Dr Hao Song

Dr Hao Song specialises in nanotechnology for gene and vaccine delivery.

Dr Hao Song’s research focuses on the design and engineering of biomimetic nanomaterials and nanoparticle-based delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics, vaccines, and biologics. His work centres on overcoming fundamental biological and translational barriers in drug and gene delivery, including stability, targeting, and non-invasive administration. The Group has developed innovative nano-engineered platforms for DNA, mRNA, and siRNA delivery, alongside formulation strategies that enhance therapeutic performance, patient compliance, and clinical applicability. Dr Song’s research also integrates immunomodulation and metabolic engineering approaches to improve the efficacy of vaccines and molecular therapeutics. Moreover, the Group explores smart delivery technologies and device-enabled systems to support precision and controlled therapeutic applications. His research maintains a strong translational emphasis, with technologies designed for scalable manufacturing and real-world biomedical impact. Dr Hao Song is a Group Leader and NHMRC Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland. He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UQ in 2018 and completed postdoctoral training at AIBN under the supervision of Prof. Michael Yu, followed by research scientist appointments at MIT and Harvard Medical School (2023-2024) under the supervision of Prof. Robert Langer and Prof. Giovanni Traverso. Returning to Australia, in 2025 he was appointed as a Group Leader and set up his NEXT Group (Nano-Engineering of Vaccines and Therapeutics) at AIBN, UQ. He has been awarded the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2020), UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award (2022), and American Australian Association AAA-Scholar (2023). He served as Associate Editor for Cancer Nanotechnology (Springer Nature, IF=5.1), and Secretary of the Controlled Release Society oral delivery focus group.

Industry

Dr Hao Song has established strong industry–academic partnerships to accelerate the translation of nano-engineered delivery systems into real-world applications, engaged with leading industries such as Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ridley, etc. His patented spiky nanoparticle technology has been licensed to N4 Pharma (UK) for the development of gene and vaccine delivery platforms (NUVEC®), supporting preclinical development and manufacturing scale-up. He has further secured ARC Linkage projects in collaboration with industry partners to advance next-generation DNA and mRNA nanovaccines toward commercial and clinical translation.

Collaborations

Dr Hao Song has established extensive collaborations with scientists at world-leading research institutes and universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard Medical School, University of Oxford, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Sydney, Adelaide University, etc. These collaborations integrate expertise in nanotechnology, biomedical engineering, molecular biology, immunology, and clinical translation to advance next-generation vaccine and therapeutic development.

Funding

Dr Hao Song’s research program has consistently attracted substantial competitive funding, secured approximately $4.5 million in research funding as Chief Investigator, including over $3.3 million as sole CI. This includes two NHMRC Investigator Grants (EL1 in 2020 and EL2 in 2024), an ARC DECRA Fellowship in 2020, and two ARC Linkage Projects in partnership with industry.

Key Publications

A. Chan, A. Kirtane, Q. R. Qu, X. Huang, … H. Song,.. G. Traverso*. Designing lipid nanoparticles using a transformer-based neural network. Nature Nanotechnology, 2025, 20:1491-1501.

D. Cheng, J. Zhang, J. Fu, H. Song*, C. Yu*. A Hierarchical Assembly Approach of Silica-Polymer Composites to Versatile Silica/Carbon Nanoparticles. Science Advances, 2023, 9: eadi7502.

B. Sun, W. Wu, E. Narasipura, Y. Ma, C. Yu, O. Fenton*, H. Song*. Engineering Nanoparticle Toolkits for mRNA Delivery. Advanced Drug Delivery Review, 2023, 200: 115042.

H. Song, M. Yu, Y. Lu, Z. Gu, Y. Yang, M. Zhang, J. Fu, C. Yu. Plasmid DNA Delivery: Nanotopography Matters. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2017, 139: 18247-18254.

H. Song, Y. Ahmad Nor, M. Yu, Y. Yang, J. Zhang, Hongwei Zhang, C. Xu, N. Mitter, C. Yu. Silica Nanopollens Enhance Adhesion for Long-Term Bacterial Inhibition. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2016, 138: 6455-6462.

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