Our Chief Investigator Hoang Phuong Phan, in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at UNSW Sydney, has been named one of this year’s ARC Future Fellows!

The Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded $106.7 million in funding for 100 new projects under the 2024 Future Fellowships scheme, supporting outstanding mid-career researchers in areas of national significance.

Phan’s project focuses on three-Dimensional Micro Electromechanical Systems for Biological Sensing. It aims to create transparent, flexible, multimodal three-dimensional (3D) MicroelectroMechanical Systems that provides volumetric interfaces between electronics and 3D cell cultures. This out-of-plane platform, equipped with multiple sensing capabilities such as temperature, strain, impedance, and biopotential measurements, offers compelling opportunities to advance the fundamental understanding of biological processes in 3D organ-on-chips. Synchronising with existing made-in-Australia technologies for in vitro biological studies, the engineering solutions from this project will generate intellectual properties that will be patented and translated into practical applications, bringing significant economic benefit to our nation. Congratulations, Phan!

 

“The proposed 3D flexible electronics offer powerful tools to tap into fundamental intracellular and extracellular mechanisms such as organ development and diseases evolution on 3D organoids and spheroids, minimising the need for animal test.” – Chief Investigator Hoang-Phuong Phan