Dr Tan Dai Nguyen
ARC Grant-Funded Research Fellow
Robinson Research Institute
College of Health
Dr. Tan Dai Nguyen is an ARC-funded researcher affiliated with the Reproductive Success Group (Professor Kylie Dunning) and the Centre of Light for Life (Professor Kishan Dholakia). He is also a member of the Robinson Research Institute (RRI), the School of Biomedicine, and the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS).
Dr Nguyen’s research focuses on developing advanced biomedical devices, including microfluidic and surface acoustic wave platforms, for reproductive applications. His work is strongly translational, aiming to deliver practical, scalable technologies that address unmet needs in cell culture, reproductive technologies, and biomanufacturing.
Dr Nguyen earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) under Professor Du Hejun (NTU, Singapore) and Professor Richard YongQing Fu (Northumbria University, UK), where he developed acoustic microfluidic systems for microparticle and cell manipulation, laying the groundwork for advanced tissue engineering and biostructure fabrication. This work received the Best Student Paper Award selected by the editors of Electrophoresis journal and a Singapore provisional patent.
As a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Jongyoon Han’s lab at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), a major research enterprise established by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in partnership with the National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF), he led the development of a label-free, high-throughput microfluidic platform for removing undifferentiated cells from iPSC-derived populations- work that reduced tumorigenicity risk in stem cell products and was featured in MIT News (https://news.mit.edu/2024/scientists-develop-low-cost-device-safer-cell-therapy-0207). These efforts resulted in two international patents (WO2024076302A1 and WO2024076963A1).
Prior to his current role, Dr. Nguyen was a scientist at Agency for Science, Technology and Research or A*STAR (Biomanufacturing Technology Group, Singapore), where he worked on scalable technologies for cell therapy manufacturing. His projects included continuous in-line systems for viral inactivation and microfluidic platforms to enhance viral transduction in immune cell therapy. This work supported improvements in process reliability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, and led to another international patent (WO2025264183A1).
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 - ongoing | ARC Grant-Funded Researcher B | University of Adelaide |
| 2022 - 2024 | Scientist | Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore |
| 2021 - 2022 | Postdoctoral Associate | Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology |
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| English | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| Vietnamese | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 - 2021 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore | PhD in Mechanical Engineering |
| 2011 - 2016 | Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology | Vietnam | B.Eng in Mechatronics (Honors Program) |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Lee, K. -Z., Nguyen, T. D., & Liu, D. (2025). Optimizing T cell transduction: a novel transduction device for efficient and scalable gene delivery. Journal of Translational Medicine, 23(1), 899. |
| 2024 | Chen, S., Nguyen, T. D., Lee, K. -Z., & Liu, D. (2024). Ex vivo T cell differentiation in adoptive immunotherapy manufacturing: Critical process parameters and analytical technologies. Biotechnology Advances, 77, 108434-1-108434-16. Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC2 |
| 2024 | Lee, J. S. Z., Nguyen, T. D., Zheng, Z. Y., Zhang, W., & Liu, D. (2024). Real‐Time Adaptive Inline Acidification Enhances Continuous pH Control for Viral Inactivation. Biotechnology Journal, 19(11), 10 pages. Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1 |
| 2024 | Tan, J., Chen, J., Roxby, D., Chooi, W. H., Nguyen, T. D., Ng, S. Y., . . . Chew, S. Y. (2024). Using magnetic resonance relaxometry to evaluate the safety and quality of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived spinal cord progenitor cells. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 15(1), 15 pages. Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1 |
| 2024 | Nguyen, T. D., Chooi, W. H., Jeon, H., Chen, J., Tan, J., Roxby, D. N., . . . Han, J. (2024). Label-Free and High-Throughput Removal of Residual Undifferentiated Cells From iPSC-Derived Spinal Cord Progenitor Cells. Stem Cells Translational Medicine, 13(4), 387-398. Scopus16 WoS14 Europe PMC12 |
| 2021 | Nguyen, T. D., Tran, V. T., & Du, H. (2021). Manipulation of self-assembled three-dimensional architecture in reusable acoustofluidic device. Electrophoresis, 42(21-22), 2375-2382. Scopus3 WoS30 Europe PMC1 |
| 2021 | Nguyen, T. D., Tran, V. T., Pudasaini, S., Gautam, A., Lee, J. M., Fu, Y. Q., & Du, H. (2021). Large-Scale Fabrication of 3D Scaffold-Based Patterns of Microparticles and Breast Cancer Cells using Reusable Acoustofluidic Device. Advanced Engineering Materials, 23(6), 8 pages. Scopus15 WoS18 |
| 2020 | Nguyen, T. D., Fu, Y. Q., Tran, V. T., Gautam, A., Pudasaini, S., & Du, H. (2020). Acoustofluidic closed-loop control of microparticles and cells using standing surface acoustic waves. Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical, 318, 9 pages. Scopus42 WoS35 |
| 2019 | Tao, X., Nguyen, T. D., Jin, H., Tao, R., Luo, J., Yang, X., . . . Fu, Y. Q. (2019). 3D patterning/manipulating microparticles and yeast cells using ZnO/Si thin film surface acoustic waves. Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical, 299, 9 pages. Scopus44 WoS43 |
| 2018 | Nguyen, T. D., Tran, V. T., Fu, Y. Q., & Du, H. (2018). Patterning and manipulating microparticles into a three-dimensional matrix using standing surface acoustic waves. Applied Physics Letters, 112(21), 5 pages. Scopus46 WoS44 |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Nguyen, T. D., Chen, J., Liu, Q., Chew, S. Y., & Han, J. (2022). Label-free detection of residual undifferentiated iPSCs from their differentiated progenitor cells by microfluidic raman spectroscopy. In TISSUE ENGINEERING PART A Vol. 28 (pp. 567). SOUTH KOREA, Jeju: MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. |
| 2022 | Roxby, D., Chen, J., Yao, J. T. Z., Nguyen, T. D., Chew, S. Y., & Han, J. (2022). Magnetic resonance relaxometry as a tool for tracking induced pluripotent stem cell variability. In TISSUE ENGINEERING PART A Vol. 28 (pp. 563). SOUTH KOREA, Jeju: MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Nguyen, T. D., Chooi, W. H., Jeon, H., Chen, J., Roxby, D. N., Zu Yao, J. T., . . . Han, J. (2022). Label-free and high-throughput removal of residual undifferentiated cells from iPSC-derived spinal-cord progenitor cells. DOI |
Career Development Fund - Pitchfest for Early Career Researchers, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, $70,000 SGD
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Location | Program | Supervision Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 - ongoing | Co-Supervisor | A new wave for ovary tissue growth in vitro | The University of Adelaide | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Zoe Delaney |
| Date | Role | Editorial Board Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 - ongoing | Consulting Editor | Frontiers in Acoustics | Frontiers in Acoustics | Switzerland |
