Research leaders
Distinguished Professor Dayong Jin
Director, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Dayong.Jin@uts.edu.au
Dayong is a world-renowned researcher and technology innovator in the field of nanoscale biophotonics. His research is focused on harnessing light for disease diagnosis and drug delivery. Areas of expertise include optics, luminescent materials and other techniques for the rapid detection of cells and molecules, and for the engineering of sensors and other photonic devices. He is an ARC Laureate Fellow in biophotonics, nanotechnology & medical biotechnology, Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (FTSE) and the Director of IBMD.
Dayong Jin biography, publications, projects
Prof Stella Valenzuela
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Stella.Valenzuela@uts.edu.au
Prof Stella Valenzuela undertook her PhD studies in cell and molecular biology at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and the University of NSW. Her project resulted in identification of novel genes - CLIC1 and MIC-1 - from activated macrophage cells. She is internationally recognised for her work in characterisation of the protein CLIC1 as a moonlighting protein. Prior to this she had worked in the commercial sector, in the biotechnology companies Australian Monoclonal Development Pty Ltd and Cellabs Pty Ltd in research and development of monoclonal antibody technologies for research and diagnostic purposes. Prof Valenzuela is currently Director for the ARC Transformation Research Hub, developing Integrated Device for End-User Analysis at Low Levels (IDEAL Hub). Previously she has served as both Head of School and Associate Head of School (Research) in the School of Life Sciences, UTS. Prof Valenzuela has been instrumental in establishing Bionanotechnology research at UTS and has long held collaborations with industry partners including Bod Australia P/L and Surgical Diagnostics Pty Ltd, developing devices that use ion channel proteins and tethered membrane technologies.
Stella Valenzuela biography, publications, projects
Prof Majid Warkiani
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Majid.Warkiani@uts.edu.au
Dr Majid E Warkiani is a Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) under the prestigious SINGA scholarship from A*STAR, and undertook postdoctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SMART centre). He is NHMRC-CD fellow and also a member of Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices (IBMD) and Center for Health Technologies (CHT) at UTS.
Majid Warkiani biography, publications, projects
Associate Professor Jiajia Zhou
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Jiajia.Zhou@uts.edu.au
After receiving her PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Zhejiang University, China (2013), Dr Jiajia Zhou took a Lectureship and joined the China Jiliang University to establish an independent research group. Between 2012 and 2015, she held visiting scholar positions in several prestigious institutions including NIMS, Japan and the University of Stuttgart, Germany, to gain expertise in nanofabrication and microscopic optical characterization. At the end of 2016, she joined IBMD as a theme leader in spectroscopic physics and nanophotonics. In 2017, she was awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow and UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow. She was the winner of the Sturge Prize (2019), finalist in the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for Outstanding Early Career Researcher (2019) and Emerging Leader in Science (2020). Her publication record consists of more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, including nine papers in Nature (2), Nature Photonics (3), Nature Methods (1) and Nature Communications (3). Her work has attracted more than 4,000 citations with a google h-index of 35. Her research interest focuses on lanthanide nanophotonics, spectroscopic physics, luminescence nanothermometry and rapid diagnostic technologies.
Jiajia Zhou biography, publications, projects
Associate Professor Yuen Yee (YY) Cheng
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
YuenYee.Cheng@uts.edu.au
Dr Cheng started her collaboration with IBMD since 2019 when she was the Principal Scientist of Asbestos Diseases Research Institute. After 12 years working on translational research in mesothelioma, Dr Cheng joined UTS in early 2022. She is a molecular and cellular biologist with specialised knowledge of epigenetic alterations in various cancers. Her expertise in epigenetics has been recognised internationally, she is a editor of various journals and an editorial member of Epigenomes. Dr Cheng’s research focus on biomarker and treatment options development and discovery for ultimately translation into patient benefit. Her bench studies have translated into two clinical trials to treat mesothelioma patients. Apart from bench research, Dr Cheng also has extensive experience in managing human biobank where she was the ADRI biobank leader. Dr Cheng has previously contributed to The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project.
Yuen Yee Cheng's biography, publications, projects
Associate Professor Irina Kabakova
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Irina.Kabakova@uts.edu.au
Irina is an Associate Professor in Advanced Medical Device Technology with strong interest in developing novel microscopy and imaging techniques for uncovering micromechanical properties of cells and tissues. Previously I was at Imperial College London as Imperial College Research Fellow (2015-2017) where I worked on construction of the first Brillouin endoscope and interpretation of Brillouin microscopy measurements in biomaterials (tissues and hydrogels). My expertise is in the area of Brillouin microscopy, opto-acoustic interactions in complex media, nonlinear optics and integrated photonics.
