Chunxia Zhao

Professor Chunxia Zhao

Professor

School of Chemical Engineering

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology


Professor Chun-Xia Zhao is a Professor and a current NHMRC Leadership Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering at University of Adelaide, and a Honorary Professor at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland. She leads a research group focusing on bioinspired engineering, biomimetic nanomaterials and microfluidics for drug delivery and controlled release. Before joining UofA in July 2021, She was a Group leader and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow at Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland (UQ). She joined AIBN, UQ in early 2008 as a Postdoctoral Fellow after obtained her PhD degree in Zhejiang University.

In 2011, Prof. Zhao was awarded an ARC Discovery project along with the Australian Postdoctoral Fellow as the sole investigator. In 2014, she was awarded the prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Her research in bio-inspired nanotechnology and microfluidics has attracted research funding (>$50M) from ARC, NHMRC, MRFF, CRC-P as sole/leading CI or CI, including six Australian Research Council projects as the lead CI or sole CI, Deputy Director and Program Leader of ARC Centre of Excellence ($35M), three national prestigious fellowship (Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship 2011-2014 and Australian Research Council Future Fellowship 2015-2020, and NHMRC Leadership Fellowship 2022-2026), and many university and industry grants. In 2014, she worked with Prof. David Weitz (a pioneer in microfluidics) at Harvard University as Fellow of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. In 2016, her research excellence was recognised by the UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award. She has been appointed as member of the 2019 ARC College of Experts (2019-2021).

In recognition of her outstanding contributions to the field, Professor Zhao was awarded a NHMRC Investigator Grant (Leadership Fellow) from the NHMRC for her project "Novel nanotechnology strategies towards a new paradigm of precision nanomedicine".

Prof. Zhao has contributed substantial high quality scientific papers in international top refereed journals such as PNAS, Science Advances, Nature Comm, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, ACS Nano, Chemical Communications, Advanced Healthcare Materials, and so on. She has been focusing on innovative research, and has been active in patent application to transfer her research into practical applications, as evidenced by her six patents. One of her patents was licensed to an international company. She has built extensive collaborations with scientists at top universities such as Harvard University, Brown University, etc. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board member for several journals.

Prof. Zhao leads a research team with a focus on the development of bioinspired micro/nanostructures for drug delivery and bioinspired devices (e.g. organs-on-a-chip models) for drug screening and evaluation. She has been focusing on innovative research as evidenced by her six patents. Prof Zhao’s research has attracted research funding as lead CI or CI, including Deputy Director and Leader of Research Program 3 in an ARC Centre of Excellence ($35M, 2020-2027), six Australian Research Council projects as the lead investigator, three national prestigious fellowship (Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship 2011-2014, ARC Future Fellowship 2015-2020, and NHMRC Leadership Fellow 2022-2026), many industry projects. She has been recognised for scientific excellence with a 2016 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award. She has been appointed as member of the 2019 Australian Research Council College of Experts (2019-2021). She has built extensive collaborations with scientists at top universities such as Harvard University, Cornell University, Brown University, etc. She also serves as the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board member for several journals.

Several PhD scholarships are available about T cell immunotherapy, mRNA therapeutics, polymer nanomedicine, lipid nanomedicines, novel biomolecule design for mineral particle separation. Please email chunxia.zhao@adelaide.edu.au with your CV, including a summary of academic qualifications, work and research experience, and publication list, to discuss opportunities.

Group website: https://set.adelaide.edu.au/bioinspired-materials-devices/

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2022 - 2026 NHMRC Leadership Fellow The University of Adelaide
    2021 - ongoing Professor University of Adelaide
    2021 - 2024 Honorary Professor University of Queensland
    2018 - 2021 Associate Professor and Group Leader The Universtiy of Queensland
    2015 - 2020 ARC Future Fellow and Group Leader The University of Queensland
    2014 - 2014 Fellow of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Harvard University
    2011 - 2014 ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellow The University of Queensland
    2008 - 2010 Postdoctoral Researcher University of Queensland
  • Language Competencies

    Language Competency
    Chinese (Mandarin) Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
    English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2015 - 2016 University of Queensland Australia Graduate Certificate in Higher Education
    2004 - 2007 Zhejiang University China PhD degree
  • Research Interests

Prof. Zhao's research has attracted research funding support from ARC, NHMRC, and industry including ARC DP, Linkage, LEIF, ARC CoE, NHMRC investigator, MRFF and CRC-P, etc.

