Ruirui Qiao

Dr Ruirui Qiao is a Group Leader, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow (2021–2025), and ARC Future Fellow (2026–2030) at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland (UQ). She received her BSc (2005) and MSc (2007) in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Peking University and completed her PhD in Physical Chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2014. Prior to joining UQ, she held academic appointments at CAS (Assistant Professor 2009–2015; Tenured Associate Professor 2016–2017) and served as a Project Co-Leader at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology (CBNS) at Monash University.

At AIBN, Dr Qiao leads a multidisciplinary research program that integrates nanotechnology, polymer science, and advanced manufacturing to engineer functional nanohybrids, 3D/4D-printed smart biomaterials, and bioinspired soft robotic systems for biomedical applications. A major focus of her group is the development of microfluidic droplet-based technologies for the scalable fabrication of microgels, droplet-engineered organoids, and cell-laden constructs. These platforms are being applied to tissue engineering, cell therapy, and organoid-based disease models, providing more physiologically relevant systems for drug screening and therapeutic evaluation. Her work has significantly advanced the design of next-generation materials and devices with tunable architectures, dynamic responsiveness, and strong translational potential.

Dr Qiao has made substantial contributions to materials science and biomedical engineering, particularly in the development of organic–inorganic nanocomposites for nanomedicine and 3D/4D-printed soft materials. Her research extends to impactful biomedical applications, including targeted gene delivery, antimicrobial systems, molecular imaging, tissue engineering, and cell-based therapies. She has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals such as Science, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, and Advanced Functional Materials, with over 9,000 citations and an H-index of 52.

Her current research focuses on the design and fabrication of advanced polymer/inorganic hybrid materials using cutting-edge approaches including nanoparticle synthesis, polymer chemistry, PET-RAFT polymerisation, and 3D/4D printing. These materials and microfluidic platforms are applied to a broad range of biomedical challenges, such as disease diagnosis, drug and gene delivery, tissue regeneration, cell and organoid manufacturing, cell therapy, and soft robotics. Dr Qiao’s scientific excellence has been recognised through numerous prestigious awards, including the Young Tall Poppy Science Award (2025), ARC Future Fellowship (2025), NHMRC Investigator Grant (2020), and the UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award (2021).

She is currently serving in Editorial Board and Associate Editor of Science Advances (AAAS), Journal of Nanobiotechnology (BMC, Part of Spring Nature), Topic Editor of ACS Polymer Science&Technology (ACS).

Dr Qiao is looking for highly motivated Ph.D. students, and highly competitive full scholarship can be provided. The University of Queensland ranks in the top 50 as measured by the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities. The University also ranks 45 in the QS World University Rankings, 52 in the US News Best Global Universities Rankings, 60 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 55 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.