Irina Kabakova biography, publications, projects
Dr Gungun Lin
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Gungun.Lin@uts.edu.au
Dr Gungun Lin is a Senior Research Fellow and a core member of the Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD) at the University of Technology Sydney. Before joining UTS, he completed my Master Degree at the University of Ulm (Germany) and his PhD degree at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW Dresden e.V., Germany). Dr Lin’s research focuses on design and study of functional micro- and nanoscale materials that can efficiently convert magnetic power into mechanical forces and torques. The results of his research are anticipated to produce a new generation of sensors, actuators and robotic devices for biomedical analysis.
Gungun Lin biography, publications, projects
Dr Qian Peter Su
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Qian.Su@uts.edu.au
Dr Qian Peter SU is Senior Lecturer, School of Biomedical Engineering and an Emerging Leadership 1 Fellow (2020-25) of Australia National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-22) of National Heart Foundation in Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD) at University of Technology Sydney (UTS). His research focuses on establishing an “Imaging Profiling Platform for Cardiovascular Disease” supported by the Volumetric Imaging Facility (VIF), of which Peter is the facility manager and key operator.
Qian Peter Su biography, publications, projects
Dr Lana McClements
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Lana.McClements@uts.edu.au
Dr Lana McClements is a qualified and trained clinical pharmacist with a PhD in Molecular Biology from Queen’s University Belfast in the UK. At UTS, as a chief investigator her research program is focused on identifying novel biomarkers, disease mechanisms and treatments for women’s health including cardiovascular pregnancy complications (i.e. preeclampsia, gestational diabetes) and beyond. Her team is also developing innovative and low-cost/low-risk 3D cell platforms of placental and vascularised tissues.
Lana McClements biography, publications, projects
Dr Charles Cranfield
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
charles.cranfield@uts.edu.au
Dr Charles Cranfield was awarded his Science degree from Monash University in 1996 and his PhD in Biophysics from Swinburne University of Technology in 2002. He currently heads the Membrane Biophysics Lab within the School of Life Sciences at UTS. His laboratory, working closely with Australian SMEs, does research into the biophysics of cell membranes, new membrane-targeted antibiotics and cancer drugs, and membrane-biosensor technologies.
Charles Cranfield biography, publications, projects
Dr Ying Zhu
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
ying.zhu@uts.edu.au
Dr Ying Zhu is a Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS, Sydney, Australia. She completed her PhD in 2015 in optical biosensors at UNSW Sydney. Dr Zhu’s subsequent postdoc work (2015-2017) in Dartmouth College extended her expertise in biosensor to the field of non-invasive cancer diagnosis. Dr Zhu was supported by the Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellowship (2017-2020) to further establish her work in developing nanoplasmonic sensor for cancer diagnosis before she joined UTS in 2020. Dr Zhu’s current research focuses on developing new nanomaterials and nanoscale devices for capturing and analysing biomarkers for in-vitro disease diagnosis. She is working in a multidisciplinary field across chemistry, materials, nanotechnology and biomedicine.
Ying Zhu biography, publications, projects
Dr Shihui Wen
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
shihui.wen@uts.edu.au
Dr Shihui Wen is an ARC DECRA Research Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science, UTS. He completed his PhD in 2018 in optical nanomaterials and nanophotonics at UTS. Then, he works as a postdoctoral researcher at the UTS Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD). Currently, he is a research theme leader at IBMD with expertise in the controlled synthesis of heterogeneous nanomaterials and nanophotonics characterisations. Dr Wen's research focuses on exploring nanomaterials science to establish new methods for fine-tuning the size, shape and composition of lanthanide-doped nanoprobes, and investigations on their many unique optical and nanophotonics properties, in particular to integrate these new functionalities into hybrid nanoprobes for sensitive biomedical detections.
Shihui Wen biography, publications, projects
Dr Jiayan Liao
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
jiayan.liao@uts.edu.au
Dr Jiayan Liao received her Ph.D. in 2020 from UTS. Her experience covers nanomaterials, polymer-based bio-/nano- interface engineering, analytical chemistry and instrumentation development. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices (IBMD) at UTS. Since 2020, as a postdoc employed in two major collaborative research entities at UTS, she has driven a translational project on a single-molecule assay and been key in developing a rapid point-of-care testing cartridge for SARS-CoV-2 test. Her efforts have been on transforming photonics and nanomaterials into analytical, diagnostic and imaging devices that can detect single molecule biomarkers of diseases.
