
Overview
Background
Dr Will Anderson is a Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, specialising in molecular diagnostics, nanoparticle characterisation, and translational device development. His current work focuses on developing diagnostics for single molecule quantitation and low-cost, accessible technologies for nucleic acid analysis.
Dr Anderson has over 15 years of R&D experience spanning academia and industry, with expertise in:
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Nanopore sensing and nanoparticle analysis
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Nucleic acid extraction and quantification
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Diagnostic device prototyping and point-of-care platforms with a focus on fluorescence-based detection
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Research translation, IP strategy, and regulatory frameworks
Dr Anderson’s work bridges fundamental research and real-world application, with a strong focus on enabling diagnostic innovation through mechatronics, assay development, and collaborative industry engagement.
Availability
- Dr Will Anderson is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours), The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research impacts
Dr Will Anderson’s research bridges device design, physical chemistry and molecular biology to improve how we detect and measure biomolecules and nanoparticles in diagnostic and research settings.
Diagnostic Device Design Dr Anderson has developed accessible molecular diagnostic technologies that reduce cost and complexity at the point of need. These include:
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The open-source DIYNAFLUOR, a low-cost DNA fluorometer used in field-based environmental DNA studies and STEM education program. https://github.com/traulab/DIYNAFLUOR
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Patented, rapid, low-cost nucleic acid extraction methodology.
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A Commericaly developed prototype point-of-care qPCR platform for rapid, decentralised testing.
Nanoparticle Characterisation and Physical Chemistry Dr Anderson’s PhD and postdoctoral research advanced nanopore and optical sensing methods to measure the size, charge, and concentration of nanoparticles such as exosomes and liposomes.
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His published work is widely cited in the fields of biophysics and nanomaterials (>2100 citations)
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He contributed to the development of a nanoparticle characterisation facility at UQ used by dozens of researchers
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His comparative benchmarking studies on particle sizing platforms remain a go-to starting point for both industry and academia
Works
Search Professor Will Anderson’s works on UQ eSpace
2024
Journal Article
DIYNAFLUOR: an affordable DIY plug-and-play nucleic acid fluorometer for eDNA quantification in resource limited settings
Anderson, Will, Antaw, Fiach, Kenny, Sophie, Rupani, Harshita, Khamis, Ramlah, Constantin, Nicolas, Kumar, Vinay, Gemmell, Anna, Bell, Craig, Trau, Matt and Korbie, Darren (2024). DIYNAFLUOR: an affordable DIY plug-and-play nucleic acid fluorometer for eDNA quantification in resource limited settings. doi: 10.1101/2024.12.16.626200
2024
Journal Article
Point-of-need mastitis pathogen biosensing in bovine milk: From academic sample preparation novelty to industry prototype field testing
Fitzpatrick, Kira J., Rohlf, Hayden J., Phillips, Grant, Macaulay, R. Bruce, Anderson, Will, Price, Rochelle, Wood, Caitlin, James, Ameh, Langhorne, Charlotte, te Brake, Bill, Gibson, Justine S. and Koo, Kevin M. (2024). Point-of-need mastitis pathogen biosensing in bovine milk: From academic sample preparation novelty to industry prototype field testing. Talanta, 277 126424, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126424
2021
Journal Article
On the behavior of nanoparticles beyond the nanopore interface
Antaw, Fiach, Anderson, Will, Wuethrich, Alain and Trau, Matt (2021). On the behavior of nanoparticles beyond the nanopore interface. Langmuir, 37 (16), 4772-4782. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03083
2020
Journal Article
Configurable miniaturized 3D pores for robust single‐nanoparticle analysis
Liao, Caizhi, Antaw, Fiach, Wuethrich, Alain, Anderson, Will and Trau, Matt (2020). Configurable miniaturized 3D pores for robust single‐nanoparticle analysis. Small Structures, 1 (2) 2000011. doi: 10.1002/sstr.202000011
2019
Journal Article
Retooling phage display with electrohydrodynamic nanomixing and nanopore sequencing
Raftery, Lyndon J., Howard, Christopher B., Grewal, Yadveer S., Vaidyanathan, Ramanathan, Jones, Martina L., Anderson, Will, Korbie, Darren, Duarte, Tania, Duc Cao, Minh, Nguyen, Son Hoang, Coin, Lachlan JM, Mahler, Stephen M and Trau, Matt (2019). Retooling phage display with electrohydrodynamic nanomixing and nanopore sequencing. Lab on a Chip, 19 (24), 4083-4092. doi: 10.1039/c9lc00978g
2019
Journal Article
A high-resolution study of in situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering nanotag behavior in biological systems
Wang, Jing, Anderson, Will, Li, Junrong, Lin, Lynlee L., Wang, Yuling and Trau, Matt (2019). A high-resolution study of in situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering nanotag behavior in biological systems. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 537, 536-546. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.11.035
2019
Journal Article
Two-photon nanolithography of tailored hollow three-dimensional microdevices for biosystems
Liao, Caizhi, Anderson, Will, Antaw, Fiach and Trau, Matt (2019). Two-photon nanolithography of tailored hollow three-dimensional microdevices for biosystems. ACS Omega, 4 (1), 1401-1409. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b03164
