Dr. Emtiaz specializes in the development of nanotechnology-driven novel liquid biopsy platforms for the early-stage diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases.
Dr Emtiaz Ahmed is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. He is a biomedical researcher specialising in the development of nanotechnology-enabled diagnostic technologies, with particular interests in liquid biopsy, extracellular vesicles, plasmonic and electrochemical biosensing, and point-of-care platforms for early disease detection and treatment monitoring. Dr Ahmed completed his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at AIBN, UQ, in 2023. His doctoral research focused on developing advanced nanotechnology platforms for cancer diagnostics and was recognised with the Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis. His PhD studies were supported by the competitive University of Queensland Research Training Program (UQ-RTP) Scholarship. Prior to joining UQ, Dr Ahmed worked for more than five years as a Research Officer at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), where his research focused on infectious diseases and public health. His work investigated clinically important gastroenteric viral, bacterial and parasitic pathogens, including their epidemiology, molecular characteristics and disease associations. He also contributed to studies of pathogen genotypes relevant to vaccine development, host factors influencing susceptibility to infection, and the development of rapid and point-of-care diagnostic approaches. His current research lies at the interface of nanotechnology, analytical biosensing and precision medicine, with an emphasis on translating advanced nanomaterials into sensitive and clinically relevant diagnostic platforms. His research includes the development of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and electrochemical biosensors for detecting circulating biomarkers, extracellular vesicles, proteins, autoantibodies, nucleic acids and other disease-associated targets. A major goal of his work is to enable earlier diagnosis, improve disease monitoring and support more personalised therapeutic decision-making. Dr Ahmed has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed research publications, and his work has received more than 500 citations. His research contributions span nanotechnology-enabled cancer diagnostics, liquid biopsy, infectious disease diagnostics, vaccine-related research and public health. He is also actively involved in mentoring and supervising research students and welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD and Master’s thesis students interested in projects involving nanotechnology-based diagnostics, biosensors, SERS, electrochemical sensing, extracellular vesicles, liquid biopsy and point-of-care technologies.
Key Publications
Ahmed, E., Masud, M. K., Komatineni, P., Dey, S., Lobb, R., Hossain, M. S. A., Möller, A., Yamauchi, Y., Sina, A. A. I., & Trau, M. (2024). A mesoporous gold biosensor to investigate immune checkpoint protein heterogeneity in single lung cancer cells. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 249, Article 115984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2023.115984
Ahmed, E., Shanmugasundaram, K. B., Miao, X., Kulasinghe, A., Fletcher, J. A., Monkman, J., Mainwaring, P., Masud, M. K., Park, H., Hossain, M. S. A., Yamauchi, Y., Sina, A. A. I., O’Byrne, K., Wuethrich, A., & Trau, M. (2024). A mesoporous gold sensor unveils phospho PD-L1 in extracellular vesicles as a proxy for PD-L1 expression in lung cancer tissue. ACS Sensors, 9(6), 3009–3016. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.4c00192
Ahmed, E., Kabir, M., Hossain, B., Alam, M., Ahmed, S., Taniuchi, M., Gilchrist, C. A., Houpt, E. R., Faruque, A. S. G., Petri, W. A., Jr., & Haque, R. (2018). Giardia/Cryptosporidium QUIK CHEK assay is more specific than quantitative polymerase chain reaction for rapid point-of-care diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis in infants in Bangladesh. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 67(12), 1897–1903. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciy372
Ahmed, E., Masud, M. K., Wuethrich, A., Edwardraja, S., Dey, S., Hasan, M., Hossain, M. S. A., Yamauchi, Y., Trau, M., & Sina, A. A. I. (2025). Ultrasensitive multiplex detection of lung cancer EV-associated immune checkpoints using a mesoporous gold enhanced SERS biosensor. Nanoscale, 17(48), 28143–28154. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5NR03653D
Ahmed, E., Masud, M. K., Hossain, M. S. A., Na, J., Sina, A. A. I., Yamauchi, Y., & Trau, M. (2020). Nanostructured mesoporous gold electrodes detect protein phosphorylation in cancer with electrochemical signal amplification. Analyst, 145(20), 6639–6648. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0AN01096K