Rate My Professor Idriss Blakey

Associate Professor Idriss Blakey serves as group leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and the Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) at the University of Queensland. He earned his PhD in Polymer Science and Physical Chemistry from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) between 1997 and 2000, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Chemistry (Honours) from QUT from 1992 to 1996. His academic career at UQ commenced as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Magnetic Resonance (CMR) in 2003, progressed to Senior Research Fellow at AIBN/CMR from 2005 to 2010, and he has held the position of Associate Professor at AIBN/CAI since 2010. Before joining UQ, Blakey worked as a Research Scientist at Polymerat Pty Ltd from 2000 to 2003, a materials biotechnology startup company now listed on the ASX as AnteoTech. Throughout his UQ appointment, he has received the Vice Chancellor’s Research and Teaching Fellowship, ARC Future Fellowship, Linkage Projects International Fellowship, and Queensland Government Smart State Fellowship, while securing over AUD 15 million in funding from ARC Discovery and Linkage grants, fellowships, and direct industry support.

Blakey's research centers on the rational design, synthesis, and self-assembly of functional polymers and nanomaterials, employing advanced material characterization techniques to explore structure-performance relationships in applications such as nanofabrication, sensors, and biomedical imaging agents. His key interests encompass polymers for semiconductor manufacture, hybrid inorganic-polymer materials and their self-assembly, generation of biodegradable polymers, modification of polymer surfaces, applications of 129Xe NMR for materials analysis, and MRI contrast agents. Notable publications include "Galactose-based block copolymers with switchable χ parameters for tuning phase separated morphology" (Macromolecules, 2023), "Macroscale superlubricity induced by film-forming polymer brush-grafted colloidal additives" (Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2023), "Utilizing PET and MALDI imaging for discovery of a targeted probe for brain endocannabinoid α/β-hydrolase domain 6 (ABHD6)" (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2022), "Diagnostic prospects and preclinical development of optical technologies using gold nanostructure contrast agents to boost endogenous tissue contrast" (Chemical Science, 2020), and "Using directed self assembly of block copolymer nanostructures to modulate nanoscale surface roughness: towards a novel lithographic process" (Advanced Functional Materials, 2013). He holds six fully granted patents with four under licensing agreements and maintains extensive industry collaborations with partners like Tokyo Electron, Intel, Sematech, Dow Chemical Company, and the ARC Research Hub for Advanced Manufacture of Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals (AMTAR), alongside international academic partnerships across the USA, UK, Japan, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.