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Dr. Zhen Zhang specializes in developing advanced nanotechnology platforms for diagnosing cancers and other pathologies through liquid biopsy. Her research integrates expertise in nanotechnology, bioengineering, and analytical chemistry to create innovative solutions for early detection and disease monitoring. By leveraging cutting-edge techniques such as microfluidics and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), Dr. Zhang's work aims to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of liquid biopsy methods. Her multidisciplinary approach focuses on translating these technologies into clinical applications, advancing precision medicine for cancer and other complex diseases.

I am currently working on a project investigating intensive hard-rock preconditioning for underground mining, specifically focusing on how hydraulic fracturing and confined blasting support the block caving method.

My research journey began with coal seam gas transport and expanded into proppant transport in hydraulic fractures, leading to my current focus on rock mass preconditioning. With an academic and research background spanning mining, geotechnical, and petroleum engineering, I am passionate about leveraging numerical modeling and emerging AI methods to tackle complex engineering challenges in reservoir simulation, multiphase and granular flow, and rock fragmentation.

A/Prof Yao-Zhong Zhang's research interests are in: Algebraic structures, quantum (super)integrable systems, (quasi-)exactly solvable models, supersymmetry, and conformal field theory.

Yao-Zhong Zhang received his PhD from Northwest University, China, in 1988 under the supervision of Prof Bo-Yu Hou. He spent 12 years in Europe, Japan and Australia as Postdoctoral/Research Fellow, before becoming in 2001 a permament staff member as a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics of the University of Queensland. Since 2006, he has been Reader/Associate Professor in the School of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Queensland.

Dr Chenming Zhang is a specialist in monitoring and modelling hydrological processes in coastal/terrestrial groundwater systems and tailings storage facilities, in particular the evaporation induced mass and heat transport in soil/tailings, hydrogeochemical dynamics in aquifer systems and wast rock dumps. He has been developing IoT-based geotechnical and environmental instruments to monitor continuously and in real-time the weather, soil and water conditions.

Jia is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Chemical Engineering (since 2024). She leads research projects that involve developing characterization methods and models for food and beverages, utilizing chemical engineering principles to optimize food processing and consumption. She specializes in designing and applying methods to support the development of innovative food composites, gels, and suspensions using plant-based ingredients. Her work includes leveraging structural analysis, rheology, colloid and interfacial science, sensory evaluation, digestion studies, and biochemistry to create functional and sustainable food products.

Dr Dongxue Zhao is a Research Fellow within the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her research aims to contribute to sustainable gains in crop productivity by improving our understanding of how crop-soil interactions determine crop and root growth, water and nutrient uptake, and final yield. In her research, she combines innovative proximal and remote sensing techniques of crops, soils and roots, with predictive modelling and artificial intelligence tools. These include integrating electromagnetic induction (EMI) techniques, and drone and satellite imagery to monitor crop root growth and water use dynamics over time; 3D mapping of soil properties and sub-soil constraints to map resource constraints; time-lapse imaging of soil wetting and drying cycles for applications in irrigated cropping; developing new hyperspectral libraries for the rapid estimation of plant, crop and soil properties; data fusion and machine learning in the landscape mapping of soil carbon, plant water and nutrients availability.

Research Interests

• Phenotyping crop rooting systems in the field
• 3D characterization of soil water content and crop water use
• Developing new spectral databases for measuring and monitoring soil and plant properties

Professor Zhao (PhD, ANU, 1993; MSc, Univ Adelaide, 1989; BSc, Nanjing Univ, 1985) has ~30 years research experience in isotope geochemistry and geochronology, with research interests straddling across the fields of geological, geochemical, geographical, environmental, ecological and archaeological sciences. He developed the mass spectrometry U-series dating methods at UQ and applied them to dating coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef and other parts of the tropical oceans, karstic deposits (stalagmites, stalactites, flowstones, etc) and calcite veins across different continents, as well as important hominid and fauna records in China, South East Asia, Australasia, Europe and Polynesia, which have received widespread recognition and public attention. Most recently, his team has been developing laser-ablation ICP-MS in situ U-Th and U-Pb dating methods for applications in earth, environmental and archaeological research. Since 1991, Zhao have authored >350 refereed publications, won more than 50 competitive grants and contracts, supervised or mentored more than 50 research high-degree students and early-career researchers, and received one ARC APD fellowship (1995), one ARC research/QEII fellowship (1998), one UQ research excellence award (2001), one Chinese National Science Foundation distinguished overseas young scholar award (2000), and the prestigious inaugural Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers (2011).

The Radiogenic Isotope Facility (RIF) that Prof Zhao took charge since 2005 is a ~200 m2 HEPA-filtered, fully-automated, ultra-clean low-blank chemistry and mass spectrometer laboratory, housing two Nu Plasma multi-collector ICP-MS instruments, two Thermo iCap-RQ and one Thermo X-series II quadrupole ICP-MS instruments, and two ASI RESOlution SE laser ablation systems for high-precision radiogenic/metal-stable isotope and trace element analysis in both solution and in situ laser-ablation modes. The facility is unique in its design and capabilities in Australia, representing one of only a small number of establishments with its level of analytical sophistication, range and quality of mass spectrometers and proven ultra-low analytical blank performance. It is widely acknowledged by peers in the field as being among of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the world. It services a multidisciplinary research community on campus, nationally and overseas in traditional earth science research, palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological research, coral reef research, environmental science research, archaeological research, and forensic research.

