Nano & Microplastics Research Consortium

Join us for the 2nd Nano & Microplastic Australian Conference (2ndN&MAC) taking place on March 20 - 21 in 2025 at Flinders University City Campus, Adelaide. We hope you can join us for this exciting event!

This conference will unite researchers, industry professionals, government representatives, and community leaders to discuss recent advancements and explore innovative solutions to nano and microplastics pollution.

Building on the success of the inaugural NMAC, this second edition aims to inspire new goals in the nanoplastics field and advance progress toward microplastics regulation.

Don’t miss the early bird registration and be sure to mark these two days in your calendar!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact our organising committee at nmrc@flinders.edu.au.

Key details:

Conference dates: March 20–21, 2025
Location: Flinders University City Campus, Adelaide
Registration & Abstract Submission: Please visit conference webpage for more details.

2ndN&MAC 2025 event information

If you'd like to contact the Nano and Microplastics Research Consortium to partner with us or to find out more, please email us at nmrc@flinders.edu.au or visit our official site at nmrc.com.au

Innovation

Nano and microplastics are ubiquitous environmental hazards, impacting fauna globally, including the human body. Despite the emergence of some marine pollution standards in the US and Europe, many regions of the world have no rules, especially Australia. Furthermore, guidelines are missing for other environmental matrixes (e.g. soil, air and sediments), and the issue of nanoplastics analysis is not being addressed. The lack of approved detection methods impedes setting safe concentration levels.

Our research groups have developed protocols for the reliable identification (RAMAN -FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra-Red)), sizing and counting (flow cytometry), and quantification (TGA-MS) of both nano and microplastics in various matrixes. Our methods can be used to collect seed data on nano and microplastics occurrence in environmental samples and industrial waste. However, a joint effort is needed to upscale our national analysis capability.

The consortium aims to holistically address microplastics challenges and contribute to the development of national standards by providing robust analysis capabilities

Unlike ecologically-focused studies, our multidisciplinary consortium aims to develop standardised, efficient, and quantitative techniques targeting plastics from tens of nanometres to a few millimetres, in all sample types.

Aim

Connect stakeholders for efficient transition of advanced micro-/nano-plastic detection methods from academia to industry, optimising rapid data collection and analysis packages for defining guidelines. Partnering with key stakeholders will foster technique dissemination and enable direct comparison of Australian studies

Significance

The number of studies reporting the negative effects of micro- and nano-plastics on ecosystems is increasing exponentially, yet techniques to reproducibly detect these pollutants are lacking. Facilitating reliable data collection is the way forward to establish national guidelines to limit further pollution and protect the health of living organisms.

Our Team

A/Prof MacGregor is an ARC future fellow in nanotechnology. Her group is developing (1) techniques to isolate and detect nanoplastics, (2) in vitro models to evaluate their toxicity on human cells.

Prof Sophie Leterme is a biological oceanographer who has collaborated with the South Australian (SA) Environment Protection Authority (EPA), SA Water, South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), and Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) for 15 years. In 2018, she started investigating microplastic pollution with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), undertaking sampling expedition on the RV Investigator for ongoing studies.

Prof Justin Chalker is an organic chemist specialising in sustainable polymer synthesis. His expertise brings invaluable insights into the development of detection techniques specific to nano/microplastics present in different matrixes where they are associated with organic matter and chemical additives.

Dr Anastasiia Snigirova is an expert in marine phycology who has lead research on the fouling on plastic litter in the Black Sea (Ukraine) for 5 years. At Flinders since 2022, she leads microplastic research in collaboration with SARDI.

Together, the leadership team has extensive experience leading large multidisciplinary projects with industry and government stakeholders (CRC-P, ARC ITTC and Linkage Projects).

In the mentoring team, Dr Chris Gibson and Dr Jason Gascooke are RAMAN analysis experts with established collaborations with several of our industry and academic partners. Dr Ula Alexander specializes in spectroscopic analysis (Raman/FTIR) and liaison with industry to solve applied chemistry/biology challenges. Her skillset supports a cohesive working environment between the different stakeholder groups. Prof Jim Mitchell is a marine and aquatic scientist with 20+ years of flow cytometry expertise, including work with SA EPA and Marion Council on microplastic detection, and more recently, nanoplastics. Prof Ingo Koeper is a physical chemist applying colloid science principles and techniques to characterize nanoplastics and understand their toxicity pathways, collaborating with SA Water and other industries.

Intended outcome and potential for external impact

Problem statement

The time-consuming methods and techniques suitable for microplastic analysis are currently only available at specialised university facilities like ours. Furthermore, the analytical processes required to analyse nanoplastics are still in development. Commercial analytical laboratories do not have the knowledge, instruments, or capacity to undertake these tests.

Beneficiaries

Four distinct types of stakeholders will need better methods and techniques: commercial analytical laboratories and their clients (i.e. any environmentally conscious industry wishing to analyse their waste/test their mitigation processes), policy makers and community groups.

The consortium will tackle this problem by:

Establishing communication lines between the four types of stakeholders
Defining the type of training, investment and data that are required to
1. make nano/microplastics a component of routine environmental sample analysis, and
2. establish meaningful standard practice and guideline