Current Students

AHMAD ALTAYYEB, PhD Student
Ahmad earned a Bachelor and Master of Mechanical Engineering from Assiut University, Egypt. He pursued his M.Sc. while was working as a research assistant with the Center for Nanotechnology at Zewail City of Science and Technology, Egypt. Currently, he is a PhD student in the area of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell manufacturing using microfluidics, under supervision of A/Prof. Craig Priest. He is working with Carina Biotech to develop a T cell transduction platform for solid cancers.

ARYAN AZAD, PhD Student
Aryan Azad has received her B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in textile engineering and fiber science as a top student. She has 10 years of research and product development experience in multidisciplinary institutions and projects across Asia (Sejong University, Chung-Ang University, Peking University) and Turkey (Koc University and Middle East Technical University). She experienced working in an R&D centre in ITECO company in Hanam city (industrial city) in South Korea. Her research interests lie in the fields of E-Textile, Nanocomposites, Electrochemistry, and Catalysis. Currently, her research focuses on designing air filtration systems to detect airborne viruses.

PRITAM BORDHAN, PhD Student
Pritam Bordhan is a PhD candidate jointly supervised by Distinguished Professor Dayong Jin and Professor Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani (Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, UTS). He completed a Bachelor of Biotechnology degree in 2019 and Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours) research year in 2020 from UTS, during which he focused on generating isogenic ovarian cancer cell lines using plasmid based CRISPR-cas9 technology. He has keen interest in cancer genetics and molecular oncology and has relevant industry experiences at Westmead Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and SpeeDx Pty Ltd (Sydney based molecular diagnostic company). His PhD research work focuses on ‘Targeting circulating tumour cells (CTCs), exosomes and/or ctDNA to develop cancer diagnostic platforms with potential point-of-care applications.

SRUTHI CHOPPALLI, PhD Student
Sruthi Choppalli has completed her Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) in Electronics and Telecommunication systems in 2016 and her Master of Technology (MTech) in Biomedical Engineering in 2018 with first class and distinction from Andhra University, India. She is currently a PhD student in bio/nano fluidics area under the supervision of A/Prof. Craig Priest. Her research focuses on nanostructured interfaces for enhanced electrochemical biosensing. She is very keen to develop a successful cutting-edge approach for lab-on-chip devices in biomedical field. She is working with ULVAC to develop nano interdigitated electrodes (nano-IDEs) integrated with nanostructures such as nanopillars array to develop a highly sensitive electrochemical platform.
JUAN DIEGO ESCOBAR BERMEO, Masters Student
Looking at biomarkers in ovarian cancer

MOHAMAD P. MOGHADDAM, PhD Student
Mohamad P. Moghaddam has obtained his undergraduate degree in Laboratory Medicine, followed by postgraduate degree in Medical Biotechnology from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Currently, he is working on bioengineering of ion channel switch devices for real time monitoring of physiological changes in biological samples.

SHASHIKALA RANDUNU, PhD Student
Shashikala Randunu completed a Bachelor of Science in Nanotechnology and Honours in Applied Chemistry at the University of Technology Sydney in 2019. She is now a PhD candidate in the area of membrane biophysics under Dr Charles Cranfield. Her research focuses on a developing a biosensor to identify acute pancreatitis.

PRATISHTAH SOBRUN, PhD Student
Pratishtah Sobrun completed her bachelors degree in biomedical engineering at Manipal University, India in 2014 later earning her masters degree in engineering (Biomedical) in 2017 from Flinders University. Currently, Pratishtah is doing a PhD at the University of South Australia, focusing on rapid and cost-effective methods for screening drugs of abuse for applications such as roadside and workplace drug testing under the supervision of Prof. Emily Hilder and Dr. Dario Arrua.
Graduates

RHIANNON ALDER
Alumni, IDEAL Hub Postdoc Fellow (Alcolizer)
University of Technology Sydney
Rhiannon Alder completed a Bachelor of Forensic Science (Hons) in Applied Chemistry at the University of Technology Sydney in 2016. She then went on to complete her PhD in the area of illicit drug detection under Associate Professor Shanlin Fu. She is now a Postdoctoral Researcher focusing on using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy for the identification and quantification of illicit drugs in forensic samples. Within the IDEAL Research HUB she was working with Alcolizer to develop a substrate suitable for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy of drugs of abuse and working to make this technology applicable to on-site oral fluid testing.

YINGHUI (YVONNE) CHEN
Alumni, IDEAL Hub Postdoc Fellow
University of Technology Sydney
Yvonne Chen was working as a postdoctoral research associate in the IDEAL Research Hub for Integrated Devices for End-User Analysis at Low Levels (IDEAL), responsible for a joint-project between university and industry to develop new bioassays for aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis. Yvonne developed a translational detection method with high sensitivity and reproducibility for the identification and evaluation of circulating biomarkers expression. The laboratory-based experimental development has been completed and the assay is presently validated by testing clinic samples. Yvonne has gained experience in clinical sample preparation and statistical analysis.

HAO HE
Alumni, IDEAL Hub PhD Candidate
University of Technology Sydney

YUAN LIU
Alumni, IDEAL Hub PhD Candidate (Minomic)
University of Technology Sydney
Yuan Liu obtained his Bachelor and Master degree in microelectromechanical systems from North University of China and then worked as a research assistant at City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on bead-based assays, using magnetic hydrogel beads combined with sandwich antibody-pair in the MiCheckTM test to detect the soluble GPC-1 biomarker for prostate cancer diagnosis.
SITONG WU
Alumni, IDEAL Hub PhD Candidate
University of Technology Sydney
Find out what we do at the IDEAL Research Hub.