructs.	Shekibi, Bijan
Doctor of Philosophy	Electrode Systems for Controlled-Phenotype Cell Propagation	Dennaoui, Jessair

Education And Training

B.Sc., Monash University, Hons, First Class
Ph.D. in Medicine, University of Melbourne

Kapsa, Robert M. I. Professor

Faculty Member

Overview

Research Areas

Research Overview

Publications

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Book

Conference Paper

Funding

Investigator On

Supervision

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Background

Education And Training

Overview

Research Areas

Research Overview

Publications

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Book

Conference Paper

Funding

Investigator On

Supervision

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Background

Education And Training

Visualisations

Research Areas