Dr Roman Kostecki

Dr Roman Kostecki
 Position NHMRC Grant-Funded Researcher (A)
 Org Unit Physics
 Email roman.kostecki@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone +61 8 8313 0871
 Location Floor/Room 1 ,  The Braggs ,   North Terrace

  • Biography/ Background

    Roman Kostecki graduated from Flinders University BSc (Hon) (Physics and Mathematics) and completed his PhD in the Department of Physics at the University of Adelaide. He is currently a Research Fellow with the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), working on the development of new devices for measurements and sensing at a nanoscale level to provide new ways of understanding cellular processes within humans, animals and plants.

    After completing a B.Sc (Physics and Mathematics) with honours at Flinders University, Roman Kostecki secured a Professional Officer role in 2010 at the University of Adelaide's Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), working closely with senior researchers on surface plasmon resonance-based fibre optic sensors for biomedical applications. In 2017, under the supervision of Prof. Tanya Monro and A/Prof. Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, he completed his PhD researching a new type of optical fibre corrosion sensor in collaboration with researchers at the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation. Roman led and revolutionised silica microstructured optical fibre design, fabrication, and functionalisation, including research on novel fibres and functionalisation methods. As part of a transdisciplinary team, his research has led to vibrant collaborations with senior researchers from several disciplines, including chemistry and biology. These collaborations included work on development of a biocompatible optical fibre metal ion sensing platform, and discovery of molecular recognition control mechanisms and nano-environment effects from functionalised surfaces. He is currently a Research Fellow with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), working on the development of new devices for measurements and sensing at a nanoscale level to provide new ways of understanding cellular processes within humans, animals and plants. His research focuses on design of optics and photonics sensing devices, profiling biochemicals at the surface of single cells, transitioning from lab measurements to real world sensing applications, functionalisation methods for controlling interactions between light and matter, and microstructured optical fibre (MOF) design and fabrication process.

    Researcher Profile

    Scopus Profile

    Research-Gate Profile

    Google Scholar Profile

    ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-5822-8401

  • Qualifications
    Research Experience
    • Dec. 2014 - present: The University of Adelaide, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics
      Position: Research Fellow
      Supervisor: A/Prof. Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem
      Subject: Measure inside biological systems using; photonic sensing architectures for Nanoscale measurements, remote nanoscale assays, spatially distributed measurements and in-situ interferometers, and exploring the fundamental limits of detection.
       
    • Jul. 2017: The University of Adelaide (Adelaide, Australia)
      Position: PhD (Physics - Optics and Photonics)
      Supervisor: Prof. Tanya Monro and A/Prof. Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem
      Subject: Corrosion Detection: A Fibre Optic Approach
        
      • Mar. 2015 - Jun. 2017: The University of Adelaide, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (Adelaide, Australia)
        Position: Investigator (Collaborative Project) [Part Time]
        Lead Investigators: Dr Claire Davis (DSTG), Dr Grant McAdam (DSTG), Prof Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem (UoA), and Prof Tanya Monro (UniSA)
        Subject: Fibre Optic Corrosion Sensors
         
      • Jan. 2016 - Dec. 2016: The University of Adelaide, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (Adelaide, Australia)
        Position: Lead Investigator (Piot Project) [Part Time]
        Subject: Demonstrating Spatially Resolved Corrosion Detection
         
      • Jul. 2014 - Dec. 2014: The University of Adelaide, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (Adelaide, Australia)
        Position: Investigator (Pilot Project) [Part Time]
        Lead Investigators: Dr Sabrina Heng (chemistry) and Dr Christopher McDevitt (microbiology & immunology)
        Subject: Towards a light-driven, biocompatible sensor for the rapid detection of bacterial toxins.
         
      • Feb. 2014 - Dec. 2014: The University of Adelaide, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (Adelaide, Australia)
        Position: Research Assistant [Part Time]
        Supervisor: A/Prof. Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem
        Subject: Adding electrical conductivity to glass and optical fibres.
         
