Avian-Keratin Refinement and Application in Biomaterials A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Firoozeh Pourjavaheri M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering B.App.Sc. in Food Science and Technology School of Science College of Science, Engineering and Health RMIT University Melbourne, Australia August 2017 DECLARATION I, Firoozeh Pourjavaheri, certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. The work described in this research project was carried out in the School of Science, RMIT University since the official date of commencement of the program. I acknowledge the support I have received for my research through the provision of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Signed: Date: 08/08/2017 --------------------------------- Firoozeh Pourjavaheri Page II I dedicate this thesis to my best friend, my mother Hela Sabetzadeh- Afshar for giving me the gift of life, teaching me to live life and helping me to survive the challenges of life by holding my hand since day one. I promise to use your precious gift to the best of my ability! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSMENTS This PhD project has been a wonderful experience and of course a delightful memory to cherish for the rest of my life and I am truly grateful for the Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship administered by RMIT University that made this amazing journey possible. I have been blessed to be surrounded by incredible energy kindly given by many individuals who have made this research more joyful. Mentors and colleagues, friends and family, all of you deserve my utmost thanks and appreciation for the love, support and guidance that you have provided over the years. I would like to express my gratitude foremost to my supervisors, Professor Dr Robert Shanks for his understanding, constant guidance, wealth of knowledge, outstanding supervision and building all your student’s confidence; Associate Professor Dr Frank Sherkat for his mentoring, continual advice and feedback, care and support since the first day of my undergraduate studies to date; Associate Professor Dr Oliver Jones for his timely and consistent assistance, encouragement, motivation, inspiration and friendship; Associate Professor Dr Arun Gupta for identifying my potential to contribute to his area of research when we first met at the International Chemeca 2011 Conference in Sydney, Australia and for offering me the opportunity to join his exciting field of study. Page IV My sincere appreciation to Mr Arash Sabetzadeh for his remarkable marketing advices; Professor Peter Smooker, Ms Ibukun Aibinu, Miss Wanlapa Chaibangyang, Mr Andrew Sujecki, Ms Ivana Skakic and Ben Vezina for their significant help with protein analysis; Mrs Prue Bramwell, Ms Anita Markovska and Ms Kristie Shannon Bigornia for their assistance with microbiological and antimicrobial studies; Dr Robert Brkljaca for his generous collaboration in NMR spectroscopy; the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility (RMMF) staff, especially Dr Matthew Field and Mr Philip Francis for their technical support in microscope analysis; Miss Tara Nazaryan and Mr Arash Sabetzadeh for their timely help on separating the feather components; Miss Mardi O'Donnell, Dr Swee Mak, Dr Lisa Dias, Mr Karl Lang, Ms Zahra Human, Ms Dianne Mileo, Mr Michael Mileo, Mr David Baldie, Mr Frank Antolasic, Ms Nadia Zakhartchouk, Ms Fiona De-Mendonca, Ms Ruth Cepriano-Hall for their constant support; and Baiada Poultry Pty Ltd for supplying the chicken feathers. Sincere thanks are extended to the wonderful life-long friends who I am so grateful to have made over the last four years. To Dr Michael Czajka, Ms Christine Close, Dr Armin Mostafavi, Associate Professor Michelle Spencer, Ms Ladan Azizsoltani, Dr Saeideh Ostovar pour, Professor Ewan Blanch, Mr Nabeen Dulal, Mr Isaac Martinez, Dr Nedaossadat Mirzadeh, Associate Professor Nichola Porter, Associate Professor Ing Kong, Associate Professor Fugen Daver, Dr Amir Minagar, Ms Melissa Papalie, Dr Dipa Jadhav, Dr Kambiz Shamsi, Mrs Asal Najafi-Miri, Dr Ahmad Esmaielzadeh Kandjani, Dr Ylias Sabri, Mr Ricardo Bernardi Castilhos, Mr Thomas Agathocléous, Mr William Sullivan, Dr Oliver Buddrick, Mr Varun Prasath Babu Reddiar, Ms Patience Shoko Mponda, Dr Mahsa Page V Mohammad-Taheri, and Dr Alexandru Zabara for their companionship, enthusiastic encouragements and moral support. Finally yet most importantly, I am profoundly grateful to my loving family; my beloved father Mr Touraj Afshar, my loving mother Mrs Hela Sabetzadeh-Afshar, my smart sister Mrs Paria Allan-Blitz and her adorable husband Dr Lao-Tzu Allan-Blitz, particularly my kind-hearted brother Mr Arash Sabetzadeh and his beautiful partner Miss Tara Nazaryan, for their love and care, being such an important part of my life, especially their irreplaceable emotional support during the course of my doctoral research. Without you, this PhD would not have been worth the challenge … Page VI PPUBLICATIONS The following publications have resulted from the research performed in this study: Journal Publications: 1. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Mohaddes, F., Sherkat, F., Kong, I., Gupta, A., & Shanks, R.A. (2017) "Avian Keratin Fiber Based Bio-composites" World Journal of Engineering 14(3) · Doi: 10.1108/WJE-08-2016-0061. 2. Pourjavaheri, F., Mohaddes, F., Bramwell, P., Sherkat, F., & Shanks, R.A. (2015) "Purification of avian biological material to refined keratin fibres" RSC Advances: 5(86), p. 69899-69906. 3. Pourjavaheri, F., Mohaddes, F., Shanks, R. A., Czajka, M., & Gupta, A. (2014) “Effects of Different Purification Methods on Chicken Feather Keratin” Advanced Materials Research, 941-944, 1184-1187. doi: 10.4028. Manuscripts under preparation: 4. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F. & Shanks, R. A. “Characterisation of green keratin–fibre polyurethane–polyether bio-composites” Green Chemistry. To be submitted in 2017. 5. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Martinez Pardo, I., & Shanks, R. A. “Keratin–fibre polysiloxane–polyurethane bio-composites” Green Chemistry. To be submitted in 2017. 6. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F., Gupta, A. & Shanks, R. A. “Keratin from chicken feather fibers” Green Chemistry. To be submitted in 2017. 7. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F. & Shanks, R. A. “Applications of chicken feather keratin” Green Chemistry. To be submitted in 2017. Page VII 8. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F. & Shanks, R. A. "Bio-composites of natural keratin fibres and polysiloxane polyether thermoplastic polyurethanes". To be submitted in 2017. 9. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F. & Shanks, R. A. "Optimising extraction of keratin from chicken feather using sodium sulfide and L-cysteine". To be submitted in 2017. 10. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F. & Shanks, R. A. "Antibacterial studies of chicken feather keratin and bio-composites". To be submitted in 2017. 11. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F. & Shanks, R. A. A review paper on "the history of keratin extraction methods from waste chicken feathers". To be submitted in 2017. 12. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Sherkat, F. & Shanks, R. A. A review paper on "when chicken feathers grabbed the scientist's attention and what has happened to date?". To be submitted in 2017. Refereed Conference Publications: 13. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Martinez Pardo, I., Sherkat, F., Gupta, A., & Shanks, R.A. (2017) "Keratin bio-composites with polysiloxane thermoplastic polyurethane", Society of Plastic Engineers Annual Technical Conference (SPE- ANTEC), 8-10 May, Anaheim, California, USA. 14. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Mohaddes, F., Sherkat, F., Kong, I., Gupta, A., & Shanks, R.A. (2016) "Analysis and Characterization of Novel Avian Keratin Fibre Based Bio-composites", International Conference on Composites/Nano-Engineering (ICCE), 17-23 July, Hainan Island, China. 15. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H., Mohaddes, F., Sherkat, F., Gupta, A., & Shanks, R.A. (2016) "Green Plastics: Utilizing Chicken Feather Keratin in Thermoplastic Polyurethane Composites to Enhance Thermo-Mechanical Properties", Society of Plastic Engineers Annual Technical Conference (SPE-ANTEC), 23-25 May, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 16. Pourjavaheri, F., Mohaddes, F., Shanks, R., Czajka, M. & Gupta, A. (2014) "Effects of Different Purification Methods on Chicken Feather Keratin", The 5th International Conference on Manufacturing Science & Engineering (ICMSE), 19-20 April, Shanghai, China. 17. Pourjavaheri, F., Shanks, R., Czajka, M., & Gupta. A. (2014) "Purification and characterisation of feathers prior to keratin extraction", The 8th International Chemical Engineering Congress & Exhibition (IChEC), 24-27 February, Kish, Iran. Page VIII 18. Pourjavaheri, F., Shanks, R., Czajka, M., & Gupta, A. (2013) "Purification Methods for Chicken Feather Keratin", International conference on Advanced Polymeric Materials (ICAPM), Kottayam, 11-13 October, Kerala, India. Other Conference Publications: 19. Pourjavaheri, F., Jones, O.A.H. & Shanks, R.A. (2017) "Chicken Feather Keratin Hair Conditioner",