Australian Institute for Bioengineering & Nanotechnology - AIBN

18/12/2025

These compelling images of everyday items and intricate biological structures reveal the capabilities of AIBN's industrial micro-CT scanner.

Associate Professor Gary Cowin, National Imaging Facility Fellow, said the 7-tonne scanner offers huge scope for use in both research and industry.

“The level of detail that can be achieved is incredible, from visualising the internal structure of a toothpick to mapping the tiny brains of insects,” Gary said.

The Yxlon FF35 micro-CT scanner can handle samples ranging from 1mm to 400mm in size.

The technology supports disciplines as diverse as engineering, biology, archaeology and materials science.

From scanning root growth, to assessing cracks in carbon fibre, to imaging praying mantis brains, the microCT's ability to zoom in at the micron level allows you to see patterns and textures that are both scientifically valuable and visually interesting.

The scanner is available for use by researchers at The University of Queensland and elsewhere, as well as being accessible to commercial partners through the National Imaging Facility.

Read the full story here: https://aibn.uq.edu.au/article/2025/12/seven-tonne-scanner-reveals-hidden-world-intricate-detail

17/12/2025

Introducing our Interim Director, Professor Kristofer Thurecht 🎉

We are delighted to share that Professor Kristofer Thurecht has been appointed Interim Director of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.

Kris is an accomplished and widely respected research leader who first joined AIBN 17 years ago as a Research Fellow. For the past 2.5 years, he has guided our research portfolio as Director (Research) while also leading a highly successful research group. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Director of the Centre for Advanced Imaging.

Across his career, Kris has played a central role in building UQ’s global reputation in bionanotechnology, championing joint academic appointments, shaping Research Focused (Platform) roles, advancing UQ’s imaging capabilities, and leading major ARC initiatives that continue to influence the future of the field.

His commitment to industry engagement and strong partnerships spans not only Australia but collaborators around the world. 🌍

He is also recognised internationally through awards, patents, influential publications, and competitive research funding.

As Interim Director, Kris will lead our community of more than 500 researchers and professional staff as we continue to advance AIBN’s strategic vision and global impact. ✨

Please join us in congratulating Kris on this appointment and in welcoming this exciting chapter for AIBN. 👏

16/12/2025

After 10 years at the helm of AIBN, director Professor Alan E. Rowan is preparing for his next chapter, stepping into the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) at the University of Wollongong.

Under his leadership, AIBN has grown from 250 to almost 600 people, becoming more collaborative, innovative, and ambitious in its contribution to Australian research. His support for spin-outs and commercialisation has opened pathways for AIBN research to reach the broader world.

Alan has also championed meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, creating an environment where everyone, regardless of background, gender or family responsibilities, can participate fully in their work.

We asked Alan to reflect on his time at AIBN and transition to new pastures:

12/12/2025

🎓Congratulations to the December 2025 graduates!

The AIBN is incredibly proud of everything you’ve accomplished during your time with us. It has been a privilege to support and witness your growth throughout your research journey. As you take your next steps - whether in academia, industry, or new ventures - we are confident that the skills, insights, and resilience you’ve developed will serve you well.

Dr Ashley York
Dr Ruijing (Sophie) X.
Dr Larry Cai
Dr Yiru Shi
Dr Jiangqi Luo
Dr Shangxu Jiang
Dr Mandy (Mengdie) Li
Dr Jad Farouqa
Dr Naga Bandari
Dr Yaping Song
Dr Buddhi Siyath Gunatunga
Dr Arvind Kumar
Dr Quan Zhou
Dr Xiangke Li
Dr Yifei Zhu
Dr Huiwen P.
Dr Nguyen Diem Huong Tran
Dr Tahmina Tabassum, PhD
Dr Padriac Hooper
Dr Shuimei Chen
Dr Sabah Gaznaghi
Dr Karthik Balaji Shanmugasundaram
Dr Sasanka Sri Deva Narayanage
Dr S M Azad Hossain
Dr Tanvir Hossain
Dr Yusra Rabbani
Dr Nagib Almass
Dr Sandya Athukoralalage
Mr He Xian

We can’t wait to see what you achieve next.

11/12/2025

As 2025 draws to a close, we reflect on our successes at AIBN. This year, we have reaffirmed our position as a powerhouse for translation and innovation and secured more than $63 million in funding. With our world-class researchers and facilities, we’re working together with industry, translating our scientific breakthroughs to solve society’s challenges.

