DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL ANALYTICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS USING NANOTECHNOLOGY AND MICROFLUIDICS
With
Dr Alain Wuethrich
NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology,
The University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Brisbane | June 2025
Dr Alain Wuethrich is an NHMRC Emerging Leader fellow and ARC DECRA awardee at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.
Hailing from Switzerland, research focuses on the development of novel analytical and diagnostic tools that harness nanotechnology and microfluidics; two rapidly growing fields with high potential to provide diagnostic solutions needed for precision medicine.
A feature of his work has been the ability to translate discoveries at the nanoscale into highly innovative diagnostics that enable the precise study of biomolecular aberrations in cancer, infectious diseases, and human immune system.
His particular research expertise lies in:
– Liquid biopsy
– Electrohydrodynamics
– Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
– Nanotechnology
– Diagnostics
Dr Wuethrich held positions in international pharmaceutical companies and became lead inventor on a European patent.
He has actively engaged with national and international companies to translate diagnostic nanotechnologies. His network of national and international collaborators include the Princess Alexandra Hospital, UQ Diamantina Institute, UQ Centre for Clinical Research, QIMR Berghofer, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Since 2017 he has provided continuous research mentoring to the group and has supervised more than 30 postgraduate and graduate students in nanotechnological strategies to detect cancer and other diseases.
In May 2024 Dr Wuethrich won a $1.6 million NHMRC Emerging Leader 2 grant to develop digital nanotechnology capable of detecting trace immune dysregulation from a pin-prick of blood.
He says understanding immune dysregulation is crucial for addressing emerging diseases like Long Covid and for future-proofing immune-modulating mRNA vaccines.
“The technology we have in mind will be 1000 times more sensitive than conventional methods,” Dr Wuethrich said.
“Hopefully, this will lead to a better understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases like long COVID, and the development of personalised vaccines with greatly reduced side effects.”
Dr Wuethrich is one of two Investigator Grant winners currently working with Professor Matt Trau.
Source: Supplied
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Professor Kim Hemsley
RESEARCH IN SANFILIPPO SYNDROME, A EURODEGENERATIVE LYSOSOMAL STORAGE DISORDER THAT CAUSES CHILDHOOD DEMENTIA.
@ FLINDERS UNIVERSITY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA -
Genetics of the choroid and impact on eye health
Dr Samantha Lee is a Senior Research Fellow at Lions Eye Institute and the University of Western Australia. Dr Lee obtained her PhD in 2017 and the Queensland University of Technology and has since been working on the genetics and environmental causes of various eye diseases, with a focus on glaucoma and myopia. She has published 57 full-length scientific papers and her work has been cited over 1,000 times. She serves on the Editorial Board for the journal BMC Ophthalmology and Scientific Reports, and on the Research Advisory Committee for the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia.
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Hormone receptor positive breast cancer and therapy resistance
Prof Elgene Lim is a medical oncologist at St Vincent’s Hospital and Head of the Connie Johnson Breast Cancer Research Lab at the Garvan Institute. Following his PhD at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute where he identified the aberrant cells in carriers of the BRCA1 mutant gene, a hereditary breast cancer syndrome as the culprit cells giving rise to breast cancer, he furthered his research and clinical training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. He was awarded the National Breast Cancer Foundation Practitioner Fellowship in 2014 and returned from Boston to Australia. In 2017, he was awarded the inaugural National Breast Cancer Foundation Endowed Chair, and subsequently appointed the Principal Cancer Theme Lead at UNSW.
