Dr Keith McLean: developing biomedical materials to replace or repair damaged body parts

Dr Keith McLean focuses on developing novel biodegradable and bioactive biomaterials for the repair, replacement and regeneration of diseased or damaged body parts.

• 19 April 2006 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Keith McLean is the Theme Leader for Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine at CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering.

Dr McLean directs research within the multidisciplinary Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine Theme aimed at delivering health and economic benefits to the Australian community and Australian business.

He drives research aimed at developing novel products for applications in implantable devices and tissue engineering.

His current research is focused on:

• novel biomedical adhesives
• ophthalmic biomaterials
• bioactive scaffolds for cell therapy
• platforms for the propagation of stem cells.

Background

Dr McLean worked in industry, 1985-86, before taking up a postdoctoral fellowship at The National Collection of Industrial Microbiology, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1986-87, examining methods of control of bacterial surface fouling.

Dr McLean continued research in this area during a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of Waikato, New Zealand, 1987-89.

After Waikato, Dr McLean joined CSIRO as a research scientist in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, at the Division of Exploration Geoscience, where he worked in the field of microbial enhanced oil recovery.

He joined CSIRO Polymers and Chemistry in Melbourne, Victoria, as a postdoctoral fellow in 1991, working on anaerobic wastewater treatment.

He was subsequently appointed to the permanent staff in 1994 and was appointed Principal Research Scientist in 1999, by which time he had joined the surface science team of Dr Hans Griesser in the Biomaterials Program.

Dr McLean worked within the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Eye Research and Technology developing surface coatings for an implantable contact lens. He became Project Director of the Vision CRC in 2002.

He became Project Leader for Biomaterials in 2003 and was appointed Theme Leader in 2006.

Academic qualifications

Dr McLean completed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in microbiology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland in 1982. He then completed a Doctor of Philosophy in the area of oilfield microbiology at the same university under the supervision of Professor Allan Hamilton.

Achievements

The Implantable Contact Lens project won The Royal Societies of Australia Eureka Prize for Multidisciplinary Research in 2004 and is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Dr McLean has published over 30 peer-reviewed scientific articles, four book chapters and is an author of over 100 conference articles.

Also, he is:

• Secretary of The Australasian Society for Biomaterials (2004-present)
• Member of The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (C.Chem)
• Member of The American Vacuum Society
• Member of The Materials Research Society
• Member of The Society for General Microbiology.

Read more about CSIRO's work in Treatment.