Dr Swee Lim
Research Associate
School of Information and Physical Sciences
- Email:swee.lim@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 4033 9253
Career Summary
Biography
Swee Lu Lim is a postdoctoral researcher in the Centre for Organic Electronics at the University of Newcastle. Swee Lu's research focuses on the interface between biomolecules and organic electronics materials to develop a new bio-organic electronics material. This research is highly interdisciplinary that involves bioengineering, biochemistry, material science and microelectronic engineering. Swee Lu's research focuses on conjugating biomolecules onto organic electronics materials, synthesizing the bio-organic electronics materials, elucidating the fundamental structure-function relationships, fabricating and optimise the thin-film devices and developing the printable organic thin-film transistors for biosensing and bioelectronics. She also has interests in protein purification, protein modification, immobilization of proteins on various polymers, semi-interpenetrating network hydrogel, drug delivery system, quartz crystal microbalance and biosensors.
Since completing her PhD, she has worked on industry projects including salivary glucose sensor, Covid-19 antibody sensor and organic photovoltaic devices. Despite the fact that industry projects are restricted by NDA and IP rights, my research has resulted in the publication of 5 well-recognised peer-reviewed journal articles (4 first-author and 1 co-author),1 book chapter (first-author) and 1 peer-reviewed conference paper. I have more than 325 citations, h-index of 5 and i10-index of 4 (Google scholar).
Swee Lu's contribution to the salivary glucose sensor research has won the Shaping Australia Awards. Swee Lu hopes to commercialise low-cost biosensors for point-of-care.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Monash University
Keywords
- Antigen and antibody immobilisation
- Antigen and antibody purification
- Biochemistry
- Bioformulation improvement
- Biosensor
- Covid-19 antibody sensor
- Cross-linking free-radical polymerizations
- Hepatitis B sensors
- Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM)
- Salivary Glucose Sensor
- Semi-interpenetrating hydrogel
- Thin-film transistor device
Fields of Research
Code | Description | Percentage |
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320602 | Medical biotechnology diagnostics (incl. biosensors) | 50 |
320506 | Medical biochemistry - proteins and peptides (incl. medical proteomics) | 25 |
401802 | Molecular and organic electronics | 25 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
Title | Organisation / Department |
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Research Associate | University of Newcastle School of Information and Physical Sciences Australia |
Academic appointment
Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
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4/3/2019 - | Research Associate | College of Engineering, Science & Environment, University of Newcastle Australia |
Teaching appointment
Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
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2/1/2013 - 6/12/2017 |
Tutor
Subjects:
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Monash University Chemical Engineering/CRC Lignite Australia |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Journal article (6 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
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2020 |
Lim SL, Ooi CW, Low LE, Tan WS, Chan ES, Ho KL, Tey BT, 'Synthesis of poly(acrylamide)-based hydrogel for bio-sensing of hepatitis B core antigen', Materials Chemistry and Physics, 243 (2020) [C1]
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2018 |
Lim SL, Ng HW, Akwiditya MA, Ooi CW, Chan ES, Ho KL, et al., 'Single-step purification of recombinant hepatitis B core antigen Y132A dimer from clarified Escherichia coli feedstock using a packed bed anion exchange chromatography', Process Biochemistry, 69 208-215 (2018) Hepatitis B core antigen with the mutation of Y132A (HBcAg-Y132A) was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli. The mutant HBcAg-Y132A forms dimers and is unable to self-assembl... [more] Hepatitis B core antigen with the mutation of Y132A (HBcAg-Y132A) was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli. The mutant HBcAg-Y132A forms dimers and is unable to self-assemble into virus-like particles (VLPs). Hence, it is a potential antigen used in the antibody-responsive biosensor for the detection of anti-HBcAg in patients infected with hepatitis B virus. The aim of this study was to establish a direct purification strategy to recover HBcAg-Y132A dimer from the E. coli feedstock using SepFast¿ Supor DEAE pre-packed column. The performance of this anion exchange chromatography was optimized in terms of the buffer composition (for adsorption and elution steps) and the mode of elution (i.e., step or gradient). The highest adsorption of HBcAg-Y132A dimer in the DEAE column was achieved with the buffer composed of 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.4). The step elution using 50 mM Tris-HCl elution buffer (pH 8.4) supplemented with 1 M NaCl resulted in 1.2-fold increase in the purity of HBcAg, as compared to the gradient elution mode. In addition, it was found that the optimized 3-step elution is not directly applicable to elute the self-assembled HBcAg VLPs, as only 24.7% of the particles were recovered due to the limitation of size effect.
