When Harry Met Sally: Polymer Chemistry Meets Biomaterials

Greg Russell is currently an associate professor in chemistry at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1986 he graduated from the University of Sydney with First Class Honors and a University Medal in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. He then went on to obtain his Ph.D. from the same university, his thesis topic being ‘Diffusion-Controlled Polymerization Reactions’. In 1991 he accepted an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship and for the next three years he worked at the University of Göttingen, Germany; through annual return visits, it has become a home away from home for him. Since 1994 he has been a staff member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Canterbury. His present research interests are the kinetics of free-radical polymerization, emulsion polymerization, and polymer synthesis. From December 2004 to February 2006 he was Chair of the RACI Polymer Division; he has survived to tell the tale.

Martina Stenzel is currently a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and is associated with the Center for Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD). She spent her undergraduate years in Bayreuth, Germany, and completed her Master’s degree in chemistry in 1996. After finishing her Ph.D. in 1999 at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, she came to Australia as a postdoctoral fellow sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). After she discovered the beautiful lifestyle in Australia, she decided never to return to the cold German winters and took up an academic position at the University of New South Wales in 2002. In her research she is interested in the interface between polymer and biomedical science, focussing mainly on the synthesis of carriers for drug delivery.