Joshua Chou
Chancellor's Post Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Physics and Advanced Materials
BSc in Nanotechnology, BSC in Honours, Grad Cert PM (USyd), Doctor of Philosophy
Email: Joshua.Chou@uts.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 9514 1729
Fax: +61 2 9514 1460
Room: CB04.04.37A (map)
Mailing address: PO Box 123,
Broadway NSW 2007,
Australia
Biography
Dr. Joshua Chou is a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Medical and Molecular Bioscience as well as a core member of the Centre of Health Technology at UTS. Joshua finished his Ph.D. here at UTS where his research was based on using biomimetic materials for bone tissue regeneration. Currently his research is based on developing drug delivery systems for stimulating and guiding bone regeneration with particular emphasis in developing bioinspired biomaterials and applying stem cell technologies for tissue engineering. Furthermore, Dr. Chou holds a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from The University of Sydney and is currently undertaking a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education.
While still an Early Career Researcher, Dr. Chou’s interdisciplinary research has during the past 2 years been published in high impact journals including Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Healthcare Materials, Journal of Australia Ceramic Society.
Dr. Chou was awarded the Endeavour Award in 2011 where he spent 6 months with our industry collaborator in Japan. This research was presented at the 2011 Asian Bioceramic Symposium where he was awarded “Best Presentation Award”.
Dr. Chou is an Editor for the Journal of Australia Ceramic Society and the Journal of Advances in Ceramic Science and Engineering. He also serves as a member of the editorial board for Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine and International Journal of Biomaterials.
Dr. Chou’s research has had publicity in the national media: radio (ABC), newspaper (Sydney Morning Herald (2010) and magazines (Materials Australia, U:Magazine, Researcher in Focus). Dr. Chou will also be speaking at the 2012 Ultimo Science Festival and at UTS Teacher’s Open Day.
Professional
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS) (Since 2010)
- Australian Ceramic Society (Since 2007)
- Australasian Society for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering (Since 2007)
- Australia Institute of Project Management (Since 2006)
Teaching areas
Dr. Chou is highly interested in teaching students and currently co-supervise 1 PhD student but is actively involved with other teaching duties.
1) Cell Biology and Genetics (91161)
Guest Lecturer/Lab demonstrator (Since 2007)
2) Essentials of Pathophysiology (99636)
Lab demonstrator (2007-2010)
3) Intro. Pharmacology and Microbiology (91604)
Lab demonstrator (2010)
4) Medical Devices and Diagnostics (91705)
Lab demonstrator (2010)
5) Introduction to Materials (68070)
Tutor/Lab demonstrator (Since 2007)
6) Chemistry and Materials Science (60101)
Tutor/Lab demonstrator (Since 2007)
Publications
Book chapters
Ben-Nissan, B., Choi, A.H., Green, D.W., Latella, B.A., Chou, J. & Bendavid, A. 2011, 'Synthesis and Characterization of Hydroxyapatite Nanocoatings by Sol-Gel Method for Clinical Applications' in Sam Zhang (ed), Biological and Biomedical Coatings Handbook: Processing and Characterization, CRC Press, United States, pp. 37-79.
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Nanostructured materials are associated with a diversity of uses within the medical field, for instance, in drug-delivery systems, regenerative medicine, formation of surgical tools, medical devices, and diagnostic systems. It has long been established that porous bulk hydroxyapatite (HAp) cannot be used for load-bearing applications due to its unfavorable mechanical properties. As a result, HAp has been used instead as a coating in orthopedic surgery on metallic alloys, metals giving the support required. Of the metallic alloys used, titanium-based and cobalt chromium alloys are the preferred materials for these HAp coatings for orthopedic and maxillofacial implants (Figure 2.1).
Journal articles
Chou, J., Ben-Nissan, B., Green, D.D., Valenzuela, S. & Kohan, L. 2011, 'Targeting And Dissolution Characteristics Of Bone Forming And Antibacterial Drugs By Harnessing The Structure Of Microspherical Shells From Coral Beach Sand', Advanced Engineering Materials, vol. 13, no. 1-2, pp. 93-99.
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Pharmaceutical drugs for the treatment of metabolic bone diseases lead to a number of side effects due to the their uncontrollable dispersion throughout the body.([1]) Therefore, many groups directed their research to develop devices that are targeted to
Chou, J., Green, D.W. & Ben-Nissan, B. 2010, 'New slow drug delivery materials and systems for biomedical applications', Materials Australia, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 37-41.
Chou, J., Shimmon, R. & Ben-Nissan, B. 2009, 'Bisphosphonate determination using H-1-NMR spectroscopy for biomedical applications', Journal Of Tissue Engineering And Regenerative Medicine, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 92-96.
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Bisphosphonate is known to be a very active drug in the treatment of osteoporosis and bone regeneration. A new method has been developed, utilizing nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify and measure the amount of bisphosphonate in solution. A standard reference with similar functional group to that of the bisphosphonate was chosen and applied in the experimentation. The results showed that the use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-1-NMR) in determining the solvent residues of various pharmaceutical drugs has proved to be effective. Unlike chromatography, it is possible to use a universal reference standard as an internal standard assayed by quantitative NMR. Using the same theory, this method is capable of both identifying and quantifying the bisphosphonate in various solutions. This paper is the first publication showing this unique measurement method, which can be used in a range of pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.
Chou, J., Ben-Nissan, B., Choi, A.H., Wuhrer, R. & Green, D. 2007, 'Conversion of coral sand to calcium phosphate for biomedical applications', Journal of the Australasian Ceramic Society, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 44-48.
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Coral sand grains were analysed using simultaneous differential thermogravimetric analysis (DTA/TGA) Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). These techniques were performed to confirm the characteristics and properties as well as the composition of the coral sand grains. Imaging of the full surface topography were conducted inthe ESEM. After characterisation coral sand grains were treated for impurities and organic materials were subsequently removed. The materials were then converted to calcium phosphates utilising hydrothermal treatment. The results have shown that the coral sand grains were composed of calcium carbonate with a network of uniform inner porous structure. The ESEM has provided valuable information through the imaging of the samples which in turn allowed a comparison of the pore sizes before and after the hydrothermal treatment. The current study shows that the coral sand to be a promising source of converted calcium carbonate to calium phosphates for biomedical applications.
Lewis, K.C., Choi, A.H., Chou, J., Ben-Nissan, B. 2007, 'Nanoceramics in medical applications', Materials Australia, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 32-34.
