Health care

Health care is an application area in which functional nanomaterials show great promise. Centre research spans engineered nanocarriers for drug, gene and immunotherapy delivery, nanoparticle probes for medical imaging and early diagnosis, and printable soft materials for devices that interface with living tissue.

Targeted nanomedicine and immunotherapy

Associate Professor Ruirui Qiao

Designing polymer and hybrid nanocarriers that deliver drugs, genes and immune agonists to the tissues that need them. Work in this area spans star and branched polymer nanomedicines, cell-hitchhiking carriers that use macrophages to reach solid tumours, vaccine carriers that coordinate innate immune activation, and fluoropolymer-engineered particles designed to cross the blood–brain barrier. The aim is to move nanomedicine beyond passive accumulation towards carriers whose chemistry dictates where they go and what they do on arrival.

Nanoprobes for imaging and diagnosis

Associate Professor Ruirui Qiao

Building nanoparticle contrast agents and probes that report on disease rather than simply accumulating in it — ultrasmall iron oxide assemblies that switch MRI contrast in response to pH, dual-modal probes for early Alzheimer’s disease detection, photoacoustic imaging probes, and magnetic particles engineered for brain imaging and delivery. Much of the work concerns the polymer surface, the layer that governs circulation, targeting and signal.

Liquid metal composites and bioprinting

Associate Professor Ruirui Qiao

Turning liquid metal nanoparticles, hydrogels and printable composites into devices that interface with soft tissue: NIR-responsive 4D-printed soft robots built from liquid metal–polymer composites, nanoparticle–hydrogel hybrids for controlled release, and conformal gels for high-fidelity electrophysiological recording and peripheral nerve interfacing. The common thread is materials that change shape, stiffness or conductivity on demand.