An ideal way for Australia to lead the world in biophotonics

ARC Future Fellow, Professor Dayong Jin, is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, and Director of the ARC Research Hub for Integrated Device for End-user Analysis at Low-levels (IDEAL Hub).

The IDEAL Hub—funded through the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hubs scheme—is the culmination of many years work by Professor Jin to put Australian biophotonics research into a world leading position, with strong industry partners. The key mission of the IDEAL Hub is to build a portable device that can detect diseases in a non-invasive way ‘on site’, rather than in a lab.

Developing such a device requires next generation technology that is being developed in concert with the IDEAL Hub’s partners, Minomic International Ltd; and Surgical Diagnostics Pty Ltd. Together they are applying biomolecular technologies to the early detection of diseases such as prostate cancer, which can develop for years before symptoms appear.

Professor Jin has previously collaborated with industry partner Minomic International on a project supported by ARC Linkage Projects scheme funding, to develop next generation biomarkers for prostate cancer. A new urine test is now being developed as a result of that collaboration that uses hypersensitive molecular probes, called ‘superdots’, which pinpoint small numbers of abnormal cells with greater accuracy than current tests.

	Professor Jin and the CEO of Minomic International were among those who shared the 2015 Australian Museum University of New South Wales Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.

 

Image: Distinguished Professor Dayong Jin, ARC Future Fellow, launches the ARC IDEAL Hub. Image credit: Matthew Duchesne.