Here’s a few of our many research highlights.

Thank you for celebrating the successes of 2025 with us. As we step into 2026, we’re excited to continue pushing boundaries on the nanoscale, collaborating with industry to translate innovation into real-world impact.

09/12/2025

We’re proud to share that AIBN's Dr Melyssa Grieve, has been awarded the Empowering Women in Cancer Research Preceptorship!

The partnership, an initiative between the Australian Cancer Research Foundation and Amgen, aims to provide early to mid-career female cancer researchers in Australia with international exposure, development, and learning opportunities through engagement with Amgen's global oncology leadership.

Melyssa, who is based in the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) funded Facility for Targeted Radiometals in Cancer (AFTRiC), works in radiopharmaceuticals: radioactive therapeutics used to diagnose or treat diseases by targeting specific tissues in the body. Her research sits at the cutting edge of cancer theranostics, developing new radiopharmaceuticals for both the diagnosis and therapy of hard-to-treat cancers.

This program was developed to champion the role of women in oncology and related fields seeks to support, amplify, and celebrate the contributions of female researchers across Australia and address the critical need for greater female representation and leadership in the field.

"Diverse perspectives are essential to driving the innovation needed for cancer research with real-world impact," Melyssa says.

"Within my own field of radiopharmaceutical research, ensuring women can build flexible, sustainable, and fulfilling careers unlocks crucial insights that accelerate our progress. I've been the only woman in the room, and we can't afford to lose what women bring to the table. That means creating opportunities like this preceptorship and environments where they can thrive — our field is stronger when they're part of it.”

Melyssa, alongside peers from Centre for Clinical Interventions, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, will travel to Los Angeles and San Francisco to visit Amgen’s US headquarters and facilities, gaining invaluable insights into clinical oncology pathways and translational research.

☢️Congratulations, Melyssa and the other recipients!

08/12/2025

Last week, AIBN was proud to welcome MND Queensland to our institute. This visit marks an exciting step forward in strengthening ties between our researchers and the organisations that work directly with people living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

As part of the day, several attendees joined Associate Professor Shyuan Ngo (Shu) in the lab to donate muscle biopsy samples, demonstrating their deep commitment to supporting people with MND and advancing research into the disease. These generous contributions will help improve understanding of how MND affects muscle at a cellular level.

The biopsy samples will provide Shu and her team an essential baseline for studying how muscle cells change in MND and may help track how muscles respond to emerging therapies, including a therapy which is being tested in a world-first clinical trial Shu will lead next year. This trial will investigate whether the heart medication Trimetazidine can improve metabolism, function, quality of life and overall outcomes for people living with ALS, the most common form of MND.

At AIBN, there is a strong commitment to partnering closely with industry, clinicians and advocacy organisations to ensure that scientific discoveries are rigorous, relevant and firmly connected to the needs of the MND community.

Thank-you to the participants from MND Queensland for donating your samples.

04/12/2025

🧠 UQ researchers have developed a promising new anti-inflammatory drug and, for the first time, used advanced imaging to watch its effects unfold inside the living brain, in a breakthrough that could accelerate treatments for Parkinson’s disease.

Lead author Dr Eduardo Albornoz Balmaceda from the UQ School of Biomedical Sciences said the study showed the drug reduced brain inflammation and prevented the disease from killing more neurons, therefore stopping its progression.

But one of the most exciting parts of this research is the researcher's ability to see these changes happening in the living brain using advanced simultaneous positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - and this was done using AIBN's advanced imaging facilities.

The ability to combine the drugs with cutting-edge PET/MRI biomarkers, enabled researchers to measure whether it’s truly protecting the brain.

This imaging strategy opens the door to potentially accelerating drug discovery for other inflammatory brain diseases – and we’re proud to host the infrastructure and expertise to make discoveries like this happen.

Well done to all the researchers involved in this work: Eduardo Albornoz Balmaceda, Karine Mardon, Rajiv Bhalla, Vinod Kumar, Damion Stimson, Gary Cowin, Cedric Cui, Mark Butler, Ruby Pelingon, Richard Gordon, Rebecca Coll, Kate Schroder, Reena Halai, Angus MacLeod, Kim Matthews, Avril Robertson, Matt Cooper and Trent Woodruff.

We are excited to have contributed to this ground-breaking research with our world-class facilities 🌟.

