Overview
Background
Dr Kevin M. Koo is currently a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Fellow and Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) Future Leader Fellow at The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR). Dr Koo was awarded his PhD (Dean’s Award for Outstanding Thesis) from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering & Nanotechnology (AIBN), UQ in 2018. His PhD research was on the molecular analysis of nucleic acid biomarkers in prostate cancer liquid biopsies (with a particular interest in fusion genes), and the development of associated nanotechnology-based biosensors to facilitate precision cancer treatment.
Post-PhD, he begun a productive postdoctoral career with dual industry/academia appointments: as the Head of Assay Development/Lab Director in XING Technologies Pty Ltd (a Brisbane-based biotech start-up) to undertake product development projects for commercialization of disease in vitro diagnostics, and as an Honorary Fellow/Principal Research Scientist at UQCCR to continue his academic research in precision cancer nanodiagnostics. His research skills and experiences are honed through dedicated career time spent in both academic research and regulated industry environments.
Dr Koo's research encompasses multi-disciplinary fields of molecular biomarker and nanobiosensor development, translation, and commercialization for precision disease management applications. Presently, he is working on the design and development of integrated multi-bioanalyte sensing technologies to resolve the various challenges around holistic disease pathway understanding and clinical biomarker profiling.
Dr Koo's research endeavours have been recognized by a Metrohm Australia-New Zealand Young Chemist Award (2018), Springer Thesis Award (2019) and Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award (2023).
Availability
- Dr Kevin M. Koo is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Biophysics, The University of Queensland
- Bachelor (Honours) of Biochemistry, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Molecular Diagnostics/In Vitro Diagnostics
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Nanobiosensors
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Liquid Biopsy
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Photonics
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Electrochemistry
Research impacts
To date, Dr Koo's research has contributed Knowledge Impact by:
- Developing point-of-need nanobiosensors for prostate cancer-specific urinary biomarkers (Koo KM et al., Nature Reviews Urology, 2019)
- Progressing nanobiosensor clinical translation for precision cancer management (Koo KM et al., ACS Nano, 2018)
- Addressing key assay challenges around circulating biomarker detection in cancer liquid biopsies (Koo KM & Trau M, ACS Sensors, 2020)
Dr Koo's specialist knowledge in his fields of research expertise has led to global invitations for scientific evaluation. He is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Nanotechnology (2022-present) and regular Peer Reviewer (30+ reviews/yr) for 20+ leading journals of worldwide publishers American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, and Elsevier. He is an international Assessor for external quality assessment (EQA) organizations European Molecular Genetics Quality Network (EMQN) and Genomics Quality Assessment (GenQA) (2022-Present), evaluating 20+ clinical sequencing labs/yr worldwide participating in EQA schemes for technical and regulatory compliance.
Dr Koo is passionate about science communication and outreach activities to impact the broader community, especially by leveraging his unique academic/industry track record to champion diverse STEM career pathways. He volunteers as an Industry Mentoring Networking in STEM (IMNIS) Mentor to motivated early- and mid-career researchers (3 to date) for career and professional development mentoring.
Works
Search Professor Kevin M. Koo’s works on UQ eSpace
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
2024
Journal Article
Nanoarchitectonics of point-of-care diagnostics for sweat biomarkers analysis
Lin, Xuan, Vasanth, Arya, Ashok, Aditya, Phan, Hoang-Phuong, Koo, Kevin M., Amin, Mohammed A., Kaneti, Yusuf Valentino, Salomon, Carlos, Hossain, Md Shahriar A., Yamauchi, Yusuke and Masud, Mostafa Kamal (2024). Nanoarchitectonics of point-of-care diagnostics for sweat biomarkers analysis. Nano Materials Science. doi: 10.1016/j.nanoms.2024.01.010
2024
Journal Article
Cancer‐on‐chip and integrative tumor microenvironment sensor technologies for progressing precision radiotherapy
Dey, Shuvashis, Kinoshita, Masaki, Puttick, Simon, Rose, Stephen, Trau, Matt, Roberts, Matthew J. and Koo, Kevin M. (2024). Cancer‐on‐chip and integrative tumor microenvironment sensor technologies for progressing precision radiotherapy. Advanced Sensor Research, 3 (7) 2300193. doi: 10.1002/adsr.202300193
2023
Journal Article
Design and analytical evaluation of a rapid plasma screening assay for circulating human papillomavirus DNA via thermostable enzyme chemistries
Jaradi, Binny, Das, Tulika and Koo, Kevin M. (2023). Design and analytical evaluation of a rapid plasma screening assay for circulating human papillomavirus DNA via thermostable enzyme chemistries. Analytical Chemistry, 95 (29), 11172-11180. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c02528
2023
Journal Article
Multifunctional hybrid nanozymes for magnetic enrichment and bioelectrocatalytic sensing of circulating tumor RNA during minimal residual disease monitoring
Koo, Kevin M. (2023). Multifunctional hybrid nanozymes for magnetic enrichment and bioelectrocatalytic sensing of circulating tumor RNA during minimal residual disease monitoring. Catalysts, 13 (1) 178, 1-10. doi: 10.3390/catal13010178
2023
Journal Article
Nanophotonic immunoarray with electrochemically roughened surfaces for handheld detection of secreted PD-L1 to predict immuno-oncology efficacy
Dey, Shuvashis, Koo, Kevin M., Ahmed, Emtiaz and Trau, Matt (2023). Nanophotonic immunoarray with electrochemically roughened surfaces for handheld detection of secreted PD-L1 to predict immuno-oncology efficacy. Lab on a Chip, 23 (15), 3443-3452. doi: 10.1039/d3lc00523b
2022
Journal Article
Exquisitely platinum-sensitive triple-negative breast cancer, time for BRCA methylation testing?
