Darren Lau

Research Interests

Proteomics and metabolomics Plant biochemistry

Mr Darren Lau

Research Associate

School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences

College of Health

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr Darren Lau is a Research Associate in the Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Group at the Adelaide University. In his current role, he utilises LC–MS/MS-based proteomics and lipidomics, alongside MALDI analysis and mass spectrometry imaging, to support biomarker discovery across diverse sample types, including plant and mammalian tissues and biofluids.

Darren obtained his PhD in 2025, where he investigated the regulation of oat oil synthesis using proteomics and lipidomics approaches, in collaboration with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). He currently serves as an observing committee member of the Oat Grain Quality Consortium Oat Oil Program, funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), which aims to achieve low-oil oat varieties for emerging food applications. 

Darren’s interests lie in translating mass spectrometry-based omics technologies into impactful health, agri-food and industrial outcomes.

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2025 Nomination Ian Davey Research Thesis Prize University of South Australia Australia -
2025 Award AUS-oMicS 2025 Best Poster Prize Australasian Proteomics Society Australia -
2024 Award 3-Minute Thesis Competition 1st Runner-Up University of South Australia Clinical and Health Sciences Australia -
2024 Award Lorne Proteomics Student Oral Award Australasian Proteomics Society Australia -
2022 Scholarship Research Training Program (International) Scholarship Australian Government Department of Education Australia -
2021 Award Sir Eric Neal Award Australia Malaysia Business Council SA Australia -
2020 Achievement Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation University of South Australia Australia -
2020 Award University of South Australia Medal University of South Australia Australia -
2020 Award ThermoFisher Scientific Food Microbiology Award ThermoFisher Scientific SA Australia -
2020 Award Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Prize Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Australia -
2019 Achievement Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation University of South Australia Australia -
2019 Scholarship High Achiever Vacation Research Scholarship University of South Australia Australia -
2019 Award Institute of Hospitality in Health Care – Best 2nd-Year Student Prize Institute of Hospitality in Health Care & University of South Australia Australia -
2018 Achievement Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation University of South Australia Australia -
2018 Award BUPA International Student Grant University of South Australia Australia -
2017 Achievement Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation University of South Australia Australia -
2017 Scholarship International Merit Scholarship University of South Australia Australia -

Language Competency
Chinese (Cantonese) Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
Chinese (Mandarin) Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
English Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
Malay Can read, write, speak and understand spoken

Date Institution name Country Title
2021 - 2025 University of South Australia Australia PhD in Medical Sciences
2020 - 2020 University of South Australia Australia Bachelor of Biomedical Research (Honours)
2017 - 2019 University of South Australia Australia Bachelor of Nutrition and Food Science

Year Citation
2026 Donnellan, L., Young, C., Seidel, J. D., Peake, B., Lau, D., Deo, P., & Hoffmann, P. (2026). An Investigation into the Differentiation of Lactyllysine and Carboxyethyllysine Peptide Modifications by Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry. Journal of Proteome Research, 25(3), 1601-1610.
DOI
2026 Lau, D., Donnellan, L., Harris, J. C., & Hoffmann, P. (2026). Oil as a Hindrance to Oat (Avena sativa L.) Nutrient Fractionation: Leveraging Mass Spectrometry-Based Omics to Unravel Lipid Regulation for Functional Crop Improvement. Foods, 15(7), 1224.
DOI
2025 Lau, D., Donnellan, L., Briggs, M., Klingler Hoffmann, M., & Hoffmann, P. (2025). MALDI Mass spectrometry imaging of metabolites in cereal grains and legumes: repurposing for industrial applications. Food Reviews International, 41(4), 1200-1221.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4
2025 Lau, D., Donnellan, L., Harris, J. C., Hayes, J. E., Croser, J., & Hoffmann, P. (2025). Proteomic and lipidomic analyses reveal novel molecular insights into oat (Avena sativa L.) lipid regulation and crosstalk with starch synthesis during grain development.. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 306(Part 1), 141305-1-141305-11.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2025 Lau, W. C. D., Donnellan, L., Harris, J. C., Seidel, J., Hayes, J. E., Croser, J., & Hoffmann, P. (2025). Coupling proteomics and lipidomics for insights into regulation of oat (Avena sativa) grain lipid synthesis. Food Chemistry, 478(143644), 143644-1-143644-12.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC4
2025 Pires, M. C., Jungbauer, A., Lau, D., Young, C., Hoffmann, P., de Pádua, T. F., & Gerstweiler, L. (2025). Column ageing of agarose-based chromatography in industrial lactoferrin purification. Journal of Chromatography A, 1760(466274), 466274.
DOI
2025 Jasni, N., Khairul, K. B., Kin, W. W., Lau, D., Young, C., Hoffmann, P., & Othman, N. (2025). In-silico, in-vitro, and proteomics analyses on repurposed drugs in targeting the small GTPase, Rho subfamily protein (Rho GTPase), and putative Rho GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP) of Giardia lamblia. Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 23(4), 13 pages.
DOI
2025 Ngai, Y. T., Lau, D., Mittal, P., & Hoffmann, P. (2025). Mini Review: Highlight of Recent Advances and Applications of MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging in 2024. Analytical Science Advances, 6(1), 11 pages.
DOI Scopus11 WoS9 Europe PMC7
2024 Lau, W. C. D., Donnellan, L., Briggs, M., Rupasinghe, T., Harris, J. C., Hayes, J. E., & Hoffmann, P. (2024). Sodium doping and trapped ion mobility spectrometry improve lipid detection for novel MALDI-MSI analysis of oats. Food Chemistry, 433(137275), 1-10.
DOI Scopus15 WoS16 Europe PMC9
2023 Wong, H. Y., Jaunay, E. L., Lau, W. C. D., Peake, B., Ram, R., Southgate, P. C., & Deo, P. (2023). Holothuria scabra Jaegar 1833 (Sandfish) extracts and collagens modulate protein-bound Nε-epsilon-carboxymethyllysine, Nε-epsilon-carboxyethyllysine and methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone-1 levels. International Journal Of Food Science And Technology, 58(4), 1962-1969.
DOI Scopus1

Travel Funding

Year Source Amount
2024 Australasian Proteomics Society HUPO Travel Award  $2,100
2025 Australia and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry (ANZSMS) Travel Award  $500

Courses I teach

  • BIOL 3035 Biochemistry of Human Metabolism (2024)
  • FOSC 2002 Chemistry of Food (2024)
  • FOSC 3017 UO Food as Medicine (2024)

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