Development of novel diagnostic technologies for cancer biomarker detection
Kevin researched on the detection of DNA methylation in cancer during his undergraduate studiesat the AIBN, University of Queensland (UQ);and aided in developing eLCR – an electrochemical technique which enables quantitative detection of DNA methylation at single CpG resolution. Afterwhich, Kevin commenced his PhD in the AIBN and his current thesis work is in the multidisciplinary field of cancer diagnostic technology research. His main focus is on developing novel nano-biosensor technologies to improve diagnosis and facilitate personalized treatment for prostate cancer patients the the clinic; with a particular interest in gene fusion biomarkers such as TMPRSS2:ERG.
Kevin completed his B.Sc. (Biophysics Dual Major) at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2012, and his undergraduate honours program (Biochemistry Honours Class I) at the AIBN in 2013. Thereafter, he was awarded the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) and Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) in support of his doctoral studies. To date, Kevin's PhD research work has been recognized with presentation awards at international research conferences, as well as competitively-awarded travel grants (EMBL PhD Symposium Travel Grant' 2016 and UQ GSITA' 2016).
Key Publications
- Koo, K. M.; Wee, E. J. H.; Mainwaring, P. N.; Wang, Y. & Trau, M. (2016) Toward precision medicine: A cancer molecular subtyping nano-strategy for RNA biomarkers in tumor and urine. Small 12: 6233-6242.*Featured as Issue Cover Image
- Koo, K. M., Carrascosa, L. G., Shiddiky, M. J. A. & Trau, M., (2016) Amplification-free detection of gene fusions in prostate cancer urinary samples using mRNA-gold affinity interactions. Anal. Chem. 88: 6781-6788.
- Koo, K. M., Wee, E.J.H. & Trau, M.(2016) Colorimetric TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion detection in prostate cancer urinary samples via recombinase polymerase amplification. Theranostics 6: 1415-1424. *Featured in NanoTheranostics Special Issue Koo, K. M., Wee, E. J. H., Rauf, S., Shiddiky, M. J. A. & Trau, M. (2014) Microdevices for detecting locus-specific DNA methylation. Biosens. Bioelectron. 56: 278-285.
- Wee, E. J. H., Rauf, S., Koo, K. M.,Shiddiky, M. J. A. & Trau, M. (2013) µ-eLCR: A microfabricated device for electrochemical detection of DNA base changes in breast cancer cell lines. Lab Chip 13: 4385-4391
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