      • May. 2013 - Nov. 2013: The University of Adelaide, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (Adelaide, Australia)
        Position: Investigator (Pilot Project) [Part Time]
        Lead Investigators: Dr Sabrina Heng (chemistry) and Dr Christopher McDevitt (microbiology & immunology)
        Subject: Development of a photoswitchable, membrane-based metal ion sensing platform.
         
      • Feb. 2013 - May. 2013: The University of Adelaide, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (Adelaide, Australia)
        Position: Research Assistant [Part Time]
        Supervisor: Prof. Tanya Monro
        Subject: Development of silica microstructured fibre fabrication.
         
    • Jul. 2010 - Jul. 2011: The University of Adelaide, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (Adelaide, Australia)
      Position: Research Assistant
      Supervisor: Dr. Alexandre François
      Subject: Development of surface plasmon resonance-based fibre optic biosensing technologies for point of care applications.
       
    • Jul. 2009 - Jun. 2010: Flinders University, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences (Adelaide, Australia)
      Position: Honours Student (Physics)
      Supervisor: Dr. Boris Blankleider
      Subject: Description of πN scattering with complete dressing.
       
    Education

     

    • 2017: PhD - Physics (Optics & Photonics), The University of Adelaide (Adelaide, Australia)
      Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement
       
    • 2010: BSc (Honours) - Physics, Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia)
       
    • 2009: BSc - Physics and Mathematics, Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia)

  • Awards & Achievements

    2019    Lead Chief Investigator:
                Project Title: Development of a soil nitrogen probe packaging
                Funding Source: Waite Research Institute (WRI)
                Amount: $7,000

    2019    Chief Investigator:
                Project Title: Development of a probe for continuous measurement of soil nitrate
                Funding Source: The South Australian Grain Industry Trust Fund (SAGIT)
                Amount: $20,000

    2018    Lead Chief Investigator:
                Project Title: Preliminary Results: Reducing the Burden for People Living with Type 1 Diabetes
                Funding Source: Starter Grant for Research Collaboration
                Amount: $23,900

    2017    Lead Chief Investigator:
                Project Title: Clinical Device for Measuring Fertilisation Success during IVF treatment
                Funding Source: Commercial Accelerator Scheme
                Amount: $30,000

    2016    Lead Chief Investigator:
                Project Title: Demonstrating Spatially Resolved Corrosion Detection
                Funding Source: 2016 Pilot Project - Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing
                Amount: $13,350

    2014    Nominated to Australian Academy of Science
                by Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation
                for First Commonwealth Science Conference 2014

    2013    Honourable Mention for 3rd Year Physics Talk
                The University of Adelaide
                Postgraduate Research Symposium 2013

    2012    Best Poster for 2nd Year PhD Physics
                The University of Adelaide
                Postgraduate Research Symposium 2012

    2012    Spotlight on Optics: Silica exposed-core microstructured optical fibers
                The Optical Society (OSA)

  • Research Interests

    I have several openings for Honours, Masters and PhD research projects within my team.

     

    In-Vivo Biophotonics for Metabolism and Pain in Real Time

    Projects available for: HDR

    Location: North Tce, Roseworthy and Waite

    Research Project start date: Semester 2 2019 or Semester 1 2020

    Research Environment: Physics or Plant Science or Molecular and Biomedical Science

    This novel interdisciplinary research will contribute to new insights into the mechanisms underlying oxidative stress responses, and to develop a new, world first research area in phenotyping using biophotonics.

    Oxygen metabolism is a normal and necessary process that takes place in animals and plants. Our cells and plant cells produce free radicals known as reactive oxygen species (ROS) continuously as a byproduct of oxygen metabolism and reaction to various environmental stresses, which must be normalised to avoid oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is intimately linked to cellular energy balance and occurs when there’s an imbalance between production and accumulation of ROS in cells and tissues and the ability of a biological system to keep in a redox steady state. Oxidative stress has been linked to intense exercise, inadequate diet, ageing and several age-related disorders, and several diseases including Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, sepsis, chronic renal failure, and respiratory distress syndrome.