Tan, Tira J., Fink, J. Lynn, Tay, Timothy K., Jaradi, Binny, Stone, Nathan, Waring, Paul, Koo, Kevin M., Tan, Puay Hoon, Tan, Daniel S. and Dent, Rebecca A. (2022). Exquisitely platinum-sensitive triple-negative breast cancer, time for BRCA methylation testing?. JCO Precision Oncology, 6 (6) e2200309, e2200309. doi: 10.1200/po.22.00309
2022
Journal Article
Tetraplex immunophenotyping of cell surface proteomes via synthesized plasmonic nanotags and portable raman spectroscopy
Wang, Jing, Koo, Kevin M. and Trau, Matt (2022). Tetraplex immunophenotyping of cell surface proteomes via synthesized plasmonic nanotags and portable raman spectroscopy. Analytical Chemistry, 94 (43), 14906-14916. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c02262
2022
Journal Article
Harnessing gene fusion-derived neoantigens for ‘cold’ breast and prostate tumor immunotherapy
Velaga, Ravi, Koo, Kevin M. and Mainwaring, Paul N. (2022). Harnessing gene fusion-derived neoantigens for ‘cold’ breast and prostate tumor immunotherapy. Immunotherapy, 14 (14), 1165-1179. doi: 10.2217/imt-2022-0081
2022
Journal Article
Molecular locker probe enrichment of gene fusion variants from matched patient liquid biopsy specimens for magneto-bioelectrocatalytic nanosensing
Koo, Kevin M. and Trau, Matt (2022). Molecular locker probe enrichment of gene fusion variants from matched patient liquid biopsy specimens for magneto-bioelectrocatalytic nanosensing. Nanoscale, 14 (11), 4225-4233. doi: 10.1039/d1nr07845c
2021
Journal Article
Progressing antimicrobial resistance sensing technologies across human, animal, and environmental health domains
Fitzpatrick, Kira J., Rohlf, Hayden J., Sutherland, Tara D., Koo, Kevin M., Beckett, Sam, Okelo, Walter O., Keyburn, Anthony L., Morgan, Branwen S., Drigo, Barbara, Trau, Matt, Donner, Erica, Djordjevic, Steven P. and De Barro, Paul J. (2021). Progressing antimicrobial resistance sensing technologies across human, animal, and environmental health domains. ACS Sensors, 6 (12) acssensors.1c01973, 4283-4296. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.1c01973
2021
Journal Article
Bioengineered Polymer Nanobeads for Isolation and Electrochemical Detection of Cancer Biomarkers
Soda, Narshone, Gonzaga, Zennia Jean, Chen, Shuxiong, Koo, Kevin M., Nguyen, Nam-Trung, Shiddiky, Muhammad J. A. and Rehm, Bernd H. A. (2021). Bioengineered Polymer Nanobeads for Isolation and Electrochemical Detection of Cancer Biomarkers. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 13 (27) acsami.1c05355, 31418-31430. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c05355
2021
Journal Article
Separation of distinct exosome subpopulations: isolation and characterization approaches and their associated challenges
Singh, Karishma, Nalabotala, Ruchika, Koo, Kevin M., Bose, Sudeep, Nayak, Ranu and Shiddiky, Muhammad J. A. (2021). Separation of distinct exosome subpopulations: isolation and characterization approaches and their associated challenges. Analyst, 146 (12), 3731-3749. doi: 10.1039/d1an00024a
2021
Book Chapter
Simultaneous BRAFV600E protein and DNA aberration detection in circulating melanoma cells using an integrated multimolecular sensor
Wuethrich, Alain, Dey, Shuvashis, Koo, Kevin M, Sina, Abu A. I. and Trau, Matt (2021). Simultaneous BRAFV600E protein and DNA aberration detection in circulating melanoma cells using an integrated multimolecular sensor. Melanoma. (pp. 265-276) New York, NY, United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1205-7_20
2021
Journal Article
Magnetic nanomaterial–based electrochemical biosensors for the detection of diverse circulating cancer biomarkers
Koo, Kevin M., Soda, Narshone and Shiddiky, Muhammad J.A. (2021). Magnetic nanomaterial–based electrochemical biosensors for the detection of diverse circulating cancer biomarkers. Current Opinion in Electrochemistry, 25 100645, 100645. doi: 10.1016/j.coelec.2020.100645