7/2017 – 12/2020

CHEE3007 Process Modelling & Dynamics, University of Queensland

9/2015 – 12/2016

ENGG7701 Engineering Grand Challenges, a core subject of the new 5-year integrated BE/ME program, University of Queensland

7/2013 – 12/2016

CHIN7666 Translation and Interpreting for Science, Engineering and Technology, at the School of Languages & Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Queensland

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Development of integrated microfluidic chips for making mRNA nanomedicines Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Vincent Patrick Linden
    2023 Principal Supervisor Development of mRNA therapeutics Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jitong Lyu
    2023 Principal Supervisor Development of specific metal binding biomolecules for efficient mineral separations Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Yang Yang
    2023 Principal Supervisor Development of platform technologies for mRNA therapeutics Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zhenwei Lan
    2023 Co-Supervisor A Sustainable Approach for Mineral Processing and Recycling Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ruilin Zhao
    2023 Co-Supervisor Development of chemo-immuno nanomedicines for targeted oral drug delivery Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yilong Fan
    2023 Principal Supervisor Development of Cancer-on-a-Chip Platforms for Drug Screening Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Max George Higham
    2022 Principal Supervisor Development of Lymph-node-on-chip microfluidic platform for vaccine evaluation. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Supun Akash Ranaweera
    2022 Principal Supervisor Nanoparticle-based combination therapy for triple-negative breast cancer treatment Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Song Jin
    2022 Principal Supervisor Engineering Microparticle-based Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells for T-cell Activation in Immunotherapy Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Fei Hou
    2022 Principal Supervisor Effects of mechanical properties of precision-engineered nanoscale aAPCs on T cell activation and expansion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zichao Guo
    2022 Principal Supervisor Development of novel bioflocculants for clay particle flocculation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Matthias Josef Orchard
    2022 Principal Supervisor Development of mRNA loaded Lipid Nanoparticles for CAR T Cell Therapy Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Minh Trang Ho
    2021 Principal Supervisor Development of novel lipid nanoparticles for mRNA delivery Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Xing Wang
  • Other Supervision Activities

    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2021 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Stimuli-responsive soft materials based on biomolecules The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Yang Li
    2021 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Development of Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Cancer Combination Therapy The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Letao Xu
    2020 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Novel Reagent Technologies for Arsenic Minerals The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Lam Ian Ku
    2020 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Engineering encapsulation technology for animal feed manufacture The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Yilun Weng
    2020 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Evaluation of polymer nanomedicines in treating solid tumours The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Amber Prior
    2020 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Design and fabrication of a functional MSC-derived liver-on-a-chip The University of Qeensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Anastasia Brooks
    2019 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Stem cell-based nanoparticles and cell-free systems for the treatment of liver diseases The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Da Zou
    2018 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Bioinspired core-shell silica nanomaterials and their nano-bio interactions The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Teng Jisi
    2018 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Fundamental studies on extracellular matrix mimicking hydrogels for in vitro tumor models The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Anna Cameron
    2017 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Optimisation of Peptide-Stabilised Emulsion Engineering Using Microfluidics The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Yuan Gao
    2017 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Bioinspired Magnetic Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Russell Wilson
    2016 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Simple methods for producing valuable antimicrobial peptides and proteins products using E. coli systems The University of Queensland Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Baode Sun
    2016 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Biomimetic chip platform for studying drug delivery systems The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Haofei Wang
    2015 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Core-Shell nanomaterials for drug delivery and controlled release The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Guangze Yang
    2015 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Development of three-dimensional microfluidic models for therapeutic testing The University of Queensland Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Qi Sun
    2015 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Yun Liu
    2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Microfluidic Platform for Multifunctional Liposome Preparation and Evaluation The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate - Rui Ran
    2014 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Bio-inspired silica nanocapsules for understanding in vitro and in vivo nano-bio interactions The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate - Yue Hui
    2014 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Microfluidic synthesis of biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate - Thejus Baby
    2013 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Development of Sustained-Release Subunit Nanovaccines Against Anaplasma marginale The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate - Liang Zhao
    2011 - 2014 Principal Supervisor Bio-inspired oil-core silica-shell nanocapsules for controlled-release applications The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate - David Wibowo
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83135454
  • Email: chunxia.zhao@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Engineering North, floor First Floor
  • Room: N106
  • Org Unit: Bioprocess Engineering

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