Information updated on 11 Feb 2022

DR QIAN PETER SU, B.Eng., PhD.

Dr Qian Peter SU, B.Eng., PhD.

Australian NHMRC Emerging Leadership 1 (EL1) Fellow and Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow (co-fund)
Lecturer | School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Principal Investigator | Laboratory of Quantitative Imaging At Nanoscale with Super-resolution (QIAN SU LAB)
Senior Researcher | Australia-China Joint Research Centre for Point-of-Care Testing (ACSRF JRC POCT)
Core Member | Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD), Faculty of Science, UTS
Core Member | Centre for Health Technologies (CHT), Faculty of Engineering and IT, UTS

Sydney City Campus – Room 11.10.120, Level 10, Building 11, Ultimo NSW 2007 Australia |  T: +61(0)402027353
E: [email protected]  [email protected]  [email protected] |
W: QIAN SU Lab | UTS Profile  | ORCiD | Google Scholar

Dr Qian Peter SU is an Emerging Leadership 1 Fellow of Australia National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Postdoctoral Fellow of National Heart Foundation (NHF, co-fund) and a Lecturer (faculty) in the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), mentored by Prof Tuan Van NGUYEN (Professor of Predictive Medicine, NHMRC L3 fellow). Peter is also Visiting Scientists at the Heart Research Institute (HRI) and Centenary Institute at the University of Sydney (USYD) mentored by Prof Shaun P. JACKSON (HRI director, Head of Thrombosis Group, NHMRC L3 fellow) and Prof John E. J. RASKO (AO, Head of Gene and Stem Cell Therapy, NHMRC L3 fellow).

In 2017, Peter received his PhD in Single-molecule Biophysics supervised by biophysics world leaders Profs Xiaoliang Sunney XIE and Yujie SUN from Biodynamic Optical Imaging Centre (BIOPIC, now known as the Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Centre) at Peking University (PKU), with the honour of “Outstanding Graduate Student of the Beijing City”. In 2012, he took an overseas exchange scholarship and received mentorship on super-resolution imaging instrumentation in Profs X.Sunney XIE and Xiaowei ZHUANG’s labs at Harvard University. From 2017-2020, Peter joined Prof Dayong JIN’s Group in the Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices (IBMD) at UTS to lead the super-resolution imaging program.

Dr SU’s research focuses on establishing an “Imaging Profiling Platform for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)” supported by the NHMRC/NHF fellowships (sole investigators), an Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (3rd chief investigator), an NHMRC Ideas Grant (associate investigator) and an ARC LIEF19 funding for a Volumetric Imaging Facility, of which he was the key operator. He is leading a team to decipher the molecular interaction dynamics (termed “molecular interactome”) for the mechanosensor integrin during platelet activation and blood clotting, under clinical trial drug treatments for CVDs, including thrombosis and type 2 diabetes.

Dr Qian SU’s research program, ‘Quantitative Imaging At Nanoscale with SUper-resolution (QIAN SU)’, bridges applied biomedical engineering with fundamental sciences. It brings new insights to biological questions addressed at single-molecule level by advanced microscopy and acquired with high spatiotemporal resolution. He has developed state-of-art biophysical nanotools, including single-molecule in vitro reconstitution assays and super-resolution mapping techniques to visualize the precise structures and pinpoint the molecular mechanisms during vital biological and medical processes, including:

i) Developing advanced single-molecule imaging, tracking and manipulation techniques to study motor proteins (kinesin and myosin) and cytoskeleton driven intracellular bio-membrane dynamics and the underlying molecular mechanisms, especially using in vitro re-constitution systems;
ii) Developing and applying cutting-edge super-resolution imaging systems and algorithms (especially STORM and PALM) to resolve the precise structures of subcellular organelles, to map the spatial-temporal distribution of important proteins, to reveal the hierarchical chromatin structures as well as structure-mediated replication and transcription mechanisms in mammalian cell nucleus and bacterial chromatin;
iii) Deciphering the molecular interaction dynamics (termed “molecular interactome”) for the mechanosensor integrin αIIbβ3 during human platelet decision-making process, under clinical trialed drug treatment for cardiovascular diseases, including thrombosis and type 2 diabetes.

Educations

• 2011.01-2017.01, PhD researcher in Biophysics, Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center (BIOPIC), Peking University (PKU), Beijing, China

                                       Supervisors: Prof Xiaoliang Sunney XIE (Harvard, PKU), Prof Yujie SUN (PKU), Prof Li YU (Tsinghua University)

• 2012.08-2012.12, Visiting Scholar, Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.

