Xueming Niu

My research aims to advance early disease detection and longitudinal disease monitoring through the development of innovative extracellular vesicle (EV)-based diagnostic technologies.

Many neurological conditions and cancers involve complex molecular changes that are difficult to monitor using conventional diagnostic approaches. My work explores the potential of disease-associated EVs circulating in blood as accessible sources of molecular information, providing opportunities to investigate disease processes through minimally invasive liquid biopsy approaches.

By developing sensitive nanotechnology-enabled platforms for the isolation, detection and molecular profiling of specific EV populations, my research seeks to overcome existing challenges in biomarker detection, particularly the identification of rare and cell-of-origin-specific EV subpopulations.

Potential applications include monitoring neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury, investigating tumour-associated immune responses in glioblastoma, and identifying molecular signatures associated with cancer progression.

In the longer term, this research could contribute to more accessible and personalised diagnostic approaches, supporting earlier disease assessment, improved monitoring of treatment responses and more informed clinical decision-making. It also contributes to the development of advanced biosensing technologies with potential applications across neurological diseases, oncology and precision medicine.