Wenhua Zhao is an Associate Professor at The University of Queensland and a globally recognized expert in offshore hydrodynamics and renewable energy technologies.

He is the recipient of the prestigious ARC Future Fellowship (2024-2028) and DECRA Fellowship (2019-2022), with over 110 publications and six awards influencing both industry and academia. He has helped secure over AUD30 million research funding from both Australian Research Council and industry, contributing to transformative engineering practices in renewable energy sectors and oil & gas industry.

His research focuses on Clean Energy, AI, and Climate Change, with groundbreaking studies on wave-structure interactions -- showcased by his multiple publications in Journal of Fluid Mechanics and industry-focused applications, a rare integration of theoretical research with practical implementation. He pioneers innovations in floating wind energy, floating solar, offshore aquaculture, and green hydrogen, leveraging artificial intelligence to transform offshore renewable energies.

Wenhua has been a Deputy Editor for Ocean Engineering (No. 1 in marine engineering, ISI web), Associate Editor for the renowned ASME's Journal of OMAE, and editorial board member for the Q1 journal Applied Ocean Research. His teaching, particularly the "Design of Offshore Energy Systems" course, has prepared hundreds of students for impactful careers in coastal and ocean engineering.

Dr Yan Zhao is a dedicated researcher in the field of agricultural systems, utilizing remote sensing observations to unveil spatial and temporal patterns and advance earth observation techniques and modelling. He is an integral member of a multi-disciplinary predictive agriculture research group based at QAAFI.

Currently, Dr Zhao's focus lies in the intricate integration of spatial technologies, crop modelling, and climate forecasting systems at various scales. His primary objective is to leverage remote sensing and crop simulation techniques for a comprehensive understanding of Australia's dryland cropping system. In pursuit of this goal, he has successfully developed pipelines for handling volumetric spatial datasets and delivering crucial information on crop types, production, and phenology, spanning from local to national scales.

Engaging actively with agri-business companies, government departments, and local growers, Dr Zhao collaborates closely with stakeholders to validate and implement his research findings in practical applications.

Dr Zhao earned his Doctoral Degree in Natural Science, with a specialized focus on Cartography and Geographic Information Systems. He completed his doctoral research at the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2013.

I am a senior bioinformatician at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, with over 20 years of experience in next-generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis. My career began with the greenfield development of three major NGS platforms: 454, Illumina, and SOLiD. This early experience laid the foundation for my extensive expertise in bioinformatic analysis across a wide range of NGS data types.

While bioinformaticians are often positioned in service-oriented roles, my work has consistently extended beyond service delivery. For example, as the leader of the bioinformatics core facility at the Queensland Brain Institute from 2012 to 2022, my primary responsibilities included providing bioinformatics support, but I also actively contributed to project design, supervised PhD and Master’s students, and maintained a strong research profile.

To date, I have authored 45 peer-reviewed publications, with more than one-third as first, co-first, or last author. According to SciVal, over 57.8% of my publications rank in the top 10% most cited in their respective fields. My research spans the development of novel bioinformatics tools, such as the TRIAGE R package for regulatory analysis of both bulk and single-cell RNA-seq data (Briefings in Bioinformatics, 2025), as well as studies in single-cell transcriptomics (Nature Communications, 2025; Developmental Cell, 2024), lncRNA analysis (Molecular Psychiatry, 2024; Nature Communications, 2023), integrative analysis of ATAC-seq and lncRNA data (Cell Reports, 2022), de novo transcriptome assembly (Development, 2022), noncanonical Z-DNA structure analysis (Nature Neuroscience, 2020), m6dA DNA modification analysis (Nature Neuroscience, 2019), whole-exome sequencing analysis (Genome Medicine, 2017), and cross-ethnic meta-analysis (Nature Communications, 2017), reflecting a broad and sustained contribution across multiple areas of genomics and computational biology.

The aim of Allie's research is to improve soil health for sustainable agricultural production and environmental protection. Her research spans the areas of plant-soil-microbe interactions, soil microbiology, nutrients cycling and the recylcing of organic wastes, currently focusing on (i) the development of advanced and novel methodologies for investigation of plant-soil-microbe interactions; (ii) dynamics of nutrients (N, P, K) and carbon in soils including greenhouse gas emissions; and (iii) soil carbon sequestration and persistence.

Professor Zuduo Zheng is TAP Chair (Deputy) sponsored by Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, and Professor in the School of Civil Engineering, a current ARC Future Fellow, and a former ARC DECRA Research Fellow. He is currently a member of the College of Experts, the Australian Research Council.

His research primarily focuses on:

1. traffic flow theory, modelling, simulation and optimisation;
2. understanding emerging, disruptive, and intelligent mobility technologies’ impact on traffic efficiency, traffic safety, energy consumption, vehicle emissions, etc.;
3. developing essential theories, the foundational algorithms and analytics that can seamlessly integrate future mobilities into the existing transportation systems;
4. establishing a new breed of control strategies tailored to maximise the power of the connected environment and vehicle automation; and
5. complex systems modeling and the design of adaptable, controllable, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure systems (intelligent transportation systems and smart city particularly in the context of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games).

He has been listed as the Top 2% of Scientists in Logistics and Transportation by Scopus & Stanford University since 2020. He has won many prestigious awards, and serves/served as editor, guest editor or editorial board member of several prestigious journals, including Transportation Research Part B, Transportation Research Part C, Analytic Methods in Accident Research , IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, etc.

More information about Professor Zheng's research activities and engagements can be found here.