Biography
Dr Lewis Blackman is the Director of the Biomedical Materials Translational Facility (BMTF) and Team Leader of the Drug Discovery Chemistry Team, within CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing. His interests span polymer biomaterials, drug delivery, medical devices, technologies to address antimicrobial resistance, and AI in drug discovery applications. He has a strong focus in assisting industry translate their technologies into commercial and clinical applications, spanning the development of biomedical polymeric materials, medical devices, and small molecule therapeutics.
Lewis graduated from the University of Southampton with a 1st class Master’s degree in Chemistry in 2012. During his undergraduate studies, Lewis undertook a placement at Merck KGaA, where his research led to the filing of two patent families related to advanced materials for electrophoretic displays applications, which were granted in the USA and Europe. After his studies, Lewis moved to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he taught high school science at the English School of Mongolia and was the Science Coordinator for the junior school.
In 2013, Lewis returned to the UK to complete his PhD at the University of Warwick under the supervision of Prof. Rachel O’Reilly and Prof. Matthew Gibson. His thesis focused on stimuli-responsive polymers and the development of new polymer nanotechnology approaches for the protection of biologic drugs, such as those used in the treatment of leukaemia. During his PhD, he also leveraged his network in industry to initiate and complete a commercial project with a large multinational company.
In 2017, Lewis joined CSIRO as a postdoctoral research fellow to conduct research into the development of novel antimicrobial polymer materials, in collaboration with Monash University/The Alfred Hospital. In his postdoctoral fellowship, his research focused primarily on biohybrid materials, incorporating natural species such as enzymes and peptides into synthetic materials such as nanoparticles, coatings, and hydrogels. Outside of his research, Lewis established numerous initiatives for collaboration within CSIRO, while also briefly holding a visiting scientist position at Queensland University of Technology.
At the end of 2020, Lewis was promoted to Research Scientist within the Biomedical Polymer Chemistry Team, where he led commercial projects in biomaterials synthesis, drug delivery, and medical devices. During this time, he co-led a large commercial project within CSIRO's Biomedical Materials Translational Facility, and worked closely with industry to translate science into clinical applications. He also held numerous corporate citizenship roles including membership of the Advanced Materials Cross-Cutting Capability Working Group, the Biosecurity Import Conditions (BICON) committee, and the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).
In 2022, Lewis became the Team Leader of the Biomedical Scaffolds Team, which was a highly multidisciplinary team spanning polymer biomaterials, medical devices, quality assurance, and synthetic and process chemistry.
In 2023, Lewis became the Team Leader of the Drug Discovery Chemistry Team, who have a focus in synthetic medicinal and natural products chemistry for the development of new small molecule therapeutics. Besides continuing to work in the medical devices area, he also began leading a multimillion dollar, 3-year project through CSIRO's AI4Missions initiative, to develop AI tools for drug discovery of new antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals, working across CSIRO Manufacturing and Data61 and aligning with the Minimising AMR Mission.
Beyond this, he worked to establish and co-lead the AMR Technologies Market Area within the Biomedical Manufacturing Program, which functions to facilitate industry engagement in the broad antimicrobial resistance biomedical sector.
In 2024, Lewis became the ongoing Director of the BMTF after 9 months in an acting role. The BMTF features a regulated R&D cleanroom for wet chemistry, materials synthesis, surface modification, and medical device fabrication and is certified to ISO9001:2015. The facility enables regulated development and manufacturing of materials suitable for both preclinical assessment and domestic Phase I clinical studies.
Achievements and Awards
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2020-2021
Featured in Top 5% Most Cited Authors across Royal Society of Chemistry journals, 2020
Royal Society of Chemistry -
2018-2018
Best Early Career Researcher Oral Presentation Prize, PolymerVic2018
Royal Australian Chemical Institute -
2017-2017
Polymer Chemistry "Paper of the Month"
Royal Society of Chemistry -
2016-2016
Best PhD Presentation Prize, Department of Chemistry Postgraduate Symposium
University of Warwick
Fields of Research
Current
- Synthesis of Materials (030306)
- Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry not elsewhere classified (030399)
- Nanochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry (030302)
- Biomaterials (090301)
- Medical Devices (090304)
- Biologically Active Molecules (030401)
- Proteins and Peptides (030406)
- Colloid and Surface Chemistry (030603)
Academic Qualifications
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2018
Doctor of Philosophy (Chemistry)
University of Warwick -
2012
Master of Chemistry
University of Southampton
Professional Experiences
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2024-Present
Director, Biomedical Materials Translational Facility
CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing -
2023-Present
Team Leader, Drug Discovery Chemistry Team
CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing -
2023-Present
Senior Research Scientist
CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing -
2023-2024
Co-lead, AMR Technologies Market Area
CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing -
2022-2023
Team Leader, Biomedical Scaffolds Team
CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing -
2021-2023
Research Scientist
CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing -
2020-2020
Visiting Scientist
Queensland University of Technology -
2017-2020
CERC Postdoctoral Fellow
CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing -
2012-2013
Science Coordinator
The English School of Mongolia -
2011-2012
Industrial Placement
Merck KGaA
ORCID 0000-0002-6113-0584