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 (UQ). Dr Koo was awarded his PhD (Dean’s Award for Outstanding Thesis & Springer Thesis Prize) from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering & Nanotechnology (AIBN), UQ in 2018.
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 UQ Centre for Clinical Research (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), Australian Institute of Policy & Science (AIPS) Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award (2023) and UQ Faculty of Medicine "Rising Star of the Year" Excellence Award (2024).
Teaching
UQ School of School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB)
BIOT7018 Biologics: Course Coordinator 2025-2026
BIOC7001 Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory: Guest Lecturer 2024-2025
BIOC6001 Introduction to Molecular Biology Laboratory: Guest Lecturer 2024
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; Advanced Science, 2026)
- 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, Springer-Nature, 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 STEMM career pathways. He volunteers as an Industry Mentoring Networking in STEM (IMNIS) Mentor to motivated early- and mid-career researchers (4 to date) for individualized one-year career and professional development mentoring.
Works
Search Professor Kevin M. Koo’s works on UQ eSpace
2015
Conference Publication
Towards rapid and cost-effective point-of-care detection of TMPRSS2:ERG fusion transcripts in urine via a novel methodology
Wee, Eugene J.H., Koo, Kevin M., Mainwaring, Paul N. and Trau, Mattias (2015). Towards rapid and cost-effective point-of-care detection of TMPRSS2:ERG fusion transcripts in urine via a novel methodology. 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL United States, 29 May - 2 June 2015. Alexandria, VA United States: American Society of Clinical Oncology. doi: 10.1200/jco.2015.33.15_suppl.11063
2015
Conference Publication
Towards rapid and cost-effective point-of-care detection of TMPRSS2:ERG fusion transcripts in urine via a novel methodology
Wee, Eugene J. H., Koo, Kevin M., Mainwaring, Paul N. and Trau, Mattias (2015). Towards rapid and cost-effective point-of-care detection of TMPRSS2:ERG fusion transcripts in urine via a novel methodology. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Chicago, IL United States, 29 May-02 June 2015. Alexandria, VA United States: American Society of Clinical Oncology.
2014
Journal Article
eMethylsorb: rapid quantification of DNA methylation in cancer cells on screen-printed gold electrodes
Koo, Kevin M., Sina, Abu Ali Ibn, Carrascosa, Laura G., Shiddiky, Muhammad J. A. and Trau, Matt (2014). eMethylsorb: rapid quantification of DNA methylation in cancer cells on screen-printed gold electrodes. Analyst, 139 (23), 6178-6184. doi: 10.1039/c4an01641f
2014
Journal Article
Microdevices for detecting locus-specific DNA methylation at CpG resolution
Koo, Kevin M., Wee, Eugene, Rauf, Sakandar, Shiddiky, Muhammad J. A. and Trau, Matt (2014). Microdevices for detecting locus-specific DNA methylation at CpG resolution. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 56, 278-285. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2014.01.029
2013
Journal Article
mu-eLCR: a microfabricated device for electrochemical detection of DNA base changes in breast cancer cell lines
Wee, Eugene J. H., Rauf, Sakandar, Koo, Kevin, Shiddiky, Muhammad J. A. and Trau, Matt (2013). mu-eLCR: a microfabricated device for electrochemical detection of DNA base changes in breast cancer cell lines. Lab on a Chip, 13 (22), 4385-4391-4385-4391. doi: 10.1039/C3LC50528F
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Kevin M. Koo is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Multi-Bioanalyte Profiling of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer in a Phase 2 STATEsMAN Trial
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Amy McCart Reed, Dr Matthew Roberts
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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