                                        Supervisor: Prof Xiaoliang Sunney XIE (Harvard, PKU), Prof Xiaowei ZHUANG (Harvard)

• 2007.09-2011.06, Bachelor of Engineering, Undergraduate Researcher, Chongqing University

​                                         Supervisor: Prof Linhong DENG, Prof Fenglin LV

Employment and Professional Experience

• 2020.07-present, Lecturer (Faculty), School of BioMedical Engineering (BME), Faculty of Engineering & IT (FEIT), University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

                                           Australia National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership 1 Fellow (2020-25) 
                                           Australia National Heart Foundation 2019 Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-22)

• 2020.01-present, Visiting Scientist, Centenary Institute, University of Sydney, Australia

                                           Prof John RASKO (AO, NHMRC Leadership 3 Fellow) Group

• 2018.11-2020.07, Facility Manager, National Volumetric Imaging Facility, Australia Research Council, UTS

                                          Prof. Dayong JIN (ARC Future Fellow) Group

• 2017.06-present, Visiting Scientist, Heart Research Institute (HRI), University of Sydney (USYD), Australia

                                          Prof Shaun P. JACKSON (NHMRC SPRF, NHMRC Leadership 3 Fellow) Group

• 2019.09-2020.07, Postdoc Research Fellow, IBMD, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

                                          Prof. Dayong JIN (ARC Future Fellow) Group

• 2017.03-2019.09, Postdoc Research Associate, IBMD, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

                                         Prof Dayong JIN (ARC Future Fellow) Group

Professional

Awards

• Highly Recommended, UTS Vice-Chancellor's Awards Early Career Researcher, Australia (2021)
• Best Prototype (video), BIOTech Futures Challenge, as mentor of a high school student team (2021)
• Professional Development Award, NSW Cardiovascular Research Network (CVRN), Australia (2020)
• Young Biophysicist Award, Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB), Canberra, Australia (2019)
• Rising Star Finalist, Sydney 2018 Cardiovascular Symposium, CPC, USYD, Australia (2018)
• Early Career Scientist Speaker Award, Asian Biophysics Association Symposium/ASB, Australia (2018)
• Poster Award, 4th Charles Perkins Centre (CPC) EMCR symposium, USYD, Australia (2018)
• EMCR Catalyst Award Recipients in Biomedical Engineering, University of Sydney, Australia (2018)
• Outstanding Graduate Student of the Beijing City, Beijing Education Bureau, China (2017)
• Outstanding Graduate Student of Peking University (PKU), Peking University, Beijing, China (2017)
• National Scholarship for (under)graduate student, Ministry of Education, China (2008,09,10,11,16)
• Second Prize, Poster Section, Cold Spring Harbor Asia Conference, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China (2013)
• Tanglixin Scholarship, Chongqing University/Peking University, Education Bureau, China (2009-2017)
• Outstanding Graduate Student of Chongqing University, Chongqing University, China (2011)

Membership to Professional Societies

• Biophysical Society (BPS), Single-molecule Biophysics
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Australia & New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB, NSW committee member)
• Australian Society for Mechanobiology (AuSMB, 2020 Symposium organizing committee)
• Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA, Bioengineering flagship)
• Australia Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (ACMM)
• Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ)
• NSW Cardiovascular Research Network (CVRN)
• International Society for Heart Research (ISHR)
• Australia Nanotechnology Network (ANN)
• Australia Society for Biophysics (ASB)

Community Engagement

• Dr Su serves as an Australia Research Council (ARC) assessor and Australia National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) assessor since 2019 for Biological Physics, Cellular Interactions, Biomedical Engineering, Cardiovascular Disease and etc.
• Dr Su serves as the external peer reviewer for international journals, including JACS, Chemical Science, Cytometry, Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Biophotonics, Nano Letters, Scientific Reports, etc.
• Dr Su is actively involved in the organizing committee for academic activities for Australian Societies. He is currently an organizing committee member for International Mechanobiology Symposium 2020 (1-4 Nov 2020, chaired by Prof Boris MARTINAC, http://ausmb.org/index.html), responsible for the early career researcher (ECR) session and the funding raising. He served as an organizing committee member for the ANZSCDB New South Wales 2019 Meeting held on 12th June 2019 at the Veterinary Science Conference Centre, USYD.
• Dr Su was the main organiser and lecturer of the annual Super-resolution Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM) workshops in PKU. During that time Dr Su and the team had successfully trained more than 200 researchers and produced a new wave of young researchers capable of 1) constructing optical setups, 2) sample preparation for STORM and 3) data analysis. This program was so well received, it has since becomes a routine event at PKU.

Invited/Selected Conference Presentations

• ANZAC Institute Research Seminar, Concord Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia

   Invited Talk:” Single-Molecule Mapping of the Integrin αIIbβ3 and Associated Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Human Platelet Spreading” (2019)

• Light Microscopy Australia (LMA2019), Translational Research Institute, UQ, Brisbane, Australia

   Invited Talk: “Single-molecule and Super-resolution microscopy for Cardiovascular Diseases” (2019)

• Sydney 2018 Cardiovascular Symposium, Charles Perkins Center, USYD, Sydney, Australia

   Rising Star Plenary Session Talk: “Single-Mo Mapping of the Integrin αIIbβ3 and Associated Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Platelet Spreading” (2018)

• Australian Society of Biophysics Conference (ASB 2018), RMIT, Melbourne, Australia

   Selected Talk: “Single-Mol. and Super-Res. Microscopy for Intracellular Membrane Dynamics” (2018)