2018
Journal Article
Maskless 3D Ablation of Precise Microhole Structures in Plastics Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses
Liao, Caizhi, Anderson, Will, Antaw, Fiach and Trau, Matt (2018). Maskless 3D Ablation of Precise Microhole Structures in Plastics Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 10 (4), 4315-4323. doi: 10.1021/acsami.7b18029
2017
Journal Article
Isothermal point mutation detection: toward a first-pass screening strategy for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis
Ng, Benjamin Y. C., Wee, Eugene J. H., Woods, Kyra, Anderson, Will, Antaw, Fiach, Tsang, Hennes Z. H., West, Nicholas P. and Trau, Matt (2017). Isothermal point mutation detection: toward a first-pass screening strategy for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Analytical Chemistry, 89 (17), 9017-9022. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b01685
2015
Journal Article
Observations of tunable resistive pulse sensing for exosome analysis: improving system sensitivity and stability
Anderson, Will, Lane, Rebecca, Korbie, Darren and Trau, Matt (2015). Observations of tunable resistive pulse sensing for exosome analysis: improving system sensitivity and stability. Langmuir, 31 (23), 6577-6587. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b01402
2015
Journal Article
Analysis of exosome purification methods using a model liposome system and tunable-resistive pulse sensing
Lane, Rebecca E., Korbie, Darren, Anderson, Will, Vaidyanathan, Ramanathan and Trau, Matt (2015). Analysis of exosome purification methods using a model liposome system and tunable-resistive pulse sensing. Scientific Reports, 5 (1) 7639, 7639.1-7639.7. doi: 10.1038/srep07639
2014
Journal Article
Nanoparticle ζ-potential measurements using tunable resistive pulse sensing with variable pressure
Eldridge, James A., Willmott, Geoff R., Anderson, Will and Vogel, Robert (2014). Nanoparticle ζ-potential measurements using tunable resistive pulse sensing with variable pressure. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 429, 45-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2014.05.013
2013
Journal Article
A comparative study of submicron particle sizing platforms: accuracy, precision and resolution analysis of polydisperse particle size distributions
Anderson, Will, Kozak, Darby, Coleman, Victoria A., Jämting, Asa K. and Trau, Matt (2013). A comparative study of submicron particle sizing platforms: accuracy, precision and resolution analysis of polydisperse particle size distributions. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 405, 322-330. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2013.02.030
2012
Journal Article
Tuning particle velocity and measurement sensitivity by changing pore sensor dimensions
Kozak, Darby, Anderson, Will and Trau, Matt (2012). Tuning particle velocity and measurement sensitivity by changing pore sensor dimensions. Chemistry Letters, 41 (10), 1134-1136. doi: 10.1246/cl.2012.1134
2012
Journal Article
Simultaneous size and zet-potential measurements of individual nanoparticles in dispersion using size-tunable pore sensors
Kozak, Darby, Anderson, Will, Vogel, Robert, Chen, Shaun, Antaw, Fiach and Trau, Matt (2012). Simultaneous size and zet-potential measurements of individual nanoparticles in dispersion using size-tunable pore sensors. Acs Nano, 6 (8), 6990-6997. doi: 10.1021/nn3020322
2012
Journal Article
Modeling Elastic Pore Sensors for Quantitative Single Particle Sizing
Kozak, Darby, Anderson, Will, Grevett, Matthew and Trau, Matt (2012). Modeling Elastic Pore Sensors for Quantitative Single Particle Sizing. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C: Nanomaterials, Interfaces and Hard Matter, 116 (15), 8554-8561. doi: 10.1021/jp211845t
2012
Journal Article
A variable pressure method for characterizing nanoparticle surface charge using pore sensors
Vogel, Robert, Anderson, Will, Eldridge, James, Glossop, Ben and Willmott, Geoff (2012). A variable pressure method for characterizing nanoparticle surface charge using pore sensors. Analytical Chemistry, 84 (7), 3125-3131. doi: 10.1021/ac2030915
2012
Journal Article
Tunable pores for measuring concentrations of synthetic and biological nanoparticle dispersions
Roberts, G. Seth, Yu, Sam, Zeng, Qinglu, Chan, Leslie C. L., Anderson, Will, Colby, Aaron H., Grinstaff, Mark W., Reid, Steven and Vogel, Robert (2012). Tunable pores for measuring concentrations of synthetic and biological nanoparticle dispersions. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 31 (1), 17-25. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2011.09.040
2011
Journal Article
Advances in resistive pulse sensors: Devices bridging the void between molecular and microscopic detection
Kozak, Darby, Anderson, Will, Vogel, Robert and Trau, Matt (2011). Advances in resistive pulse sensors: Devices bridging the void between molecular and microscopic detection. Nano Today, 6 (5), 531-545. doi: 10.1016/j.nantod.2011.08.012
2011
Journal Article
Quantitative sizing of nano/microparticles with a tunable elastomeric pore sensor
Vogel, Robert, Willmott, Geoff, Kozak, Darby, Roberts, Seth G., Anderson, Will, Groenewegen, Linda, Glossop, Ben, Barnett, Anne, Turner, Ali and Trau, Matt (2011). Quantitative sizing of nano/microparticles with a tunable elastomeric pore sensor. Analytical Chemistry, 83 (9), 3499-3506. doi: 10.1021/ac200195n
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Will Anderson is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Completed supervision
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2021
Doctor Philosophy
Nanoparticle tracking and trapping using computerised feedback control
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matt Trau
Media
Enquiries
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