Dr Jiayan Liao biography, publications, projects
Dr Leo Zhang
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
leo.zhang@uts.edu.au
Dr Leo Zhang is a core member of Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD), has emerged as an international leader in the research area of molecular microbiology and microbial detection. He obtained his master's degree (Pharmaceutical Science) from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersy (US) under the supervision by Distinguished Prof Chung S Yang, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Technology Sydney in 2021 under the co-supervision by Distinguished Professor Dayong Jin, Distinguished Professor Antione van Oijen (UOW), and Professor Liz Harry. From his research work, he focuses upon investigating the mechanism of bacterial evolution of antibiotic resistance and trance microbial detection using multi-disciplinary methods including single-molecule microscopy, multi-omics analysis, and nanotechnology. From 2020, he developed a rapid saliva point-of-care testing (POCT) device for the COVID-19 diagnostics, which allows virus detection from asymptomatic patients. This has been reported by media in Australia including IMCRC reports, 7news, and UTS news.
Dr Leo Zhang biography, publications, projects
Dr Libing Fu
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Libing.fu@uts.edu.au
Dr Libing Fu is a research theme leader at Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD). She completed her Ph.D. major in Biomedical Sciences at Macquarie University in 2018. Afterward, she continued to work as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Macquarie University. Currently, she works as a postdoctoral research associate at IBMD and focuses on the DNA amplification strategy-based biosensors, rare-earth-doped nanoparticle-based brain drug delivery, super-resolution bioimaging and cell biology.
Dr Libing Fu biography, publications, projects
Dr Mohammad (Martin) Sadraeian
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Mohammad.Sadraeian@uts.edu.au
Martin is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at IBMD. Dr Sadraeian completed his PhD in Biomolecular Physics with key contributions on Anti-HIV immunoconjugates. As a postdoc researcher, he conducted projects on anti-retroviral photoimmunotherapy and photoinactivation, and is interested in developing his experiences toward photodiagnostic.
Mohammad Sadraeian biography, publications, projects
Dr Guochen Bao
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
guochen.bao@uts.edu.au
Dr Guochen Bao is a core member of Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD). He received his Dual PhD degrees in 2020 at Hong Kong Baptist University (in Chemistry) and in 2021 at UTS (in nanomaterials and nanophotonics), respectively. Then, he works as a postdoctoral researcher at School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices at UTS. Currently, he is a research theme leader at IBMD with expertise in organic synthesis, analytical chemistry, spectroscopy, hybrid nanomaterials and nanophotonics characterisations. Dr Bao’s research focuses on developing organic-lanthanide molecular/nano-hybrids with desired functions, and optical and nanophotonics properties, and integrate these new functionalities into molecular/nano-probes for ultrasensitive bioassay, biomedical imaging and precise therapy.
Guochen Bao biography, publications, projects
Dr Jawairia (Jia) Khan
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Jawairia.Khan@uts.edu.au
Dr Jawairia (Jia) Khan is a material scientist. She was awarded her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from University of Wollongong, Australia. She is a research theme leader and currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at IBMD. She has working experience in both industry and academia. Dr Khan’s research focuses on developing low-cost fiber based microfluidics for point-of-care analysis including electrophoretic separations and in-situ on-fiber analyte detection. A current focus involves the use of these fiber-based electrofluidics in developing next generation lab-on-fiber devices for liquid biopsy and viral detection using upconversion nanoprobes.
Jia Khan's biography, publications, projects
Robert Salomon
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Robert.Salomon@uts.edu.au
Rob’s PhD is part of a project which will create and validate minimally invasive liquid biopsy devices and methodologies for deep characterisation of patient blood. By leveraging the team’s existing expertise in novel biocompatible materials, custom optical systems, microfluidics, advanced cytometric techniques and single-cell genomic approaches, he will provide sensitive and robust patient centric data in the context of cancer.
Robert Salomon biography, publications, projects
Mr Remy Ripandelli
Visiting Scholar, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Remy.Ripandelli@uts.edu.au
Remy is currently a PhD candidate at University of Wollongong. Innovations, science and technology have always been Remy’s passion, which led him to 10 years of experience in the industry as a product developer. Trained as an applied physicist and graduated in the field of material science, and inspired by the current evolution of anti-microbial resistance, Remy’s PhD focuses on the innovation to construct a lab on a chip for the study and detection of the induced phenotype of microbes.
Kristin Fan
Core member, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices
Kristin.Fan@uts.edu.au
Kristin is Project Manager, IBMD. A former English lecturer at Peking University, China, Kristin had over 16+ years professional and managerial experience in the Australian higher education sector. She has in-depth working knowledge about International Operation, Research Administration and Event Management in a university environment.
Researcher Leaders and Students at IBMD
Credit Kevin Anastacio