• New Horizons in the Technology of Medical Research, Bosch Institute Annual Meeting, Australia

   Invited Talk: “Single-molecule and Super-resolution microscopy for Cardiovascular Diseases” (2018)

• Gordon Research Conference 2016, Single Molecule Approaches to Biology, Hong Kong

   Poster: “CTCF-mediated chromatin structure dictates selective activation of replication origin” (2016)

• PKU-THU (Peking Univ. and Tsinghua Univ.) Joint Centre, Tsinghua University, China

   Invited Talk: “Single-Mol. and Super-Res. Microscopy for Cellular Membrane Dynamics” (2016)

• 14th International Conference of Biophysics, Kunming, Yunnan, China

   Invited Talk: “Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of DNA Replication at Sub-diffraction-limit Resolution” (2015)

• ARC Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) - Peking University Node Launch, PKU, China

   Invited Talk: “Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Mammalian Replication at Sub-diffraction-limit Res.” (2015)

• Presentation for Ms. Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (princess of the Kingdom of Thailand), China

   Invited Talk: “Super-Resolution Microscopy and its applications in Biology and Biomedicine” (2014)

Research Funding

Abbr. ARC: Australia Research Council; NHMRC: Australia National Health and Medical Research Council

• Awarded, Associate Investigator, NHMRC Ideas Grant, APP2003904, 2021-2023, AU$ 760,684. Dr Lining Arnold JU, Dr Charles D. Cox, Dr Yuping Yuan, Dr Qian Peter Su, Dr Marc Ellis and Prof Shaun Jackson, “‘Mechano-medicine’ combats deadly sticky blood clots in diabetes”.
• Awarded, Sole Investigator, NHMRC Investigator Grant, EL1, APP1177374, 2020-2025, AU$ 639,750
• Dr Qian Peter Su (UTS) “Imaging Profiling Platform for Thrombotic Disease and Anti-Platelet Therapeutics – new translational methodologies for characterising, identifying and monitoring thrombotic disease”.
• Awarded, Sole Investigator National Heart Foundation Postdoc Fellow, 102592, 2020-2022, A$ 152,700
• Dr Qian Peter Su (UTS), co-funded with NHMRC fellow “Imaging Profiling Platform for Thrombotic Disease”
• Awarded, 3rd Chief Investigator, CIC, ARC Discovery Project, DP200101970, 2020-2023, A$ 553,282
• Dr Lining Arnold Ju (USYD), Prof Zhiyong Li (QUT), Dr Qian Peter Su (UTS), A/Prof Srigokul Upadhyayula (UC Berkeley), Profs Shaun Jackson (USYD) and Cheng Zhu (Georgia Tech) “Integrin activation by fluid flow disturbance: mechanobiology approaches”.
• Awarded, 10th CI, Australia-China Science and Research Fund (ACSRF) Joint Research Centre (JRC),
• Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Sciences, ACSRF65827, 2019-2022, AU$ 939,630
• The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of PR China, SQ2017YFGH001190, RMB 4,990,000
• Prof. Dayong Jin (UTS), Prof Jun Lin, Prof Antoine van Oijen, A/Prof Olga Shimoni, Prof Philip Doble, Dr Nham Tran, A/Prof Majid Warkiani, Profs X. Chen, P. Miao and Dr Qian Peter Su. “Australia-China JRC for Point of Care Test (POCT)”.
• Awarded, Facility Manager (named in the proposal), ARC LIEF LE190100130, 2019-2020, AU$ 1,480,000
• Prof Dayong Jin (UTS), B. Gibson, A.v. Oijen, P. Hugenholtz, S. Jackson, M. Hutchinson, M. Baker, E. Harry, XF. Huang, A/Prof M. Warkiani, Drs M. Asadnia, A. Garcia, L. Ju and R. Whan “National Volumetric Imaging Facility - Integrating new tools to observe cells in their native environment”.
• Awarded, 3rd Chief Investigator, Cardiovascular Initiative Catalyst Award - Biomedical Engineer A$ 10,000
• Dr Anna Waterhouse (USYD), Dr Lining Arnold Ju and Dr Qian Peter Su (UTS), “Novel liquid surface coating to reduce thrombosis in cardiopulmonary bypass machines”.
• Awarded, 2nd Chief Investigator, UTS Faculty of Engineer and IT (FEIT) Blue Sky, 2019-2020, A$ 15,000
• Dr Wei Wei (UTS), Dr Qian Peter Su, Prof Huu Hao Ngo and Prof Bruce Ni, “Bacterial Aerosol Emissions from Wastewater Treatment: Fundamental Understanding and Effective Mitigation”.
• Awarded, Sole Chief Investigator, UTS Development Funding, 2019, A$ 4,000. Dr Qian Peter Su (UTS)
• Awarded, Australian Node Coordinator, “National Centre for Multimode Trans-scale Biomedical Imaging”
• Imaging technology infrastructure centre bid under the “Chinese 13th Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development”, with total investment of equivalent A$500m in following 10 years.

Publications

See publications

Funding Bodies