The research was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), INFLAZOME LTD., The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and Shake It Up Australia Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

Read the full story here:

University of Queensland researchers have developed a promising new anti-inflammatory drug and, for the first time, used advanced imaging to watch its effects unfold inside the living brain, a breakthrough that could accelerate treatments for Parkinson’s disease.

03/12/2025

Exciting news! Dr Richard Lobb has secured a Dementia Research Community grant to pioneer a simple blood test that could detect dementia linked to repetitive head injuries early.

The new blood test will detect chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) related dementia – CTE is progressive brain disease caused by repeated head impacts, often seen in contact sports, military service, and accidents.

“There is currently no way of diagnosing this type of neurodegeneration linked to repetitive head trauma, except post mortem,” Richard said.

“An accurate and affordable blood test would provide doctors with a window into the brain to identify who is at risk of dementia, track the disease and intervene before irreversible damage occurs.”

The test analyses tiny particles in the blood called extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are released by brain cells and travel into the bloodstream. These EVs carry signals about brain health, including markers of neuroinflammation and neuronal damage, that drive dementia in CTE.

This research could also lay the foundation for blood tests to detect dementia in other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, where similar processes of neuroinflammation and cell damage are at play.

Congratulations to Richard and all his team Trung Le, Youran Hu, Xinzhe Miao and Xueming Niu

01/12/2025

Leading the way with Industry partners!

Two AIBN Early Career Researchers have secured awards from the 2025 UQ Early Career Researcher Development: Knowledge Exchange & Translation Fund (UQ Kx&T) building relationships with industry partners HA Tech and Graphinex to solve health and sustainability problems – tackling a public health crisis and processing Australian graphite enabling its use in lithium batteries.

The fund supports ECRs to develop and build relationships with end-users, based on sharing and translation of knowledge and developing mutually rewarding partnerships that improve the impact of research.

Dr Theo Crawford is developing a diagnostic test for kidney and heart failure in collaboration with academic and clinical researchers at UQ and industry partner HA TECH, Australia’s largest antigen test kit manufacturer.

Partnering with HA Tech enables technical de-risking, rapid prototyping and access to manufacturing expertise.

Dr Tongen Lin and his team have secured funding with their industry partner Graphinex International Pty Ltd. to develop fast-chargeable and long-endurance graphite anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

The research will be critical for Graphinex to develop its anode material manufacturing technologies, filling a critical gap in Australia’s domestic supply chain for battery materials and strengthen Australia’s position in the global battery market.

Dr Lin has a joint appointment with School of Chemical Engineering UQ.🤝

Read the full story here:

Two AIBN Early Career Researchers have secured awards from the 2025 UQ Early Career Researcher Development: Knowledge Exchange & Translation Fund (UQ Kx&T) building relationships with industry partners HA Tech and Graphinex to solve health and sustainability problems – tackling a public health cri...

26/11/2025

Recently held in Brazil, COP30, the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, represented a step forward in global climate governance. AIBN's Professor Esteban Marcellin, Director of the UQ Biosustainability Hub shared this thoughts on what this conference means for Australia:

One of the most positive outcomes of COP30 was a stronger commitment to reduce global reliance on fossil fuels. Delegates agreed to expand renewable and low carbon energy systems supported by improved reporting frameworks, clearer timelines and more robust transparency. This means greater predictability for governments, investors, industry and the research sector.

The UQ Biosustainability Hub contributes to many of the technologies mentioned at COP30. The Hub's work in protein engineering, synthetic biology and bioprocess design supports the development of biological tools for rare earth binding, metal recovery and eco-responsible mineral processing.

By combining microbial and molecular engineering with Australia’s mineral resources, we can help establish new sectors in sustainable biomanufacturing that reduce environmental impact and improve national resilience. This represents both a sustainability opportunity and a competitive advantage for Australia, aligning mineral wealth with national strengths in biotechnology.

Read the full piece here:

Professor Esteban Marcellin writes about the COP30 in Brazil, its implications for Australia and the capabilities of UQ's new Biosustainability Hub.

10/11/2025

As Jacaranda season draws to a close, we wanted to share these images exploring the hidden beauty of these iconic Queensland trees using advanced CT imaging.

The resulting images are a breath-taking look inside the flowers, blooming like a delicate watercolour painting.

It’s a beautiful reminder of the delicate detail the advanced imaging equipment, part of the National Imaging Facility, housed at AIBN is capable of capturing, and a keen reminder of how cutting-edge technology can deepen our appreciation of the natural world.