For the Provision of a Rheometer

The University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) needs to purchase a Rheometer for present and future research needs. The purpose of this Invitation is to obtain competitive offers from suppliers who can supply, deliver, install, provide user training and maintain a Rheometer for AIBN.

Recently, the Biomimetic materials group of Professor Alan Rowan has developed the first truly biomimetic hydrogel, which mimics precisely the mechanical behaviour of the natural fibrous materials. This work has received considerable attention since it is the first step to truly controlling cell behaviour. One of the cornerstones of the analysis and characterisation of the hydrogels is rheology. Being able to precisely characterise a material is one of the most important features of scientific research. The Rowan group has used rheology as one of the key characterisation techniques for their state of the art polyisocyanide-based hydrogels. UQ desires to be able to visualize the processes occurring when external forces are applied on the hydrogels and cells immobilized within these.
UQ want to create a state of the art setup in collaboration with the UQ’s Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF-Q). This setup will consist of a rheometer mounted on an inverted microscope equipped with a confocal laser scanning head. This will be the first setup of its kind in Australia, with less than 5 of such setups around the world. The specific need for this setup is a rheometer enables optical access for the confocal laser scanning microscope from underneath the rheological cell, in order to be able to visualize the ongoing processes. It is UQ’s expectation that integrating the 2 systems outlined above will not void warranty or any preventative maintenance service contract on the proposed system and this should be confirmed in the offeror’s Response Form 6.2 Schedule of Particulars. It will be possible to use the rheometer as a standalone measurement setup, and for specific optorheologic measurements it will be coupled to the confocal microscope. This will be done by UQ personnel, trained for use of the rheometer and confocal microscope.

The objective is to have the successful offeror to supply, deliver, install as well as provide user training and on-going support and maintenance for a new Rheometer to provide cutting-edge technology and benefit Australian researchers and industry clients.