2021
Journal Article
Nucleic acid hybridization-based noise suppression for ultraselective multiplexed amplification of mutant variants
Zeng, Yi, Koo, Kevin M., Shen, Ai-Guo, Hu, Ji-Ming and Trau, Matt (2021). Nucleic acid hybridization-based noise suppression for ultraselective multiplexed amplification of mutant variants. Small, 17 (2) 2006370, e2006370. doi: 10.1002/smll.202006370
2020
Journal Article
Direct enhanced detection of multiple circulating tumor dna variants in unprocessed plasma by magnetic-assisted bioelectrocatalytic cycling
Koo, Kevin M. and Trau, Matt (2020). Direct enhanced detection of multiple circulating tumor dna variants in unprocessed plasma by magnetic-assisted bioelectrocatalytic cycling. ACS Sensors, 5 (10), 3217-3225. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.0c01512
2020
Journal Article
Multiomics: The Growing Impact of Micro/Nanomaterial‐Based Systems in Precision Oncology: Translating “Multiomics” Technologies (Adv. Funct. Mater. 37/2020)
Li, Junrong, Wuethrich, Alain, Dey, Shuvashi, Lane, Rebecca E., Sina, Abu A. I., Wang, Jing, Wang, Yuling, Puttick, Simon, Koo, Kevin M. and Trau, Matt (2020). Multiomics: The Growing Impact of Micro/Nanomaterial‐Based Systems in Precision Oncology: Translating “Multiomics” Technologies (Adv. Funct. Mater. 37/2020). Advanced Functional Materials, 30 (37) 2070248. doi: 10.1002/adfm.202070248
2020
Journal Article
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for cancer immunotherapy applications: opportunities, challenges, and current progress in nanomaterial strategies
Dey, Shuvashis, Trau, Matt and Koo, Kevin M. (2020). Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for cancer immunotherapy applications: opportunities, challenges, and current progress in nanomaterial strategies. Nanomaterials, 10 (6) 1145, 1-15. doi: 10.3390/nano10061145
2020
Journal Article
The role of circulating tumor DNA testing in breast cancer liquid biopsies: getting ready for prime time
Koo, Kevin M. and Mainwaring, Paul N. (2020). The role of circulating tumor DNA testing in breast cancer liquid biopsies: getting ready for prime time. Breast Cancer Management, 9 (1), BMT34. doi: 10.2217/bmt-2020-0003
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Kevin M. Koo is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
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Development of a Novel Molecular Manipulation Technique for Multi-Bioanalyte Cancer Profiling
At present, DNA/RNA and protein detection require different assay workflows to be performed. This demands multiple assay workflows to be performed for multi-bioanalyte analysis, leading to prolonged analysis time for results and high assay running costs. In particular, the typical enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for protein detection generally requires at least a two-day workflow and has limited detection sensitivity.
The core concept of this PhD research project is to develop an innovative molecular manipulation method to rapidly transform a single immunological interaction into an amplified molecular signal, as equivalent to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for DNA/RNA detection. Successful project outcomes will enable a single workflow for multi-bioanalyte prostate cancer analysis.
The Advisory Team aims to provide a supportive high-level research environment for the prospective PhD candidate to flourish. This PhD project will provide opportunities to achieve significant research outputs and skills for a scientific career in academia/industry upon graduating.
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Kevin M. Koo directly for media enquiries about:
- Cancer Detection
- Cancer Monitoring
- Nanobiotechnology
- Precision Diagnostics
- Prostate Cancer
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