A team at AIBN has developed a world-first assay that rapidly measures interactions between tiny particles in the bloodstream - a crucial step in understanding how diseases like cancer develop and spread.
For decades, scientists have relied on slow and complex methods to understand how these particles behave, often requiring multiple experiments, expensive equipment and a week to produce results.
Now, a game-changing technique called lipoprotein association fluorometry (LAF) - developed by AIBN PhD student Raluca Ghebosu, under the supervision of AIBN and School of Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Joy Wolfram – can produce results in just one hour.
“In the past, studying these interactions meant days of lab work and highly specialised equipment,” Raluca said.
“By using a fluorescent dye that stops glowing when particles interact - kind of like detecting a molecular handshake - we can see in real-time if two particles are binding, and to what extent.
“It’s a simple idea that opens new doors to biological questions once too slow, expensive or complex to tackle.”
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoscale particles released by cells that carry proteins, fats, and other molecules between cells, helping the body communicate, respond to damage, and maintain balance.
But in diseases like cancer, the way EVs behave - how they interact with other particles such as lipoproteins – can change dramatically.
“Our bloodstream is full of these tiny particles and while they play an important role in normal physiology, they can behave very differently in disease,” Associate Professor Wolfram said.
“By studying these interactions, we can understand how cancer spreads and worsens, and how we might detect early warning signs before symptoms even appear.”
LAF has already been used to study interactions between EVs and a wide range of particles, including synthetic nanoparticles, proteins, conventional medicines and even bacterial EVs, without the need to redesign the assay each time.
“That adaptability is what makes LAF so powerful,” Wolfram said.
“It means researchers around the world can test hypotheses faster and develop new therapies sooner.”
A new link between cancer and cholesterol
Using LAF, the team has uncovered a surprising connection between metastatic cancer and cholesterol.
“We’ve found that EVs released by metastatic cancer cells - the ones that spread cancer throughout the body - bind more strongly to LDL and VLDL particles, commonly known as ‘bad’ cholesterol, than EVs from healthy or less aggressive cells,” Raluca said.
“This suggests cholesterol might play a much bigger role in cancer progression than we previously thought.
“It gives us a starting point to explore therapies that might block this interaction and potentially slow the spread of cancer.”
The idea that cholesterol could influence metastasis is still emerging, and the LAF assay offers a powerful way to investigate that link further.
The assay has already been validated by international collaborators and is attracting commercial interest.
“To see this kind of progress during the early stages of a PhD is rare,” Wolfram said.
“Raluca has developed a powerful tool that’s already reshaping how we approach cancer research, and this is only the beginning.”
“Being able to contribute something meaningful at this stage of my PhD - and see it potentially helping global cancer research - is incredibly motivating,” Raluca said.
“It’s taught me how much design matters. When we create tools with accessibility and impact in mind from the beginning, they have the power to travel far.”
With uptake already growing and a path to market underway, LAF is entering a fast-growing, multi-million-dollar diagnostics and nanomedicine market.
It reflects AIBN’s mission to transform world-class science into real-world solutions.
The discovery was supported by UQ’s Frazer Institute, the School of Chemical Engineering, and the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine at James Cook University.
Published in Journal of Extracellular Vesicles on 30 September 2025 and co-authored by Raluca Ghebosu, Jenifer Pendiuk Goncalves, Nur Indah Fitri, Dalila Iannotta, Mohammad Farouq Sharifpour, Elaina Coleborn, Alex Loukas, Fernando Souza-Fonseca-Guimaraes, and Joy Wolfram.
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