    ROS is also associated with stress responses in plants. Excessive accumulation of ROS damages membranes, proteins and chlorophyll molecules, inhibiting photosynthetic activity. Plants use a complex antioxidant system to regulate ROS levels and avoid toxicity, but changes in redox status are also perceived by plants as a signature of a specific stress that will result in acclimation response. Redox homeostasis in plants is finely regulated by the elaborate reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging system that maintains a balance between ROS production and ROS scavenging. This balance is altered when plants undergo stressful conditions, in which case excessive oxygen free radicals lead to oxidative stress that can damage and disrupt many biological processes and potentially lead to cell death. The ability of the ROS scavenging system to maintain redox homeostasis under stress is associated with reduced oxidative stress and tolerance to abiotic challenges. ROS are transient unstable molecules that are difficult to measure due to their short half-lives and high reactivity with other molecules. Reported measurements of ROS in biology are highly variable due to unavoidable technical inaccuracies.

    Our team have developed new in-vivo biophotonic sensors to show the dynamic nature of ROS metabolism. This project provides you with the unique opportunity to work in Optics and Biophontics on the development of these new tools, and/or use these new biophotonic sensors for fundamental discoveries in Plant Biology and Molecular and Biomedical Science. Your research in this new emerging area of science could improve outcomes for type-1 diabetes sufferers as well as provide crucial redox balance information for athletes, livestock and plants.

  • Publications
    2020
    Journal article
    2019
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*
    • [Talk] R. Kostecki, B. Zhang, A. El Habti, A. Arman, M. Hutchinson, P. Tricker, D. Fleury, R. Narayan, and H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Optical fiber based in-vivo oxidative stress biosensor, in [Biophotonics Australasia 2019, (Melbourne, Australia)], Proc. SPIE 11202 (Dec 2019)
    • [Invited Talk] R. Kostecki,Probing the Non-Classical with Optical Fibers, Workshop on [Getting a Deeper Sense of Non-Classical Sensing, (Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, USA)], (Sep 2019)
    • [Talk] R. Kostecki, B. Zhang, A. Habti, A. Arman, M. Hutchinson, P. Tricker, D. Fleury, R. Narayan, and H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Reversible Protein Carbonylation In-Vivo Biosensor, in [Optical Sensors and Sensing 2019, (San Jose, USA)], (Jun 2019)
    2018
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*
    • [Talk] R. Kostecki, S. Heng, A.bD. Abell, and H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Reversible and Nanoliter-Scale Optical Fiber Based Biosensors: Measurement of Zinc Ions, in [Biosensors 2018: 28th Anniversary World Congress on Biosensors, (Miami, USA)], (Jun 2018)
    • [Talk] A. Heffernan, D. Stavrevski, I. Maksymov, R. Kostecki, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, A. D. Greentree, and B. C. Gibson, Focussed Electron Beam Induced Deposition of Platinum Plasmonic Antennae, in [Conference on Advanced Fabrication Technologies for Micro/Nano Optics and Photonics XI (San Francisco, USA)], Proc. SPIE 10544 (Jan 2018)
    2017
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*
    2016
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*
    • [Talk] R. Kostecki, S. Heng, M. L. Sutton-McDowall, D. B. Stubing, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, J. G. Thompson, A. D. Abell, Functionalised Microstructured Optical Fibres as a Sensing Platform for Biology, in [SPIE BioPhotonics Australia (Adelaide, Australia)] (Oct. 2016).
    • [Talk] R. Kostecki, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, C. Davis, G. McAdam, T. Wang, and T. M. Monro, Fiber Optic Approach for Detecting Corrosion, in [23rd International Symposium on Smart Structures and Material Systems + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring (Las Vegas, USA)], Proc. SPIE 9803, (Jun 2015).
    2015
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*
    2014
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*
    2013
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*

    2012
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*
    Media

    2011
    Journal article
    Conference presentations*

     
     
    *first author was presenter

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Entry last updated: Thursday, 12 Jan 2023

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