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2017 |
Lim SL, Ooi CW, Tan WS, Chan ES, Ho KL, Tey BT, 'Biosensing of hepatitis B antigen with poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel immobilized with antigens and antibodies', Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical, 252 409-417 (2017) Hydrogel based on poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) polymers was successfully fabricated as the biosensor for detecting hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg). Specifically, the pendant HBcAg a... [more] Hydrogel based on poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) polymers was successfully fabricated as the biosensor for detecting hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg). Specifically, the pendant HBcAg and the anti-hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) antibody were first immobilized on the PAAc, which were then covalently cross-linked via radical polymerization to form the HBcAg-sensitive (HBPAAc) hydrogel. The non-covalent affinity binding between the immobilized HBcAg and anti-HBc would be disrupted by the presence of free HBcAg in the HBPAAc hydrogel. The competitive binding of free HBcAg on the immobilized anti-HBc triggered the swelling of HBPAAc hydrogel. The equilibrium swelling ratio and the oscillatory swelling-deswelling kinetics of the HBPAAc hydrogel in response to protein concentration were studied. The swelling ratio of HBPAAc hydrogel increased along with an increase in HBcAg concentration until equilibrium was achieved at 4¿mg/mL HBcAg. The HBPAAc hydrogel did not exhibit swelling/deswelling behavior when interacted with the negative control, i.e., bovine serum albumin (BSA). Based on the result of oscillatory swelling-deswelling of HBPAAc hydrogel, the minimum duration for HBcAg detection by the HBPAAc hydrogel was ~20¿min, whereas the regeneration of HBPAAc hydrogel took about 60¿min. These results confirmed the reversibility and the reusability of this HBcAg-sensing HBPAAc hydrogel. Besides, the hydrogel demonstrated zero cross-reactivity to the hepatitis B surface antigen, a common serological marker for hepatitis B patients. The high sensitivity of HBPAAc hydrogel to the HBcAg was successfully demonstrated with quartz crystal microgravimetry. The magnitude of resonance frequency was inversely correlated with the swelling of HBPAAc hydrogel, which is governed by the concentration of analyte HBcAg. The application of HBPAAc hydrogel as a biosensor component in the detection and surveillance of hepatitis B holds great promises.
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2016 |
Lim SL, Tang WNH, Ooi CW, Chan ES, Tey BT, 'Rapid swelling and deswelling of semi-interpenetrating network poly(acrylic acid)/poly(aspartic acid) hydrogels prepared by freezing polymerization', Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 133 (2016) Hydrogels with semi-interpenetrating networks composed of poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) and poly(aspartic acid) (PASP) have great potential for pharmaceutical and biomedical applicati... [more] Hydrogels with semi-interpenetrating networks composed of poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) and poly(aspartic acid) (PASP) have great potential for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. In this study, we aimed to synthesize semi-interpenetrating PAAc/PASP hydrogels with improved swelling-deswelling properties via two-step polymerization, in which the first step of polymerization was performed at 37 °C for 15 min and the second step, the freezing polymerization, was performed at -20 °C for 24 h. The synthesized hydrogels were characterized with field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The swelling and deswelling behaviors of the hydrogels in response to the ionic strength of the buffer solution were investigated. The Schott's swelling kinetic model was used to elucidate the swelling behavior of the hydrogels. The swelling and deswelling rates of the hydrogels prepared via freezing polymerization were faster than those of the hydrogels prepared via conventional polymerization. This was attributed to the large mean pore size of the freeze-polymerized hydrogels. The PAAc/PASP hydrogels that underwent freezing polymerization had better swelling-deswelling characteristics than the PAAc hydrogels.
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2016 |
Leong JY, Lam WH, Ho KW, Voo WP, Lee MFX, Lim HP, et al., 'Advances in fabricating spherical alginate hydrogels with controlled particle designs by ionotropic gelation as encapsulation systems', Particuology, 24 44-60 (2016) Alginate is a biopolymer that has exceptional gelling properties, which allow easy gel formation under safe and mild conditions. Consequently, it is often used to encapsulate a va... [more] Alginate is a biopolymer that has exceptional gelling properties, which allow easy gel formation under safe and mild conditions. Consequently, it is often used to encapsulate a variety of cargos, such as cells, enzymes, and lipids, and is typically employed as a model to study hydrogel-based encapsulation systems. Since the first use of alginate in the encapsulation field in the 1970s, many methods have been developed to produce alginate hydrogel particles of different sizes, structures, and morphologies. This review provides an overview of the current progress in the fabrication of alginate hydrogels with various particle designs, including a discussion of dispersion techniques to pre-template alginate particles, gelation mechanisms, considerations in selecting suitable fabrication methods, and future directions.
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Show 3 more journal articles |
Research Collaborations
The map is a representation of a researchers co-authorship with collaborators across the globe. The map displays the number of publications against a country, where there is at least one co-author based in that country. Data is sourced from the University of Newcastle research publication management system (NURO) and may not fully represent the authors complete body of work.
Country | Count of Publications | |
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Malaysia | 5 | |
Australia | 2 | |
France | 1 |
Dr Swee Lim
Position
Research Associate
Centre for Organic Electronics
School of Information and Physical Sciences
College of Engineering, Science and Environment
Contact Details
swee.lim@newcastle.edu.au | |
Phone | (02) 4033 9253 |
Office
Room | A.487 |
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Building | NIER A Block |
Location | Callaghan University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia |