Two UTS biomedical researchers, Dr Jiao Jiao Li and Dr Gang Liu, have been awarded $1 million in philanthropic funding to beat severe diseases.
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UTS biomedical researchers, Dr Jiao Jiao Li and Dr Gang Liu, have been awarded 2025 Al and Val Rosenstrauss Fellowships by the Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation.
The fellowships provide $1 million in funding for five years, supporting rising stars in Australian medical research who are leading cutting-edge research on major diseases.
Dr Gang Liu: using AI and big data to understand lung fibrosis
Dr Gang Liu, senior lecturer in the UTS School of Life Sciences, is using artificial intelligence and molecular research techniques to understand how people develop lung fibrosis and explore potential therapies.
People with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) typically only survive two to five years after being diagnosed. The disease has no known cause or cure, with only two drugs available to treat it.
“My research aims to develop new and more effective therapies for this debilitating condition. This program will improve diagnosis by creating new AI software, explore how fibrosis progresses at the cellular level using large-scale biology data, and optimise treatments to halt and hopefully reverse this progress using gene therapies,” says Dr Liu.
Dr Jiao Jiao Li: stem cell technology to regenerate joints
Dr Jiao Jiao Li, senior lecturer in the UTS School of Biomedical Engineering, is using her unique understanding of stem cell biology, materials science, nanotechnology and biofabrication to transform the development of new regenerative therapies for joint diseases.
“My research program will look into harnessing stem cells as ‘biofactories’ to produce therapeutics that reduce inflammation and improve healing. We’re also developing new hydrogels to deliver these therapeutics and new models of joints to better test these treatments.”
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