Dr Yue Wang

Postdoctoral Research Fellow -Novel

Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
yue.wang1@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 63804

Overview

Dr. Wang completed her MPhil study in the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2016 and PhD study in UQ in October 2020. As an early career researcher, Dr.Wang has demonstrated a high impact track record relative to opportunity with award of Dean's award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research (2016), the high proportion (41%) of first-authored publications, 28% of which in the top 10% most cited publications worldwide (Scopus 24/03/2021). She has been actively engaged in a number of professional activities in the research fields, including RHD student supervision, assessment for the master research projects (BIOX7021), talks at national and international conferences (The Australian Colloid and Interface Symposium Brisbane hub, 2021; The Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research ECR Symposium, 2021; BioNano Innovation, 2020) and conference organization (The Australian Colloid and Interface Symposium Brisbane hub, 2021).

Research Interests

  • Nanochemistry upregulated mRNA translation
    Dr. Wang has pioneered the conceptual design of functional nanomaterials with glutathione-depletion chemistry for upregulated mRNA translation and delivery. She has revealed the contribution of tetrasulfide bond composition of nanoparticles to GSH depletion and activation of mammalian target of rapamycin complex1 pathway for stimulated mRNA translation and enhanced delivery efficiency in hard-to-transfect APCs. This work demonstrates that, for the first time, nanoparticles not only act as a carrier for mRNA, but also a regulator to modulate mRNA translation machineries and pathways. This presents a new research direction that has not been reported. Considering the intrinsic GSH regeneration catalysed by intracellular glutathione reductase (GR), She further developed a confined growth technology to prepare zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) and MONs complex (MONs-ZIF-8), with zinc cations inhibited GR activity and tetrasulfide bond triggered GSH oxidation to synergistically enable long-term GSH depletion and enhanced mRNA delivery .

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Publications

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Grants

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Available Projects

  • Biomedical devices such as catheters are routinely used in a diverse range of clinical settings, the inevitable bacterial infection remains a major threat to human health. Among them, catheter-associated-urinary tract infections are a global challenge and difficult to treat due to the formation of biofilms. Traditional treatment using antibiotics leads to ever increasing antibiotics resistance. This project will use state-of-the-art nanotechnology to solve the above problems. Novel silica nanoparticles with a pollen-like morphology will be prepared to disrupt bacterial membrane. Their compositions can be tuned to cause chemical damage towards bacteria. The impacts of various structural parameters on catheter coating, antiadhesive, antibacterial and antibiofilm performances as well as urinary drainage flow will be evaluated. If successful, this technology can be used to develop next-generation antibacterial coating for biomedical devices, providing invaluable benefits to human healthcare.

  • The mRNA technology has received tremendous success in the development of COVID vaccines, however the performance of current mRNA cancer vaccines is low. Roche and BioNTech collaborated mRNA based personalized cancer vaccines (RO7198457 cancer vaccine) only gave a 4% response rate. Based on our ground-breaking findings of nanochemistry upregulated mRNA translation, this project aims to develop a new-generation of mRNA cancer vaccine formulations with improved efficacy. New delivery platforms will be prepared to improve the mRNA cancer vaccine performance and simplify the dosages. The impact of structural parameters of nano-carriers on mRNA transfection, antigen presenting and cellular immunity will be systematically investigated. Successful completion of this project has the potential to provide a revolutionised mRNA cancer vaccine technology.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Journal Article

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Biomedical devices such as catheters are routinely used in a diverse range of clinical settings, the inevitable bacterial infection remains a major threat to human health. Among them, catheter-associated-urinary tract infections are a global challenge and difficult to treat due to the formation of biofilms. Traditional treatment using antibiotics leads to ever increasing antibiotics resistance. This project will use state-of-the-art nanotechnology to solve the above problems. Novel silica nanoparticles with a pollen-like morphology will be prepared to disrupt bacterial membrane. Their compositions can be tuned to cause chemical damage towards bacteria. The impacts of various structural parameters on catheter coating, antiadhesive, antibacterial and antibiofilm performances as well as urinary drainage flow will be evaluated. If successful, this technology can be used to develop next-generation antibacterial coating for biomedical devices, providing invaluable benefits to human healthcare.

  • The mRNA technology has received tremendous success in the development of COVID vaccines, however the performance of current mRNA cancer vaccines is low. Roche and BioNTech collaborated mRNA based personalized cancer vaccines (RO7198457 cancer vaccine) only gave a 4% response rate. Based on our ground-breaking findings of nanochemistry upregulated mRNA translation, this project aims to develop a new-generation of mRNA cancer vaccine formulations with improved efficacy. New delivery platforms will be prepared to improve the mRNA cancer vaccine performance and simplify the dosages. The impact of structural parameters of nano-carriers on mRNA transfection, antigen presenting and cellular immunity will be systematically investigated. Successful completion of this project has the potential to provide a revolutionised mRNA cancer vaccine technology.