Subject areas of focus include:

• Materials Science, Organic and Organo-metallic modification of natural lipids, Physics and Chemistry of Biomaterials, Physics of Crystallization and Phase Change.

Research in the Trent Centre for Biomaterials Research is focussed on the utilization of vegetable oils (soybean, canola, flax, corn, jatropha, palm, etc.) for the synthesis of functional polymers (for use as intelligent coatings, biomedical delivery systems and other specialized polymers), lubricants, greases and waxes, nano-matrices for the delivery of bioactive compounds and fertilizers, and crystallized networks of lipids for use as healthy food materials.

Activities centre on organic modification, assembly of materials at various hierarchies such as the molecular, supra-molecular and crystalline nanostructures, and structural organization at the microstructural length range, and the investigation of the relationships between the various hierarchies of structure and final macroscopic physico-chemical functionality of the materials. The materials studied are specifically designed so that their fate and functionality from cradle to cradle can be predicted and determined.